The Holt County sentinel. (Oregon, Mo.) 1883-1980, 1916-06-23
My Cousin
From America
By Et'NlCE pLAKE

who desIised the making Of money
and who have had no other profession
than the army. which. TO say the least.
is not lucrative. The original family
estates were conferred on Otto Won
Mueller for military service.
one Of my uncles. Caspar Won Muel.
Ter. rather than lie a poor aristocrat In
Prussia chose TO be rich commoner
In America. At any rate, he went
there to attempt to make fortune. He
succeeded. AMI at the beginning Of the
twentieth century was the only rich
o,is If the family. lie was loyal to
his relatives and entered upon cor.
res,undence with my father. his broth.
or. with view to starting the family
un new career of PROSPERITY by means
Il his great wealth. lie had only one
cLlid. q son. and his plan was to mar
~ him 10 one ~ the family IN Prussia.
Then the young man was e. remove to
the fathcr.anl AMI 10y means of his
wealth secure position ut the kaiser's
court.
our Ven Nucllcrs In Germany Were
quite pleased with the plan. The arts.
tucracy and the commercial classes had
been drawing loser together The kat.
ser himself owned a pottery. Caspar
Won MUclicr's millions, though acquired
Ia trade. were not IT, bc dcSplscd. To
make u luug story short. II was mr..
ranged that he shuUd come over t.
G.mauy giI I. Icing the only glrl
, Won Mueller II suitable ngc Tor him. II
va. I".cJ 'hrl a iutrh mlght H. ar
D.u.,d ctvr 10 A.iI ..hd igy. -
puc yyculus a lut II 70. Won Muc!lels
were sitting IN u public gaplcn listen.
. a.. IT, an orchestra and drinking wine
ur beer Two young mcn ,niuc IN aud
tx srats at a table near VI. They
T seemed tu b" LII .llsh-at least they
/ 80 Ac the In fish language. The feel.
! !n. asaln,t the English people was
very strong, aud even III. language
was Irritating. But one of the young
men opposite mo was very handsome.
ani could bot help llancing at him
occasionally. Whether ~ u, he was
I encouraged 10y this or because lie nj.
mlrci me. lie gazcd VI me continually.
Finally my brother Otto. a lieutenant
In the army. n"ticci his eyes continu-
ally bent on me. Kissing. otto went %
the table where the young man was
sitting nnd said. Il will pig stick YOU"
and threw u card on the table bearing
his name aud address.
THIS was equivalent 10 q challenge
To hight ~ soon ~ otto returned To
us ] gave him a piece ~ my mind. tell
ins him that lid not need him 10 pro-
'cct me and he Ind no right 90 clal.
lcnsc u man simply for ndmirina me. Z
lid not know whether the stranger
would hrht. but I determined 20 pre-.
vent n meeting II possible, Ny cousin
Gustav. n hoy II ilftccn. was ~ our
party. and. otto having left ~. taking
Gustav with me. ! went To III. table
where the two strangers were sitting
aud SAID 10 the one who had been look
! Ing 10 me;
u have request IL make ~ you.
SIR"
Rising ond removing his hat, he ask.
"i Ia hc Informed what II was.
spoke In German. AMI lie replied Ia tho
same language. though with u foreign
I accent.
| u have seen my brother cliallcng.
you. beg that you win decline TO
| fight"
"1ut your German men cxpcct"--
"Ncver mind what our German men
expect, You have the request of a
German woman, II should bc VI great.
or import 10 you than the demand Of
any man."
lie hcsIfntcd for few moments,
then said.
"Frnulcin. I shall consider your re.
quest command. beg 10 offer mn
apology for looking 81 intcntly upon
You IN the FIRST place, I lost n sister
few years ago who greatly rcsembled
You In the second place, I admit that
you excited my admiration the moment
l looked nj you"
NO apology Is necessary. I thank
you very much for granting my re-
quest"
AS was turning away 10 rcjoin the
party ut our table he said:
'"s "H"' 'Huieiil, tD no Informed
ns to whom ] have the honor 10 obeyY'
u am Bsrtha Won Mueller"
lie looked ut me with an expression
which ! did not understand, but said
nothing further.
The duel, OF course, did not take
place. My brother In speaking OF II
said contenptuonsly that the man was
doubtless an Englishmnn ami the Eng.
lish would not fight A few days after
tue occurrence my father told me that
my cousin had come from America and
would call the next afternoon. Father
hoped that ! would make myself as
agreeable as possible.
The next day when I went down into
the drawing room to see my cousin I
stood speechless with astonishmcnt.
lie looked at me with an amused
smile. He was the man who had nd.
mired me ut the garden and whom
I.a..I