The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-25
EVENING STORY
Mountain House Joe.
BY LEON w. DEAN.


Copyright, 1918. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.)
Mountain House Joe he was called.
If it was an exclusive bit of scenery
you wanted. an exceptionally fine trout
or a deer in season Mountain House
Joe would see that you got it.
He was like any one of hundred
other Adirondack guides-and differ
ent. Just where the likeness left off
and the difference began it was hard
to tell, 1t wasn't in his clothes; posi-
bly, the way he carried them had some
thing to do with it. 1t wasn't in his
talk, altho the native vocabulary had
been considerably weeded and fertil-
lied. Perhaps it was because he was
I so everlaStingly clean about camp and
didn't begin to shirk once he had got
you into the woods Moreover, he did
things as tho his head wasn't used
solely as an ornament. Sitting around
the camp fire at night, you somehow
had the feeling that the man Iounging
a little apart from the rest was at bot
| tom as much gentleman as any of
| you. Whatever the reason, Mountain
| House Joe was considered the most
| popular guide in the mountains
One night in the rugged defiles of
! Indian Pass he gave US the first real
peep beneath the crust. We were look
ing away over a score of darkening
! mountain peaks to where Whiteface
| reared its lofty head, still strongly
etched against the northern sky.
"How sings Horace ?-'mundi moles
| operosa'-the toil-wright mass of the
world! 1 wonder what the old Roman
would say if he could look upon a
| sight such as this?''
1t was Lieutenant Golden who
| spoke.
/ Joe, squatting on his heels by the
| fire where he was preparing the eve
| ming meal, turned his head abruptly
| II he were modest he would say
that you had just given him credit for
what rightfully belongs to Ovid
| The temptation had proved too pro-
voking and our cook of many mer-
ry excursion had suddenly become
scholar of the classics. But straight
way lie was Mountain House Joe again
| and no amount of urging on our part
could Complete the metamorphosis.
| We were to stay in the Pass week,
when the ladies were to join us for
another before we turned to the city.
| The day they arrived Joe and
were out on a foraging expedition
from which we did not return until
after dusk. We could hear their
voices, sounding peculiarly sweet in
that wild spot, as we approached the
camp. At the edge of the clearing
pressed forward to greet them. and a
moment later turned with a flourish
to introduce Mountain House Joe, the
| best guide in the mountains
| Mountain House Joe was nowhere
on the landscape. gs a.z5,
| Some five minutes afterward I saw
| him come up under cover of the
smoke, carrying a large armful of
| firewood for which there was no
| earthly need.
| Joe was a man who knew his place
! and always kept it, but tonight his
efforts to keep aloof were so bald, so
| unlike himself and almost discourte-
Gus that the situation at times became
| rather embarrassing. We tried to
pass it off on the charge of bashfU.-
| ness, but 1 had my doubts.
| What the deuce is the matter with
| the fellow ?" whispered Charlie Osgood
after series of inglorious attempts
| to inveigle him into conversation. II IL
begin to think there is something in
| that old Indian legend after all, and
| that Joe is conspiring to ship US all
home minus our hair.
Despairing at length of a story from
joe which we had come to anticipate
as a part of the regular evening pro-
gram, we turned back to the papers
which the ladies had brought with
| them, now several days old.
1t was fall and the annual Yale
Harvard football battle was only a
few weeks distant. The papers were
full of it.
We were a Harvard crowd and felt
free to express our minds.
| "All Brickly," said Dick Valentine.
turning the pages, "all Brickly and
Harvard"
Say. how long has it been anyhow
| since Eli took a fall out of us?" asked
Charlie Osgood. 1--WE lost count. 1t
reminds me of dad. He says he has
had so many birthdays that he's lest
all track of them and doesn't knew
| where he is"
Even the girls were beginning to
chime in when up spoke Dell Fergu-
son. You could always figure on DelI's
| doing or saying the unexpected.
| h1i bioI,
| boys" she, said. I've noticed that it's
a pretty safe bet which end of the
score a weak Harvard team will be
holding but you can't always tell about
| Yale"
This from Dell was a cropper Dell
was quite the queen bee of our cotcrie
and we had taken her for granted in
| this as we had come to in other things
completely forgetting that she had not
always been one of us.
| 1t was Mrs. Mabel who broke the
| silence and saved the day. Mrs Ma
bel was Dicks wife but that didn't
| happen to- help Dick any in this in
| stance.
| She laughed, and when Mrs. Mabel
| laughs it is irresistible. We'll 1 guess
| we clean forgot that Cambridge was
not the center of the EARTH" she said
And it wasn't any farther back than
| our own day when the Blue was treat
| ing US as we are treating them. You
| don't forget Joe Chase. do you, boys"
1t was Dick who took the cue and
threw himself heroically into the
breach to her support.
Forget Joe Chase? 1 reckon not,
No Harvard man of our time is likely
/ to do that. He beat us for two years
with poor eleven behind him. No
We aren't forgetting Joe Chase"
Well continued Mrs. Mabel al
! think Dell knows even a little more
about Yale and Joe Chase than the
| rest of us. How about it,"
All eyes were turned inquiringly on
Dell.
! We were to have been married."
| she said simply.
/ I saw Mrs. Mabel color to the ear
tips. She had meant to join hands and
lead US all adroitly out of a dangerous
l situation only IN Wiffinglv q nlIInee