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Copyright, lUU7, by Wright A.
When Billy carao in from the corral
"he had evolved the "great Idea." And
it was all for the happiness of one
'"Monty" Levering, once known as
A. Montague Levering, hut who had
recently taken up the glorious occu
pation of a cow puncher, and who —
but that la getting ahead of the story.
The girl lived in Boston, and her
(father was a judge and rich, which
is truly an unusual condition for most
judges. She was young, petite, and
her cheeks were as red as the au
tumn apple. When she smiled her
•teeth were as pearls, and when she
laughed the spring-time brook was
•shamed in comparison. At least this
was the description that rested snugly
in the sentimental part of "Monty's"
mind: the picture that caused him to
hesitate many times before he en
gaged in the usual ' puncher" pas
times.
"Monty" was at Harvard when he
met her, and he had called at her
home several times. But when his
father took the receiver's route the
judge decided that any such thing as
an affair between the young people
must end. And so "Monty," in the
depth of his despair, went to the west.
"It will never be anyone but you,
Monty, dear," she told him. "No mat
ter how long it may be, or how far
away you are, I will come to you
if you need me."
"But I neeu you now," protested
"Monty." "I l.ved you every min
ute; I will need vou forever."
"Yes, dear," sht. replied, "but we
must wait awhile and we will surely
find a way."
So "Monty" rode the whole day
Jong among the cattle, repairing count
less miles of fence, listening to the
wails of the homeless kyote, and
thinking, thinking, thinking. As the
■days rolled by a look of despair set
tled in his blue eyes, and the boys
at the ranch held innumerable coun
cils of war to determine ways and
means of rendering assistance. They
knew his story. It was told by a let
ter which one of the men had acci
dentally opened. And there is noth
ing like the mute sympathy of the
puncher. It is equal to any emer
gency; it is from the heart of nature.
So when Billy McDermott con
•reived the Idea there was an Imme
diate conference of the clans.
""Monty" was out at the other end of
the ranch, so the secret was safe.
"It's as plain as the nose on your
,£ace," declared Billy, vehemently, as
•"Tske Another Look!" yelled the
Amazed Billy.
fee reached for papers and tobacco.
"He's stuck on this here feminine
parcel in the east, ain't he? Sure.
She's stuck on him, ain't she? Sure.
Now, I've figured this here thing out.
Says I to myself, all you got to do
is to fix up a little romance In this
business and you got 'em coming,
see? Now, again I says to myself,
» how we all goin' to get this here ro
mance? And then it all comes to me."
"Kindly cut out this promiscous
brandin' and ante up what you got
to say," growled Shorty, who was get
ting impatient about the particular
kind of romance which the speaker
had prepared.
"Hold your horses, sonny," admon
ished Billy. "This here thing de
mands some educidatin' before such
feeble minds as yours can grasp it,
huh? But, as I was sayin' 'fore this
maverick interrupted me, the only
thing to do is to get a fine romance.
Now, what I wants to know is, when
is Easter coming? Does any of
you gang know?"
Nobody knew, but Shorty finally
solved the problem by declaring that
there was an old almanac hidden some
place about his belongings.
After a frantic search that work of
literature was discovered securely hid
den beneath two pairs of boots and a
!, Mexican saddle.
The almanac was perused carefully
and concisely. And the Easter date
was found,
s "That figures out just right," de
\ clared the plotting Billy. "My scheme
\ Is this. Every woman likes to be
married on Easter. There's somethin'
about it that appeals to the feminine
•nature. So the thing we'll do is to
write this lady a letter, tellin' her all
about Monty's just about ready togo
to the dogs and that serious things
will happen if she don't putin ap
pearance and marry him. That'll gain
her sympathy. Then we'll tell her
that on Easter day we'll meet her at
Arapahoe with Monty and a minister,
and all will be merry. Do you catch
me? The whole thing will appeal to
her romantic natur, and I'll bet a hun
dred she comeß. What do you say?"
Needless to say the plan appealed to
everybody present, and after many
laborious hours the following epistlo
was penned and addressed to Miss
Helen Oldham, 18 Alston court, Boston:
Miss Helen Oldham, 18 Alston Court.
Boston:
Dear Miss: Us boys thinks Monty Sev
ering is about the best there Is. But we
are a heap sorry to say that he is near
ly ready to jump oft at the jumping off
place because he cannot marry you. Now
if you are stuck on him like he iB on
you, we have a plan which we will now
disclose. On Easter day we Is all go
ing to the Arapahoe, taking Monty with
us. If you are on the California Limited,
which stops there for water, we will be
present with a minister and you and
Monty can be properly spliced without no
trouble. We are wrltln' this from the
depths of our hearts and we hope you
will see that things is urgent. Answer
as soon as possible.
Yours For Keeps
THE BOYS OF BXB.
Address Billy McDermott.
P. S.—Monty don't know nothing about
this.
When Monty rode into the head
quarters next day he was greeted
with an unusual display of warmth
and feeling. He noticed, however, that
there were many mysterious whis
pers.
"What's the matter with you fel
lows?" he demanded, when he discov
ered Billy and Shorty with their
heads together that evening after din
ner. "You look like you're plotting
to shoot me up at the first chance.
Come on and tell me what's up."
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS , THURSDAY, APRIL i 6, 1908.
iEasfrrttte
"Goon, now, you old Harvard dude."
mimicked Shorty, a3 he hastily
dodged out of reach of Monty's boot.
"Can't two fellers talk secrets without
you buttiu' in? And you just wait
awhile. Maybe we're talkin" 'bout
you, after all."
After a certain period of time had
elapsed, and the boys had com
menced to grow uneasy, a letter came
addressed to Billy.
"Your matchmaking methods aro un
usual, to say the least," the letter stated.
"But I believe you are honest and good
and you cause me to trust In you Implic
itly. If Monty needs me I will come. I
want to say that I will marry him If he
hasn't a cent In the world. My father
goes to New Orleans next week to bo
gone a month. And I will be on the Cali
fornia Limited when It stops at Arapa
hoe on Easter day. I have always want
ed to be married on Easter. It Is so good
and Bacred that I know nothing bad can
come when one is wedded on that day.
You are friends of Monty's and I know
God will bless you.
"HELEN OLDHAM."
When the reading of the letter was
finished the boys took their hatß off
and three rousing cheers and a tiger
were given for the writer.
"I'd steal that girl myself, if I waa
younger," declared Billy.
When Easter day dawned, eight
good men and true rode into Arapa
hoe with Monty in their midst, an in
nocent and unsuspecting person. The
day was radiant with sunshine, and
the prairie flowers were just begin
ning to blossom out in all their glory.
As Shorty remarked, "things looked
ripe for weddin'B and such."
Rev. Augustus Thomas was merely
told that he was to perform a mar
riage ceremony, and he was happy
and pleased to render any assistance
possible. The license had been se
cured and every detail had been prop
erly attended to. So when the train
pufTed into the station, Monty was
under close guard to prevent his
wandering away. The surprise, as
Billy figured it, was to be complete.
And when the train stopped at the
watering tank the passengers were
surprised to see two ferocious and
dust-stained cowboys pass down the
aisles, carefully examining every face.
But when the last coach waa reached
•'Monty" Rode the Whole Day Long
Among the Cattle.
these two gentlemen appeared and
called loudly for assistance.
"She-ain't there," was the solemn
declaration.
"Take another look," yelled ■ the
amazed Billy, "I'll hold the train or
there'll be an engineer and fireman
slaughtered."
But Miss Helen Oldham was no
where to be found. She was not
aboard the limited, that was sure. Tor
every nook and cranny of the train
had boon carefully searched, and the
passengers were beginning to think
that a regulation hold-up was in
progress.
"Kools, fools, fools," shrieked the
frantic Monty, when the mysterious
proceedings were explained to him.
"Don't you know that Easter hap
pened last Sunday? My poor Helen,
what must she have thought? What
shall I do?"
And he buried his face in his hands
and almost sobbed, while eight cow
punchers stood about in exceedingly
embarrassed attitudes.
"It's all that almanac of yours,"
sighed Hilly, looking daggers at the
miserable Shorty. "Ain't you got any
better sense than to not know that
Easter doesn't come on the same day
every year?"
While every one was blaming every
one else and while the wild-eyed
Monty paced up and down the plat
form, a special delivery letter was
handed to Mr. McDermott. It was
from Miss Oldham, and it read:
"I am In San Francisco at my aunt's,
and I have forever lost faith in mankind.
I thought you were honest and good and
I ttnd that you play a miserable Joke
on an Innocent girl. I had determined to
go back home and never mention this
again. But I am writing to ask you If
you have any explanation to make. X
have thought that there might have bean
some accident. If the whole thing was a
joke, you need not answer this letter."
With a wild yell, Monty sprang to
the telegraph office and the following
message to Miss Helen Oldham was
hurriedly dispatched:
"Am coming to you on the next train.
"MONTY."
And after hours of waiting Monty
boarded the express, which seemed
to run at a snail's pace, and eight
good men and true rode slowly out of
the town. ,
"I want all you boys to hear me,"
solemnly declared the mournful Billy,
as the gang assembled after supper,
"and be it known by these presents
that if I ever again attempt to fix up
an Easter romance, I hope I'm shot
for a rustler."
Exactly one week after the abovo
mentioned occurrences Mr. Billy Mc-
Dermott again was the recipient of a
special delivery letter which the "old
man" brought out from town. It
was from Monty.
"Good boys," it read, "you have all
the cupids that ever existed beaten to
a stop. Miss Helen Oldham is now
Mrs. Monty Levering, thank you, and
we are starting for Boston to-morrow.
Judge Oldham has wired his forgive
ness, and I'm afraid I will never again
punch cows. Mrs. Levering and I
expect to pay you all a visit, however,
some time in the future. But until
then good-by. Regards to everybody."
"Well, I'll be darned," was the only
expression that Mr. Bill McDermott
could give to his feelings.
And every Easter there is a big box
of carnations and many, many edibles
sent out all the way from Boston to
the ranch where Mr. Billy McDermott
holds proud and lofty sway.
THE LILIES.
Pale, with the coldness of death In their
pallor,
Dimly they gleam thro' the shadowy
dawn;
Drooping in grief at the tomb of the
Master,
Drooping and pulseless, and waxen and
wan.
Red grows the dawn and the shadows
are flying,
Hark to the anthem that peals from
above!
Wake ye and rouse ye—mourn not for the
Master!
Kent are His cerements, for Death
yields to Love!
Lift up your chaplets, ye virginal
lilies.
Flowers of the Rising that nature holds
dear;
Preach in your sweetness from chancel
and altar.
Spread the glad tidings that Easter Is
here.
Tell it, ye voices. In carol and anthem,
Sing it, and ring It from Bteeples that
sway;
Tell it with carol and chiming and lily-
Flower of the sepulcher, flower of the
day!
At the Council of Nice.
The arrangement for determining
the date upon which Easter shall be
celebrated was inaugurated at the
council of Nice in 325.
Fixing Easter Day.
Easter day is the first Sunday after
the fourteenth day (not the full moon)
of the calendar moon whioh happens
on or next after March 21.
Hint to the Fastidious.
Since milk bottles are Invariably
handled by the top fastidious women
will wash off the bottle before remov
ing the paper cap.
112 -MS WTTH
jrPpfVrp "cwczf&r 0
Tough Luck.
I haf 2 make thee Garden now and can't
play bait a tall.
1 wisht thee Spring hail never Cum If 1
can't heed her Call!
Thee Kids hez gone a-l"ishin' where thee
Yellow bullhead feeds
While I am forced 2 stay at Houm anil
plant these dog-gone seeds.
I haf 2 spade thee Pesky ground and
smooth it on thee Top,
and then i Haf 2 round it Up and plant
thee Onion Crop,
there's radisfies and P>-as and Beans and
sweet corn 2 B sewed,
a bed for every vegTabul that ever yet'a
been growed!
ma stands eround and bosses Me and
maikes me Hustel 2.
she sez that workin' In thee Ground Is
good fer boys 2 do,
and thinks that Slaving now and thea
will Maike me prize thee Day
when i don't haf a thing 2 do but fool
thee Time away!
she sez that when thee Kumpny comes
she'll tell 'em It was Ml 3
that raised thee Radishes and things:
"Gist look at this one! See!"
but 1 don't care fer praise AHEAD an'
Kumpny cums 2 stay
when I could let this garden go and play
base-Ball TODAY!
®-$-®
Saving the Country.
According to the late Whitelaw
the girl graduate of to-day would better
learn how to hit divorce in the solar
plexus than find Italy lying beyond the
Alps. Mr. Reid admits with entire
abandon that the rapids are below us
and below the rapids is a barbed wire
fence loaded with javelins. ,
☆ ☆ ☆
Real refinement, says Mr. Reid, is
what the young women of this land
should sow in the hot-beds of their
characters, rather than seeds to the
whirlwind of empty vanity and a de
sire to get their busts portrayed in a
society newspaper of a Sunday morn
ing. Whitelaw comes down on the
"vain pomp and glory of this world"
like a hired man slapping a holstein
heifer on the back with a wet board.
Much work must be done, he avows,
to rescue us from the eddying whirl
pools of false gods and fluctuating
femininity. The girl graduate, with
woman's white hand, must awake and
pluck us from the maelstrom of na
tional error and boarding house hash.
We need higher ideals, and incident
ally, a few more buttons on the back
band of our pantaloon seats; fewer
divorces, fewer shingle nails and
firmer allegiance to the old truism
"the foot that rocks the cradle rules
the world!" With 654,000 persons
divorced in this country in th« last
twenty years, and more bills for ab
solution of the marriage ties pending,
the domestic statistics are getting BO
muddled that no child, however wise,
can tell its own father.
ft ft ft
Mr. Reid Is entirely right. The»
sweet girl graduate in her curl paper
friizes and taffeta gown should desist
in hitching her automobile to the
stars. The boulevards to the ethereal
■kles are already too crowded. What
we need in this country Is a woman
who will guarantee chastity, forbear
ance and clean laundry Sundays,
Wednesdays and Fridays, home-made
biscuits four times a week and a coo
ing disposition that will take the kinks
out of dyspepsia and make this world
happy though married. Until thea
we are sadly and irretrievably lostt
Let us hear from the ladies. Are they
for us or against us?
®—®—o
Turn Backward, O Skipper.
The sky to tha west Is blue,
With sometimes a cloud betide.
The hills are of em'rald hue.
All clothed in a gown of pride!
The oak and the poplar wave.
With cherry and elm and ash.
Deep nooks that the first fires gave
When God had unloosed the leash, I
Are carpeted o'er with moss!
The delle are a-bloom with flow'rs
While bees to the toss
Their songs In the busy hours!
And youth at the barefoot stage,
Conversant with all. Is there,
A-sport where the riffles rage.
At rest where the sand is bare!
• • •
I know where this Eden lies!
'Tis where I, a boy, was free
To play at "The Bend" I prize '
When now I am out at sea!
Far out from the home I knew.
Far out past the beacon light,
I pray, O Ye Skipper true.
Turn backward for just to-night!
Locating a Public Square.
Here's a puzzle for Uncle By. Tha
Daily Oklahoman says:"The Temple
(Okla.) men did not shirk their duty
when a negro Insulted a white woman
there, and when she could not identify
him the men rounded up 11 nesroes and
beat them in the public square." Now
we want Uncle By to tell us where a ne
gro's "public square" Is.—Selling tOkla.>
Messenger.
If these negroes were grocery-store
nibblers I should say that a negro's
public square would be just back of
his private roundhouse.
® —®—®
Botany.
A professor of botany was recently lec
turing in an lowa city. In his discourse
he attempted to show the great value of
flowers and their near relationship to
human beings. He concluded his re
marks by saying: "The Lord that made
me made a daisy." Whereupon some one
in the audience called out; "You b«t he
did!" It was several minutes before U*e
professor discovered why every ona
laughed.—Times, Madison, Ohio.
© —$ —®
Slightly Mutilated.
When we think what the dog did to
the following advertised-for stock, we
do not wonder that the sows left
borne;
9