Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1917-01-18
Helen
MacAlister
A Story Of a Girl Brought
Up With Cowpunchers.
By HORACE SLATER
BY HORACE SLATER

Sc0tchman or the name OF MacAl1Ster
In ranching In the west. MacAlister
attended to the stock raising, while
my father remained in the east manag-
ing the financial end Of the business.
When my father died l was twenty
one years old. l found with his win,
leaving all his property to me, letter
stating that it was all In the ranch.
He and his partner had virtually been
one owner, and this was all that had
saved their investment from bank
ruptcy. MacAlister had died ten years
before, since when my father had
managed the business alone for him
self and his partners daughter, who
was sole heir to her fathers interest.
From my fathers death, the letter
went on to say, was to be sole man
ager for myself and this daughter.
Helen MacAlister, now seventeen years
Of age.
l am a methodical chap and after
reading this letter sat back In my chair
for job Of thinking. did not relish
any business relations with a woman.
My father had been dealing with a
child who was now entering upon wo-
manhood. Doubtless my task would be
far harder than his. The result of my
thinking was a resolution to go west
and look over the property and espe-
cfally the owner Of the other half of It.
When l reached the ranch found 1t
entirely In the hands of men. Asking
for Miss MacAlister, | was told that
she was visiting a ranch near by,
where there was a woman, since there
was no one Of her own sex at her own
home. I was further informed that she
had lived only among the men on the
ranch from the time she was Ave years
old. when her mother died, and her
father had the undivided care Of her.
She had never been away from home
till this visit.
/ sent to Miss MacAister a request
that she come home, since It was nee.
essary that we have business talk
together. She returned at once. On
the day Of her arrival was sitting on
the veranda of the ranch house. Be.
Ing just from the east, l was dressed
In eastern costume. Miss MacAlister
was robed in cowboy apparel Of fem
mime cut. She rode up to the house on
horseback, astride, and, fiinging her
right leg over the saddle, planted it on
the ground; then, taking the left foot
from the stirrup, she turned and came
up the steps.
Suddenly she stopped and looked me
over from my derby hat to my check
ed spats. Evidently she had never
seen one got up as l was before.
Are you Mr.. Millbank?" she asked.
II am" | replied, rising and making
a drawing room bow.
II did ma reckon | was to meet a
tenderfoot," she said, with Scotch
accent. Her father and mother had
been Scotch highlanders. Have they
taken guide care Of ye?"
| II think they have been waiting your
arrival to dispose Of me. Men are not
as well fitted as women for household
affairs"
II say" she said to several men
lounging about, what do you mean by
leaving the gentleman without room
and sumwhat to eat? Bestir your
selves and show him to the room his
father always had when he visited US!
Gang onv'
| To my horror the order was accom-
i po tod xxytth nf
ing from rosy little mouth, the most
inappropriate instrument in the world
for their conveyance. One Of the men
addressed shouldered my trunk, which
had thus far been left on the veranda,
and carried 1t to room on one side
Of the hall within. followed him and
made a toilet, donning flannel shirt
as a protection from the cold. While
doing SO heard Miss MacAlister talk
ing with some cowpunchers In the hall,
and, though her voice was musical, her
words did not differ from theirs.
There was the same cowboy nomen-
clature, the same slang and. what graf
ed most on my sensitive nerves, the
same oaths.
Now. II Miss MacAlister had been an
| angular, homely, coarse visaged wo-
man doubt II would have been
shocked. would simply have been
disguised. As 1t was. while ! was
Jared, I was fascinated. II this pref
| ty Scotch girls accent was bit like
finger on the strings of a mandolin
her oaths were the bitters In a sweet
drink. At any rate, they We're unique.
1t occurred to me that the daughter
OF gentleman brought up among
men. with no associates Of her own
sex, would naturally fall into their
ways. OF the two elements that go to
make up the social human being, hered.
ity and environment, the latter had the
field all to itself. Nevertheless, In Miss
MacAlister's case, heredity had not
been put out of the fight, for among
/ In cl