The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-06-17
THE SPIRIT AND IDEA or THE
AMERICAN BOY
CONTINUED from first page)


which. owing to their location had
prohibited him from sitting on any
thing but cushion chair, to say
nothing of hard backed broncho,
he might have borrowed Shingles"
pony. There was only one way out
of the predicament and that was
extremely odious. To ride Prince
his fathers family horse. Prince
whose back had the architectural
lines of the roof of japanese gar
den house. or the profile of a gon-
dola. Prince, whose CLASSY bay
sides bulged with surplus fat and
who weighed twice as much as the
heaviest COW pony. Prince, whose
walk was as slow and measured as
funeral horse and whose trot-he
had never been known to gallop-
was like boat on a wavy lake and
whose bowles went -urgh-
urgh at every step. Ugh! Fat thot
of the long delightful hours he had
spent on his elaborate and perfect
costu me, of the anticipation. of the
other kids. and decided on-Prince.
The next afternoon found the band
of redskins cong-egated in an OBJ
scure corner of the Fair Grounds
awaiting the moment when, between
races, they would execute their un-
rehearsed Life on the Plains" 1t
was molly throng and many were
the boyish jibs and comments on
Fats gentle war pony" he shut
his jaw with determination and bet
himself that Prince would loose
some fat in the future by the pro-
cess of a forced fast. Fat had one
comeback tho, and that was the fit
of his costume. The union-suit did
fit him skin tight, which was more
than could be said of any of the
other boys, for what, besides a por-
Gus plaster, will stay snug to the
frame of a thin, growing, boy,
especially when he itches, and all
boys itch, and JOHNNY Haywood was
nearly in tears for he had been for
ced to wear some. cast off neither
garments of red wool belonging to
an elder member of the family.
Worse yet it was two piece gar
ment and PERSISTED in proving so,
despite the tightness of Johnny's G.
string.
Suddenly whistle shrilled in the
distance and the field marshall was
seen signalling the red men to come.
They passed the blanketed, droop-
ing headed horses being led from
the track, and stopped at the horse
entrance gate to the track at the
beginning of the home stretch.
The plan had been outlined as
follows: the stage coach, relic of
olden days which had been made
serviCable, drawn by four horses,
with the mail bags and armed
guards conspicuous on the roof, and
three passengers, two men and a
woman in the body Of the coach, was
to start at the quarter mile post pre-
sumable on it's way across the plains.
When nearly abreast of the grand
stand, the fiery redskins were to give
chase, overpower the guards, sieze
mail bags and female passengers and
make off across the plains, after
having a running fight with squad
of militia.
All went we'll. The stage coach
started. the horses prancing and
champing their bits, the armed guards
on the alert. They passed the SEEM
ing hidden hoard of red-devils at
the beginning of the home stretch,
who had uneonciously transmitted
their intense excitement to their
mounts. They neared the grand
stand and catching sight of the
bowling demons in their wake, put
the whip to the leaders and wheel
ers and were off at a dead gallop,
the old coach swayed from side to
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