The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 19, 1898, Page 31

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 1898. 31 jaReRegugel o NC little boy had a vision. He entle little boy, but Fate ed upon him to fill a place history of the world. He garden, listening to the and the musical plash- basins of - sparkling e aroused him from dream. b 1 Time,” said the {ce. “and I must show you some Dic- real.” , and behold! There ked like himself; wore a crown on s and scores of fine utiful ladies bowed He was told that ave men would fight and ; and that wherever an foams around the world be carried. ! ApDY- was only one boy v who was to be ad vanished; but still the , who said that his name surrounded by in all_flowers bon earth were 1o be was filled with beau- beautiful plctures tringed instruments as very pleas- randed the voice. tle boy went in and ictures. One show- ¢ A and figure, stand- ing on the deck of a caraval, or small ship. Heé commanded a small fleet of and they were ocean so wide that it > boundary of the another pic- ame man, his N holding re all armed. nd wc who car- this of Amer " So boy looked at piec- I he knew of the who discovered angelus le minds of ff land. s of great d upon an - ar- which ilory?” asked the not what that is. Tell me.” the voice only said “that you will stand better by and by; now go ) the garden more he pla or_hin ed in the cool shad- Once more the birds and once more he was scenes of battles and ship . THE LIVELY BUMPKINS ARE PRACTICING AS AN ARTILLERY BATTALION TO GET READY TO FIGHT WITH REAL BIG CANNONS, [R=R=geReR =g 32 oF-F-F T -Fot-F R o R R FoR-R R R R 5 R F-Fo g T THE CUBAN RED ROSE. fed ffcfegeFaFeFufaFeRegugeFegegeFegaFuloRoRoReReReReR e ReReR e FuRaBeR Rl ] 308 308 1% X% wreck were forgotten by him as he ran gaily about; for children on forget sorrows—even their own—when pleas- ure is present. month after month passed merrily by and he had grown to be.quite a large boy. How kind every one was to him! How anxious they should be strong and wise! pretty clothes he had, with sword dangling at his side! all were that and pretty Surely he was the happiest and gayest and most favored boy upon all the great eart Surely the boy he had seen in a vision, and who had been called a king, no bappier. Ladies and gentlemen as called *_h,— o they howled oftener. ibreeze. fall. I sincerely = believe that I went nearly as fast as one mile per minute for hours at a time. I fancied that I heard a booming sound—the billows breaking in the wintry gal: beyond the ediglzf of the ice—and my heart stood st “There was land ahead, a high prom- ontory. I must skate out beyond it or presently be dashed to pleces on its rocky soll. As I started to do this the wolves barked gleefully, and I did not fail to guess their meaning. While I was forced to make a detour of several miles they made a short'cut over the land, so that when I rounded the point they had gained so much that I thought that all was over. But once more the wind helped to give me the advantage, and the race was resumed. “But a new danger threatened me. In spite of myself and the peril by which I was threatened, I began to be drowsy. This meant that I was freez- ing. I skated madly, wildly, to make my chilled blood circulate faster. All in vain. The drowsiness grew upon me and I felt an inclination to lie down and go to sleep. Did the wolves know of my condition? I think they did, for Did you ever see a vessel without a pilot ‘yaw’ in a stiff My legs trembled under me as the result of the long strain and excitement and I frequently almost lost control of myself and went off on long curves, which caused the wolves to gain once more. “I thought of hor e and friends and wondered what Ed would think had become of me. I shouted and the wolves answered me with feroclous howls. Mile after mile was passed by. The shore of the lake, when I was able to catch a glimpse of it, showed that it was thickly ‘wooded and there was no doubt that the trackless wilderness was near. My eyes would close; strange sounds were ringing in my ears. In sheer desperation I hummed “‘Yankee Doodle,’ that being the only tune I could then remember. “What a shock I experienced. The earth seemed to rise up and strike the sky. I had a sensation of falling, fail- ing—as if from a great height. Then came unconsciousness. ~When I re- covered my senses two Indians wazre beating me vigorously. They wera the chief of the village and his brother. ‘When I had recognized them I became once more unconscious and. remained so several hours. The Indians managed to bring me around. When I was able to move, which was not until two days later, they told me their story. “After I had gone from their village they started off up the lake to attend some fish traps that they had put through the ice the day before. The traps were some miles from their vil- lage. They found that they had caught many fish. When they had gathered these up and had reset their traps they were ready to go home. But the wind was against them and they could go only slowly. “They kept close together and were skating homeward in the storm—no Indian loses his way—when the chief heard the howlin~ of the wolves that were chasing me. Directly after I came flying by. My skates struck a rough place and threw me high in the air. The wolves, seeing the two Indians, turned back and skulked off, in the darkness, not being ' very numerous, without their expected supper. “The Indiuns paid all their attention to me and took me to a cabin five miles distant, upon the shore, There ‘hey brought me back to life. “I have seen many exciting races, but none in which my own stake was so Heavy as that race on Lalg Superlor with a pack of wolves.” see the real King upon his throne. So young, apd vet a King. He smiles as the gay fadies and gentlemen pass by and hand him flowers, which he spor- tively weaves into a wreath for hishead. White and pink roses are there; roses the color of gold; roses with odors like the Vale of Cashmere. Brave music is playing and mirth is unbounded. But hark! Into the'throne room steals a sound of weeping and the dark eyed woman sobbing enters. 1In her hands are the rarest es—with thorns sharp as swords—that the young King had ever seen. “Beware.” A strange voice was heard, but the boy King did not heed. How thin the dark eyed woman has grown. She looks starved and we: but she holds her ro: until the bo; them The odor makes From his head falls his crown; from his hands tumbles his scepter. The men and es cannot are lost! Faded, too, as It a vision? THE GEOMETRICAL BUG. Cut out the various wings, legs and horns of this bug and rearrange in the exact shape of a baseball or perfect circle. 1f “king,” but that must be in But one day he was again dreaming in the garden and he once more heard the voice of Time saying—"look.” There was that older boy once more— the real boy king. There he was play- ing in this very garden and beside him walked a beautiful woman, brown of face, with long, black hair falling in a mass upon her shapely shoulders, with sparkilng, angry eyes as black as mid- night. See! She loiters by the way plants a rose bush. sobs and waters tears. and Look again; she bush with her Her young companion has left her and his voice is heard Inside of the throne room of the palace. -~ P Enter and e e A “Who was the boy King?” asks our little friend of the garden. “Thou, Alphonse, King of -Spain,” said the voice of Time, piteously. “I? _I—oh, have mercy; it éannot be I But, tell me, what is the deadly flower that lost the crown and scepter?” Again the voice answered: “The blood red rose of Cuba.” D H W. - The little four-year-old daughter of a clergyman, after listening to her father preach one Sunday morning for quite a while, finally became restless, and climbing up on the seat, she exclaimed: “Come on, papa, you've sald enough; let's go home!” % [=R=FegeR=FeFRegeTaPetoRoRoFoFFotugegegegegeFeogegePopgegegegeegagad © A RACE WITH WOLVES, faf==Fege] HILE we were in my cabin in the Sierra, so sald Uncle Ben, the weather grew colder and colder. The pine trees, cov- ered with icicles, were like huge Christmas trees, and as the icicles clinked together the night before Christmas they made us all think of jolly old Santa Claus and the bells on his reindee The cold wind piped merry tunes about our stout old cabin. “Sure enough,” said Tom Nelson, as he tipped his chair back against the wall, near the stove, and sighed in com- fort, “this is Christmas eve. Two years ago I was alone ‘at night skating on Lake Superfor. Ah! That was the night I will never forget.” “No, I should say not,” piped in Ed Martin of Santa Barbara, “that was the night the wolves chased you.” Uncle Ben coaxed for the story, and Tom told of an exciting adventure in which he was an actor. 4] went out skating in the morning, leaving the village where I had been stopping for a few days. The day was clear, 1 was fond of skating, the ice was in fine condition, and I had the promise of fine sport. 1 skated along easily, mile after mile, enjoying the scenery, and by noon was at an Indian village forty miles away. There I talked with the Indians and they asked me to eat with them. We had nice ven- ison and fish that they had caught through the ice and some roasted ground nuts. The chief’'s squaw was a good cook and everything was right for my palate. “After eating I could not very well run away at once, although I was anx- jous to start, for I thought I saw signs of a snow cloud coming down from the north. I remained until T had done all that politeness could require, and then said that I would go. “‘Go, no, no,’ satd the chief and his squaw at once. ‘There is deep snow coming, and you will be lost and per- haps fall through the holes n the ice cut by the fishermen and be drowned. Stay with us until the storm is over.’ “But I was resolute about going. I had promised Ed Martin that I would be back at night so that we might start bear hunting the next day, and al- though I doubted whether the snow that was coming might not put an end to our hunting expedition for the pres- ent, I wished to keep my promise. Be- sides, I was too vain to admit that I was afraid. The lce was clear of snow. The wind was in the right direction to help me along, and I figured that the forty miles distance between me and my destination could be covered in two hours and a half at the outside. “All the Indians sald had no effect, and I was off, with their farewells lin- gering In my ears as my skate steels slid along the ice smooth- lv. I knew as well as they did “that a storm would come soon, but believed that it would not prove to be a serious matter. The wind cut like a knife and so I rolled my fur cap closely about my face to protect it from the frost, as I skated, and kept well off from_ shore that I might get all the help Possible from the wind. Very soon there was a gale blowing and 1 was making great headway and was laughing at the fears expressed by the Indians, when suddenly the snow began to fall. “The snow was so thick that it half suffocated me, for the wind came at times in swirls and acted queerly, pitching the snowflakes into my face and so showing that it was turning. I was alarmed at this, for I knew per- fectly well that If the wind should be against me, blowing at Iits present speed, I might not reach home by dark. Indeed, although it was far from night, P it gy o 2 darkness began to fall even now. I could hardly see the shore. If I lost sight of that I would have no guide and might skate off into the cold waters of the great lake and be drowned, miser- ably, like a rat, in the night. “There are very few faster orstronger skaters than I am. althoush I say it. I bent to work and soon had the pleasure of seeing the shore line through the rapidly falling snowflakes not far away. But by the time I could see it the wind had completely turned about £ not half way home when this happened. My wisest course would have been to have turned back toward the Indian village, but my foolish pride prevented. “With the wind dead against me it was ‘hard work making any progress. What will not a man do when it.is a question of life and death? I was only a boy, but the spirit of a man was mine then. Keeping as near the shore as possible I pushed ahead, but often the gale. would bring me to a full stop and progress was now slow. Looming up ahead of me in the half darkness was a high point partly covered with trees. The point projected into the lake nearly a mile. An old backwoodsman had a cabin on the point and I now deter- mined to pass the-night there. “The snow had gathered a little on the ice, so that I skated along in silence, not hearing the crisp cutting of the ice by the well seasoned steel. Still the gale kept the snow moving so that I could skate. The trees on the point were ghostly and threatening enough in their dress of snow as I drew near enough to make them out. But what was that? I knew the sound well—the sharp -velping of wolves! They were coming toward me from the direction of the point. “All thought of keeping on now left me. I turned sharply about, skated boldly out from the shore at the top of my speed, and letting the wind blow full upon my back at last headed, as best I could judge, once more in the direction of the Indian village. How I then wished that I had remained In that village, as the Indians had ad- vised me! It was too late for regrets. I knew that my life depended upon skating rapidly and keeping my feet. Should I fall the wolves would be upon me before I could rise, and they would mercilessly tear me to pleces! “I could not see the wolves, but knew that they would never give up. the chase as long as there was any chance to catch me. They were hungry and tireless. The only advantage I had over them consisted in my skates, upon which T now coasted with the speed of an iceboat, for I found that they were falling behind, and so held out my arms from my sides and sailed before the wind, reserving my strength for the time when I might sorely need it. “The rascals never despaired. Th struck their gait and ‘stayed with it," as the phrase goes. Their sharp barks and longer howls were seldom heard. They knew that they had a long chase and doubtless wondered what sort of a being I was to go so much faster upon ice than they could. The darkness grew thicker. I could see the shore line only at times; only where the land rose ab- ruptly into high hills. Soon all land- marks were lost, and I knew that I would not be able to find the Indian village that night. “Imagine yourself flying along that great inland sea in gathering darkness —the greatest fresh water sea on earth —with the knowledge that you might at any second skate over flawy ice, break through and be drowned, or have the distressing knowledge that should you come to lumpy ice you must certainly THE VERY BRAVE LITTLE SOLDIER. BY FRANCIS LEE LLOYD. NCE upon a time there was a lit- tle boy; he wanted to go to war, but his father would not let him go. That night, after everybody had gone to bed, he put on his clothes and ran away. Next morning his mother went into little Jack’s room to see if he was_up. “Where is Jack?” she said. All this time Jack was riding away on the cars. Finally he came to the sol- diers’ camp and then he went down to the store and bought some soldiers’ clothes. Next he went to another store and bought a sword and gun. Then he went back to the soldiers’ camp and knocked on the general's tent. The general said: ‘““Who is there?” ‘A little soldier,” he replied. little soldier?” the general sald. “Yes,” sald Jack. You can’t fight,” said the general. es I can,” sald Jack. “Well, we will see what you can do,” said the general. So after awhile the band began play- ing and out came ail the soldiers. The lags were waving and the men got all their guns ready to fight. The Span- ish soldiers were coming closer and closer. And then they began firing. Jack could hardly hold his gun. So loading his gun he lay on the ground and pulling the trigger he blazed away. It frightened him a little. All this time the general wondered what he was do- ing, so the general began hunting for him and found him loading his gun. He said, “Well, youngster, what are you doing now?” “Can’t you see,” said Jack. \ “Have you killed any men?” aske the general. “Yes, I did,” said Jack. “We are going to march on and you can go with us,” said the general. So all the men shouldered their guns and on they marched. Finally they came to the place they wanted. They staked their tents and the soldiers rested and took a smoke. Next the men were getting ready again to fight. They got behind the trees and fired away. Now it is drawing toward night. Poor Jack had no comfortable bed; but had to lie on the hard ground. Next morning they got up and ate their breakfast of coffee and beans and dry bread. Not much for poor Jack. But Jack did not care very much be- cause he was so happy he was a truly soldier. They had a big battle that day. Jack killed twelve men. He was so brave the general made him a lleutenant. The soldiers all cheered him. That night he went to bed again. In the morning he woke up and heard the band of the enemy way off. Up he jumped with his gun and found the other soldiers waiting for him. A fierce battle took place. Little Jack blazed away and killed sixty-one men and that night the general promoted him to a captain. And now he rode on a fine horse and had a great big gun and sword. The Spaniards are mnearly all killed. The Americans have beaten in the war and the men shouldered their guns and marched for home. Jack on a big brown horse led the way to the streets of the town where Jack lived. The people were on each side of the street, cheering Captain Jack, and when he got home his mother was glad to see him again. Jack was in the army ever after. THE SAD END OF A HUNTER. BY HAMILTON V. BRYAN. HERE was a boy and his name was George. He liked to hunt. One Saturday he took hisgun and went. When he got to the woods he heard a growl. It was a bear. The boy was only five feet away. The bear made a spring at him, but he jumped to one side and ran. After he got two or three miles away he & hy N U 7, stopped and saw six qualils on a branch. He said, “I am going to shoot them.” He aimed at them and shot two and the others flew away. He went home and found his house was burned down, so he had no place to sleep, and he had to lie on the ground and a bear came along and ate him up. 1&§OTE_The author of this story is 7 years ol HARD NUT FOR BABY TO CRACK. BY ARTHUR BOSWELL. Who is my Pop, for gracious sake? *Cause when the little sunbeams creep Into the corner where I sleep, And tickle me awake, A man with such a tousled head Comes every morning to my bed, And scratches me with his rough beard, And says, “Hey, oh! now don’t be skeered, You blessed little "lasses drop, Don’t you know Pop? And then there comes another man, Who has gold glasses and a stud, And always wears a posey bud, And 1ooks so spick and span, And let's me rub his smoovey chinj But if I don’t just coo and grin, ‘And kick my heels and want to play, He's almost always sure to say: “You blessed little "lasses drop, Don't you know Pop?” And then, when night-time’s almost here, And mother has the table set, ‘And says, “Now, don't be seepy vet, But walt for Papa dear I hear her saying, with a k “You poor, dear, tired, old man”—and this Tired man’ sits down beside my bed, And says, just what the other men said: “You blessed little 'lasses drop, Don’t you know Pop?” So. while I lie here all day long, And stretch my arms and kick my feet, And cry for something more to eat, And sing a sleepy song, 1 think about that tousled man, And then the one all spick and span, ‘And then the one so tired and white, That comes to ee me every night And wonder till my eyelids drop— Who is my Pop?