| CHRISTMAS ON { —a I || RANCH! ' * Theodore 112 «' Roosevelt J <» ——s * * How tho Ilonglt Rider, Ileforo ♦ J | He lie came President, Iteatocked J 4 > His Larder For a Yuletide Feaat A J * and Went Home Cold and Wet. J One December, while I was out on my ranch, so much work had to be done that U was within a week of Christmas be fore we were able to take any though! for the Christmas dinner. The wintef set in late that year and there had beef comparatively little cold weather, but one day the ice on the river had been sufficiently strong to enable us to liauf up a wagon load of flour, with enough salt pork to last through the winter, and a very few cans of tinned goods to be used at special feasts. We had some bushels of potatoes, the heroic victors of a struggle for existence, in which the rest of our garden vegetables had suc cumbed to drought, frost and grasshop pers, and we also had some wild plums and dried elk venison. But we had no fresh meat, and so one day my foreman and I agreed to make a hunt on the mor row. Accordingly one of the cowboys rode out in the frosty afternoon to fetch in the saddle baud from the plateau three miles off, where tlrey were grazing. It was necessary to get to tho hunting grounds by sunrise, and it still lacked a couple of hours of dawn when the fore man wakened me with a touch as I lay asleep beneath the buffalo robes. Dress ing hurriedly and breakfasting on a cup of coffee and some moutlifuls of bread and jerked elk meat, we slipped out to the barn, threw the saddles on the horses and were off. The air was bitterly chill. The cold had been severe for two days, so that the riv er ice would again bear horses. It had al ready frozen once anil then again thawed. Beneath the light covering of powdery enow we could feel the rough ground like wrinkled iron under tho horses' hoofs. There was no moon, but the stars shone brilliantly down through the cold, clear air, and our willing horses galloped swift ly across the long bottom on which the ranchhouse stood, threading their way deftly among the clumps of sprawling sagebrush. A mile off we crossed the river, the ice cracking with noises like pistol shots as our horses picked their way gingerly over it. On the opposite side was a dense jungle of bullberry bushes, and on breaking through this we found ourselves galloping up a long, winding valley which led back many miles into the hills. The crannies and lit tle side ravines were lillod with brush wood and groves of stunted ash. By this time there war; a faint Hush of gray in the cast, and as we rode silently along we could make out dimly the tracks made by the wild animals as they had passed and repassed in the snow. Several tim"' - we dismounted to examine them. A cou ple of coyotes, possibly frightened by our approach, had trotted and loped up tin? valley ahead of us. leaving a trail like that of two dogs. The sharper, more del icate footprints of a fox crossed our path, and outside one long patch of brushwood a series of rotuul imprints in the snow betrayed where a bobcat, as plainsmen term the small lynx, had been lurking around to try to pick up a rabbit or prai rie fowl. As the dawn reddened and it became light enough to sec objects some little way off we began to sit erect in our sad dles and to scan the hillsides sharply for sight of feeding deer. Hitherto we had seen no deer tracks save inside the bull berry bushes by the river, and we knew that the deer which lived in that impene trable jungle were cunning white tails and that in such a place they could only be hunted by the aid of a hound. But just befoie sunrise we came on three lines of li nit shaped footmarks in the snow which showed where as many deer had just crossed a little plain ahead of us. They were walking leisurely, and from the lay of the land we believed we would find them over the ridge, where THE I)l.Kit WAS DRESSED AND HUNG fl> ISY THE HIND LEeiS. there was a brush Coulee. Riding to one side of the tvail, we topped the little ridge just as the sun flamed up, a burn ing ball of criinf.ou, beyond the snowy waste nt our hacks. Almost immediately afterward i y companion leaped from his horse and rnis- d his rille. and as he pulled the trigger I saw through the twigs of a biusli patch on our left the erect, startled head of u young black tail doe as she turned to look at us, her great, muhd'ke ears thrown forward. The ball broke her neck, and she turned a complete somersault down the hill, while a sudden whins of underimisli 1)14 of tin' (light oi i- terrifii d coli pan ions. We tilth luto.hcd a.: 1 cullud out "Dinner!" as we sprang elowu toward her, and in :t few minutes she was dressed and hung up by the hind lop on a small ash tree. The entrails and viscera we threw off to one side after carefully poisoning them from a little bottle of strychnine which 1 had in my pocket. Almost every cattleman carries poison and neglects no chance of leav ing out wolf bait, for the wolves are sources of serious loss to the unfencod and unhoused (locks and herds. In this Instance we felt particularly revenge ful because it was but a few days since we had lost a fine yearling heifer. The tracks on the hillside where the car cass lay when we found it told the story plainly. The wolves, two in number, had crept up close before being discovered «nd then raced down on the astonished heifer almost before she could get fairly Started. One brute had hamstrung her with a snap of his viselike jaws, and once down she was torn open in a twinkling. No sooner was the sun up than a warm west wind began to blow in our faces. The weather had suddenly changed, and before an hour the snow was beginning to thaw and leave patches of bare ground I CAUGHT THE CJLIXT OF A ISUCK'H HORNS, on the hillsides. We left our coats with our horses and struck off on foot for a group of high buttes cut up by the cedar canyons and gorges in which we knew the oid bucks loved to lie. It was noon before we saw anything more. We lunch ed at a clear spring, not needing much time, for all we had to do was to drink a draft of icy water and munch a strip of dried venison. Shortly afterward, as we were moving along a hillside with silent caution, we came to a sheer canyon of which the opposite face was broken by little ledges grown tip with wind beaten cedars. As we peered over the edge my companion touched my arm and pointed silently to one of the ledges, and instant ly I caught the glint of a buck's horns as he lay half behind an old tree trunk. A slight shift of position gave me a fair shot slanting down between his shoul ders, and, though he struggled to his feet, he did not go fifty yards after receiving the bullet. This was all we could carry. Loading tho horses around, we packed the buck behind my companion's saddle and then rode back by the doe, which I put behind n.ine. But we were not destined to reach home without a slight adventure. When we got to the river, we rode boldly on the ice, heedless of the thaw, and about mid way there was a sudden, tremendous crash, and men, horses and deer were scrambling together in the water amid slabs of floating ice. However, it was shallow, and no worse results followed than some hard work and a chilly bath. But what cared we? We were returning triumphant with our Christmas dinner. — Philadelphia Times. I.omJoii's ( hi'lstmr.s Pnddinjt. Many grave and reverend persons can recall tlie excitement of that moment when they were invited into the kitchen to stir the Christmas pudding, and though the day for them is passed when stirring and even eating the pudding brings any delight they may be interested to learn from The Master Raker that if all the puddings made in England in honor of Christmas were rolled into one the total freight would be 7,58!) tons. It should encourage poultry farmers to learn that in the making of this monster no fewer than 32,000,000 eggs are used. Tlint Wom Ilix Idea. "Look here, Mr. Ilojack," said Mrs. Hojaek, "1M like to know why you asked me what I wanted for a Christmas pres ent if you intended to get something en tirely different V" "I wanted to surprise you, dear," was Hojack's unsatisfactory reply. Merry C!i risl miiN! Many hundred years ago, Where Judiean rivers flow, Early, e'er the morning light Made the eastern hilltops bright, Hose a star whose radiance mild Shone upon a little ehild. Hosting in a lowly manger Wise men found the little stranger. Yonder by the star's soft light Shepherds watched their flocks by night. Chatting there upon the ground. 1.0, they hear a wondrous tound! Hi ;h in air and coining near, Angel u.ices swe t and clear, Ham: th.* "lad song from the sky, ••(•lory Into God on high, In the caith fjood will abound, IV.it. and joy be ever found!" Sin:r we now as tlicy Ran;? then, "IV:H ~ on earth, R/.od will to men!" This i& why the j»v b. Us ring: This W why the children sing. Merry Christmas, one and all! Merry ( hri*tmas, gr. at and small! As the an vis ft. m above Sang (112 our U demur's love, So on all {-lad Christmas days We will sing the Saviour's praise! I -Uoßton Herald. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1901. ££S ggj SDE3OO3NTID £(g lIANNIVERSfIRY.iI ~\)V years ago we opened our store to the public. Our stock|\vas entirely new and up-to-date. The I People quickly saw the sudden drop in prices and of course, patronized us liberally. The result is, -[\3 SSSjj 4 that we have been forced to build a large ware-house to hold a reserve stock for this sale. We thank if s. "* you for your generous patronage and hope to merit your future favors, and to show our appreciation of i r^, same, we are goin» to make this-ANNIVERSARY SALE long remembered in Cameron county. Wish- ffSIT ing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will now quote you prices that will certainly surprise and please you: i| IT IS CONCEDED WE ARE HEADQUARTERS FOR SUITES, || |gg SIDEBOARDS AND ODD DRESSERS. WE MANUFACTURE THEM. § pjl GOLDEN OAK m bed room n - S GA,NS flfi || SUITE ' Lik BEVEL GLASS. BEAUTIFUL COUCHES LIKE CUT, f[gg IV— Six Rows Deep Tufting, | 0 |1 T °P Drawers IRON Beds, j 112 Cui > Igj QSd I Double Swell, \ Like cut, !\ )\ 111/ fQ IE | m | $7.00. raSp-i $2.50. - i : L,. _ j { 111 Goll,en ° Bk | flj I [ Solid Oak, Hell Quartered • 11 | j likecut - (J I Rack. Oak Stand \ JjlM'mJi Cane or j Vcr y If Like I Cushion, jjh 4j) I Fine. jnl".— n U *' • H «i en §4 Wyj $l - 50 - y^-i $6.00. 1 ! j& F& yi_ __J ss s 1 UNDERTAKING. 112 RESIDENCE UPSTAIRS. OPEN ALL NIGHT NEXT TO 01»I> FELLOWS BI.OCK. I THE EMPORIUM FURNITURE COMPANY, | B8! BGKNARD KGAN, Manager. >: || JOHN CRUISE, H R. H. HIRSCH, I|| Fourth Street, Emporium, Pa. || y IEWELEH ANI) SILVERSMITH. V || BE'PP'S OLD STAND. 15