The Prairie Owl from Fargo Springs, Kansas • 4

Viia iTintherlfift him. and dbening his blue 1 Christmas-Tide. 'Ivy and privet dark as night We weave with hips and baws-a cheerful tliow xAnd holly for a beauty and deiiglit, And milky mistletoe. 1 While Tiiffh sihnvp. tllfim all Is Set City I' 16 can be seen tb at each Cherokee would be an heir for a handsome dividend.

Dut they have no idea of alloting their lands. They can now own all the improvements they make, and every citizen can fence in and till as much land as he feels disposed to. He cannot fence in land, however unless he cultivates it. If he ceases cultivating for two years he must tear the fence down, or it will be torn down for him at his expense. There are 5,000,000 acres reserved to the populations and 6.000,000 acres leased.

Yew twigs and Christmas roses pure and tale a 8 3 II The spring iier snow-arop anu ner vioiet May keep, so sweet and frail And all her happy birds that, singing, build, Fur ufi'vftaCarn which some shepherds heard Once, in a winter held. Fain would Christine Rossetti reconci'e 48 8 Pages! us to the discomforts and hardships of cold winter in thete sweei, hopeful lines, breathing that spirit of trust and rever-ence by which her verse is ever tinted. And, truly, how glad is this greenery The verdure of June" is not more Tjrecious: and typical, too, of faith The Morning Paper of the Southwest. ful steadfastness of changeless endurance, are these winter Trees arri shrubs. The lonely pines upon the mountain heights how these speak of loyal and unswerving purpose And proud should be that man who may them or his emblem.

Then there is the ivy, beautifying and clinging to the rule forsaken by all other friends. Of the holly, thus sings an American poetess 'Tis a brave tree For round its boughs in vain warring wi-id of January bites and girds; It hoids the cluster oi its crimson graiu, A winter pasture for the shivering birds. Oh. i atient noilv. that the children love.

while she looked wonderingly- at him. "Lettie, don't you know me?" said he at length. "Wa'ter, is it you?" exclaimed she. "It is no other," said he, approaching and attempting to clasp her in his arms. But Let ie would not permit this demonstration of affection until they had entered the cottage and were safe from prying eyes.

When the excitement' cf meeting was ov Walter explained how he had searched for her and failed to find her, years ago. and giving up all hope, had gone back to sea; how of late he had been seized with a longing to visit the west again, scarcely hoping to find her, but determined to roam the country through anyway, hoping that he might a.t least meet with some adventures which would cause him to forget his loneliness for a time. Having gained the west side of the Mississippi he had bought a horse, thinking it 'uld be more pleasant to ride through the country at leisure than to pass through by rail. And thus, after having employed several weeks in riding, he had by the merest chance come upon the child, flying the kite with her name on it. Lettie then told her side of the story-last, but by no means least giving an account, with smiles and blushes, of the way in which little Walter had come into her possession.

"Don't youthink I did right in keeping him?" asked she, when she had finished her recital. "Certainly, I do," answered Walter. "I always thought it was a mean thing not to try to save a little craft just because it didn't bear a rich cargo." Mrs. Sems now occupies the whole cot-cage, and employs a girl to assist her in dress-making; and the Strongfelds occupy a more pretentious dwelling further up town. Little Walter, who is now a sturdy lad of seven, never tires of taking care of Let-tie's baby girl to whom he is devotedly attracted.

Lettie often says, as she watches the children "Only think, Walter, if I had notaccept-ed poor little Walter when he was offered to me as a Christmas gift, in all probability we never would have met again and enjoyed our present hapiness!" The only Daily Paper that can reach all points in Southwest Kansas an Eastern Colorado on the Day of Publication, and the only paper receiving the The English, Hangman. Jarre3 Berry, the public executioner, has taken advantage of a recnt professional visit to Chelmsford to confide to a reporter of ihe Essex County Chronicle a number of particulars regarding himself aid family aad bis profession. Some of his confessions arec? a kind on which persons of gocd taste would hardly care to dwell; others are comparatively void of offense and undoubtedly curious. There seems reason to suspeit that political sympathies have had something to do with choice of this highly respectable organ of East Ang'ican conservatism as the medium of these confidences. In other words, James Berry is, according to his own declaration, "a conservative through aod through," in that regard differing from a brother of bis (of whom more anon) who is, or rather was, "a liberal, and favor of abolishing capital punishment." Berry, we gather, stands No.

14 in the list of a family of twenty-one children. It will hardly surprise any one to learn that his friends did not approve to his choice of a profession, but all right feeling persons will be s-hocked to hear of the disastrous indirect effects of James Berry's abnormal inclinations upon his afflicted relatives. Questioned on this delicate subject, he replied, mournfully: "It killed my mother and brother." Then, with an apparently morbid pleasure in harrowing details, Jhe went on to say: "When Marwood died I was appointed in his place, and direetlj' my mother knew of it she was taken ill. My father's solicitor then wrote the home Wnr thpi nn of stir liliia skies above! Press ssociate epon, Oh, green, strorni holly, sh.r. ng 'mid the irost, Thou dost not lose one leaf for suusi iue lost!" Yet, alas a colder and a ckearier time awaits us a time of frosts and snows, when even our faithful evergreens are hidden beneath a whitened shroud.

Hear a portion of Celia ht-ppy little ditty, announcing the unwelcome arrival of the former potentate: "Rustily creak th- cricket-; Jack Fro.it came down la-tnijihr. He slid to the earth on a star-beam, keen and sparkling and bright Despoiler! stripping the world as he strips the shivering tree Of color and sound and perfume; scaring the bird and the bee Turning beauty to ashes. Oh, to join the swift swallows and fly Far away out of siht cf his mischief! for I gave bini welcome -not 1 Of winter's other ruler, the snow, poets innumerable -have recorded its beauties its terrors. We must, perforce, bar- between Hutchinson and Pueblo, a distance of over 490 miles, and covering entirely outh-western Kansas and Eastern Colorado. The Sentinel leaves Garden City by the early morning trains, by and is distributed the entire distance over the Santa Fe route office informing the authorities of this The results was that I gave up the position and Linns got the appointment.

My motner clieu soon afterward, and then .1 i -i A -c ai 1 uen i saw iue way wnicn ti inns was going on, I came to the conclusion that he would not hold the place long, and I again wrote to the home office, stating that iny mother was dead, and that there was noth row rrom one oi iiiem; nob lovxiiif uiu element, our encomiums misrht be cold as eyes very wide, stared up at Miss Small-kin's face for a moment; and then his rosy face dimpled w-th a smile which went stiaight to her tender heart, and caused the thought flash irto her mind that if she were rich she would be glad that, he had been left on her "There is something pinned to his cloak," said some one, as Miss Smallkin lifted the child to his feet. This something proved to be a folded paper on which was written: "I give this baby to you as a Christmas gift. I have picked you out to give him to, because ur face looks so kind and pleasant that I think you will take good care of him. If you have any feelinti for innocent babies and miserable folks, don't refuse to keep him." Just as Miss Smallkin finished reading this, the baby crowed and clasped his arms about her neck, and the foolish little lady's eyes actually filled with tears of pity for the "innocent babies and miserable folks." "If you had called a policeman while we were there in that town, you could have given the child into his charge, said some one. "You can send him to a foundling-hospital," said another.

"If I were you I'd just leave him here on the seat when I left the train," said fhe lady in the fur-trimmed Newmarket. Then followed a great many comments and suggestions, from a great many ladies and a few gentlemen, all of which, if they were recorded, would fill more space than I have allotted myself in which to tell this story. In the meantime Miss Smallkin was leaking up her mind to keep the child, and bare her scanty store with him. Lottie Smallkin had reached the age of thirty, and was alone in the world, the brother whom she was nowr on her way to viit being the only near relatiye of whose existence she had any knowledge. Twelve years before, she had lived with her patents in an humble New rsey home, the happy betrothed of Walter Strongfiekl, a young sailor.

Her father, growing weajy of his sterile acres, resolved to go to the broad west and take a homestead. Walter assured Let tie that when the two years of waiting upon which they had agreed ha.l elapsed, he would come for her. But after having lived a few months in one of the western states, her father became dissatisfied and moved on to another one. Lettie wrote, informing her lover of the second chiinge, but through some inscrutable fate the letter never reached him: and when, afte writing to her several times and receiving no answer. Walter went west to seek his bride, he sought invain.

So he went back to the sea and time passed on, neither of the lovers knowing but what the other was or faithless. A. few years after taking the homestead, Lettie's parent-died, and her brother not living m-ar enough to take charge of the place, she sold it and bought a cottage in the nearest town, where he set about supporting bv opening a little school in her own little house. That she might not be quite alone in the house, she let a widow, who earned a meagre living by sewing, occupying one room, rent free. In this quiet wTay Lettie's life went on without event, until the blue-eyed baby was so unexpectedly given to her as a Christmas gift.

By the time she reached the end of her journey, she had firmly made up her mind to keep and cure for the little waif. She was considering how she could make little dresses, caps and cloaks for him out of her own oldones; and how Mrs. widow, could keep him during school-hours, when the train drew up at the village in which her brother lived. In vain did her brother and his wife descant on the folly of her resolve, and try to dissuade her from it. When Lettie Small-kin's mini mas fully made up, it was not an easy matter to induce her to change it, notwithstanding her gentleness of disposition Strange to say, the child seemed perfect content, and did not pine for his mother at all; perhaps because she had not been as unremitting in her care and attention to him as was his new fri(nd.

In some way the news of Lettie's strange Christmas gift reached Slowville before she returned thither, and immediatsly after her return she received numerous visits from the old ladies of the town, who, as she remarked to Mrs. Sems, gave her as much advice as would have been needed if she had been about to undertake th establishment and management of an orphan asylum. "Miss Lettie's baby the all-mgross-ing theme of conversation among young and old, and her little pubils were eager for the close of holidays that they micht return to school and catch a sight of this wonderful baby. But at length the new inmate of the ing now to prevent my accommo Jating them it my assistance should be required its chibing aspect. Perhaps these few lines ef William Thorn, the Sottish wetver af" k'ss widely known than several others.

They are swee ly tender, yet sad as was his life and his surroundings: boon after that I was engaged to hansr two men in Edinburgh, and I have carried out nearly a 11 the executions since then The sequel of the tragic ta'e is yet to tell "0h: soft is the fall footsteps on hut and "My brother, he went on to say, "had .1 1 i i i j- i on Of her fairy marneu a gin witn plenty or money, and his pride received a blow on mv appoint hall; With her mantle she covereth the shelterless trees. As they moan to the howl of the lJorean ment. This it appears, was the brother who was "a liberal" and "in favor of the abolishment of capital punishment." It must be confessed that this unfortunate member of the Berry family could hardly hun.li breeze. Ia the oldest side of yon lone yard, of anybther morning paper cast of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and connects with every stage line both North and South of the Santa Fe railway as far "West as La Junta the same morning, thus reaching subscribers and newsdealers in all interior towns in Southwest Kansas and Eastern Colorado on the day of publication. It also reaches all points within -50 miles east of Garden ahead of any other daily paper West, it covers a territory, noted for fertility of soil, ealubrity and healthfulness of climate an he intelligence, push and enterprise of its people.

The Sentinel circulates mainly in Kansas, CoTo: rado and New Mexico, being first in more than twenty-five counties, several of them larger than eastern states, and the exponent of a hundred growing young towns and cities. Aspiring to build up all part3 of the Great Southwest, it asks a good word and a hearty support from all tre reading public residing in its field. Ask for it on all Santa Fe trains between Kinsley, Kansas, and Raton, New Mexico. Hates of SuTasoriptions By mail, one year, $10.00 Neglected graves she loveth to var! jtelosss And down bv the stransrer no nave given a more emphatic proof of his dislike of the hangman's office. It is t'J be hoped that we have here reached the final incidant in this ghast'y tale, though lair.

Where sighs axe few and footsteps rare, She loveth, she loveth the linger there! James berry final observation, "Alto gether 1 have buried my mother, two brothers and two aunts within the las JT til 0 er hearts forgotten that sleep oelow, There is none to w-ep but the friendly snow." tnree years, nas a pamtuily ominous sound. London News. ii Did not Need a Gun. A Strange Christmas gilt. A gentleman was conversing wi'h on Ida ii Colored Men's It is a very neticeable fact that the colored of this country are spending less of their earnings this season than evpr before.

A man with a large family, who has heretofore spent a1! he made and a little came to townlatt week, sold his cotton, paid up hii store account, and then had one of our merchants count out for him what was due his landlord on his rents. Carefully placing the rent money in his vest pocket, ready to band to his landlord on his re'urn home, he requested the merchant to count out the balance for him. Tnere were a few dollars over $300 wheu counteJ. He took the $303 across theetr Jet and deposited it with B. C.

Lewis Sons, bankers, came thanked the merchant for his kindness, purchased a few articles of winter clothing for his family with his remaiaing odd dollars, and still had a few left when he started for home. Many cf the colored people of this country ae doing the same tiring. A spirit of frugality and economy heretofore almost unlrnown among them seems of late to come over them. Many of them are now buying and paying for the." homes that they have rented tor years. Comparatively few are spending money for anything except the necessaries of lite: A gentleman mentions two very interesting facts as illustrating the present outlook for the farmers of the "black Belt." The first is that crops of cotton and corn the present year have been considerably above the average.

The second is that the negro farmers, after selling their cotton at good prices, are paying off rents to owners of the land, and to the merchants the advances by which they were assisted making their crops these debts are secured by liens and, with mtt erezr rv honesty, are also paying off Did ud accumulation of years for which there were no leins or other security, instead of showing any disposition to spend the remnin-der, take it home with them and lay it by. He says he actually beard, ns a- ma'ter of complaint by a very wealthy Tallahassee merchant, who, having given no credit, was collecting no old debts, that the negroes were buying little or nothing; on the contrary, were hoarding their money. We hear similar stories from the negroes in every part of the state. Those who are industrjous, economical and prudent are almost invariably doing wel They have built up innumerable comfortable hornet and a good proportion of them are accumulating property. The most gratifying feature of this thrift is the fact that lh ho minister whom he happened to meton It was the day before Chriscm and Miss Smallkin of Slowville was on the a railroad train.

"You have been preaching in the west train, whirline awav to visit her brother. six months, $5.00 three months, $2.50 Payable in advance. Address, J. W. GREGORY, Publisher, Garden City, XSLctxisajs.

for several years, I understood you to say did I not he inquired. who lived in another village, some two hundred miles distant. It was not often that Miss Smallkin "Yes, for the last twenty years," replied the minister. could get off for a few days from the little oares which pressed about her narrow way, and very seldom that shfe boarded a train; "lou know, continued the eastern man, "how we sometimes read of ministers in your country frequently having to go in to the puipit with a revolver to use in sat leaning back in her seat, maintaining order in turbulent congrega tions. Is there anything in it?" 0 "Oh, yes, I have known ministers to do it, but I consider it unnecessary." was always mv idea, too." ughly enjoying the ride, and smiling ippy anticipation of the meeting she pld have with her brother and his Jaily.

JA shabbily-dressed young woman who tut on the other side the car, with a hild in her arms, scanned the faces -f her fellow-passengers again and again but her The Sentine "Oh, yes, yes, altogether unnecessary," replied the preacher. "Besides, it always seemed to me in very poor taste for a minister of the gospel, preaching peace on earth and good-will toward men, to go around tied to a hip cannon. Yes, a gun is wholly uncalled for, "continued the good man, as he took the roll of sermens in his Newspaper Union left hand and extracted a fourteen -inch knife from his boot leg; "yes, wholly uncalled for: give me this bowie in my boot AND 'aze seemed more attracted to the pleasant face of Miss Smallkin than any other. At length she ceased staring about her, and drawing a. little blank-book from he pocket of her busied herself in writing something in it.

"Fifteen minutes for refreshments!" was shouted out as the train stopped in a large town. leg and a good pair or brass knucties and a hymn my coat tail pocket, and I will agree to carry the gospel to any man that eer looked through a collar! The shooting iron has had its day as a method of Auxiliary Publishing House evangelization." Chicago Tribune. negroes are keeping up their churches, ed ucating their children and living in peace What is the Country Coming to cottage ceased to be a nine-days' wonder, and real tnenship with the whites. lal and Lettie's life flowed on as smoothly as lahasse Tailahassean. ever, only more brightly.

She taught the lit'ie boy to call W. Iv. Stevenson is responsible for the story that opposite the Knickerbocker club lives a woman, whose name is not Mrs. Smith, and who has a mag-nificent Garden Citv, KasTsa her "Aunt Lettie, and him to strangers as her always spoke of nephew. The Cherokees, It has been stated that the Cherokee na tion of Indians are the wealthiest com cat.

A lew days ago, he says, one of the She named him Walter, thinking that it windows of tne club house was left open for awhile and the cat, coming across the Wholesale Dealers In The woman, having finished her writing1, approached Miss Surdlkin. and said: "Will you dease hold my baby while I go and get something to eat?" Miss Smallkin kindly consented, oblivious of the fact that an old lady opposite was winking and shaking her head at her in a warning manner, and several of the other passengers were exchanging significant glances. Failing to attract her attention by dumb show, the old lady did not commit herself to speech, but sank back in her seat in dignified disgust. Five minutes passed, ten, twelve, four-teerVmimites, and Mi-s Smallkins was be- rrimllnar tit trpi nervous, lest, the womnn street to investigate, entered it. mnnity on the continent, and in view of their being made neighbors to us by the extension of railroad lines into and through "I was passing when two dudes rushed wildly out.

One of them clutched the their country, the following data concern other arm and exclaimed: 'Great 'evings, Cholly! a wolf in Chi ing their numbers, sources of wealth, rel cago streets, an eas'le on Broadway, and now a panther in the club house What ative to the general go ernment. local Teg would be sweet to call him by that name, and none of her neighbors would know why she had chosen the name, as she had never told them her heart history. When she had cherished her odd Christmas gift for about four years, he came to her one day, as he often did, to ask her to mend his kite. Having just received a letter from brother, she opened out the envelope in which it had come, and fastened it over the torn place in the kite, and happy little Walter went out along the road, a short distance beyond the town, to engage in his favorite sport. As Lettie often remarked to Mrs.

Sems, he devoted himself to kite-flying with a perseverance worthy of a more successful, if not a better cause; for he seldom suc- ulations. etc, which were obtained by a is the b'arsted country coming "-New York Sun. per, Inks and Printers' Suppli Print Paper and News Inks Specialties. correspondent of the St. Louis Republican who recently made a visit to the Cherokee country, will be of especial interest to the SA IS" WANTED by the oldest, largest and best known Nurseries in the West.

Perma readers of the Star. The correspondent nent positions; good pay. Outfit free. Staf.k forget herself and let the train (j- leave her. -w.

"Conductor," said Miss SmaftMfi agi-! tatedly, as with a premonitory snortte says: Nuesekies, Louisiana, Mo. 1-13 The government of the United States owe3 the. Cherokee nation $2,700,000, and No. 109. C.

S. N. U. ieeded in getting the kite to rise higher Publishers within 100 miles of Garden City can save money buying of us Jirain began to move slowly, "you are trav- the government pays it five per cent, an ing a passenger behind. nual interest.

Besides this the Cherokee TT'e have the only Large and Complete The conductor glanced out, and seeing nation leases 6,000,000 acres of land to a cattle syndicate, for which it receives S100. no one attempting to board the train, pass ed on through the car. 000 a year. In another yesr it will re As the train increased its speed, Miss ceive from this source not less than S250. thlt2hi8 own head.

ButidltLIs occasion a sportive wind seized the eite and bore it up to such a height that itpged in a small thorn-tree bv the roadside? "The little fellowNwas vainly trying to reach it with a stick, Then a man, riding by on horse-back, called ut: "Hallo, my little chap! ydile run your little craft onto a snag, haven't you?" "I've got my kite in the tree. Won't you get it down, please, sir?" answered OF FHTJIT TRdES, Small Fruits. Shade Trees, 000 yearjy. Every person working in this Smallkin looked anxiously out of the window, expecting to see the woman running Outfit tere nation not a citizen pays fifty cents a otyping frantically to overtake the car. "You needen't be lookin' for that worn month for the privilege, and the man who employs tlie 'foreigner" without a per- an." said the old lady opptsite.

"I know- Rzm Plants, Forest Tress Seedlinfs, Etc nnt win be nned htty dollars. Ibis is a ed she was groins: to play a trick on you tariff that the more progressive and intel Forest Tre Seeds and Nuts, Garden and Fruit "Play a trick on me," gasped Mis? alter, turning his great blue eyes on the ligent Cherokees are now kicking against, beeds. rite for price list. man in childish conhaence. but it is maintained as a protection jjaallkjn, a suspicion of the truth begin yjitis to dawn upon her.

"Aye, aye, my hearty!" responded the agamsc invasion rrom abroad not so" D.W.C0ZAD, LaCygne Nursery "Yes, I knowed she'd never come back much tC'Proteet the home laborer as the sthatbabT." in Southwest Kansas and can do first-class work on short notice. This department is in charge of a first-class, experienced workman and the best work at the lowest possible cost is guaranteed. Kansas. "I thought so myself," said a lady, in a IiaCygne, far-trimmed Isewmarket, who sat near, i Why didn't you tell me sooner?" askei ilisis Smallkin, turning a distressed and i8o ESTABLISHED 1870 jervroachful look upon the old ladr. "I tried to give you the hint, and you 718 Sortb.

Main St. in all branches! done promptly, cheaply stranger. And riding under the tree, and rising in his stirrups, he soon disentangled the kite, and was about to hani it back to its owner, when he noticed the name on the envelope with which it was mended. A second glance showed him that the postmark was of recent date, and he asked, with suppressed excitement. "Do you know Mis3 Lettie Smallkin?" "I know Aunt Lettie," answered the child.

"Where does she live?" "With me," was the brief answer. "And where do you live?" asked, the st ranger. "Right'np there," answered the child, pointing to the house. The stranger rode up to the cottage indi and in first-class style. home government.

From the inere-t received from tke United States, the rental of the Cherokee strip, the fines and license fees, he expense of the Cherokee government is made up. Tiie peop's monc is not stored up-in the vaults cf the tressury. Whenever there is any surplus, which is frequently, it is paid out per capita to the inhabitants. Cherokee citizenship at the present time is estimated to be worth 7,000. The Cherokees own 11,000.000 acres of land in common, patented to the corporation called the government of the Cherokee Nation by the United States.

This land is about the finest within the limits of the -United Add to this the 2,700,000 in trust with the government at five per cent per annum interest, and you have an idea of the Cherokee estate. The population of the nation is between 24,000 and 25,000. If the system of holding land in common CADY OLMSTEAD, Dealers in DiameMs, "Watties' and' Jewelry foulcLn take it. retorted the old lady, "I am sure I don't know what to do with ia child," said Miss Snmllkin. "You never have traveled much, have you?" said the lady in the fur-trimmed Newmarket, unsympathetically 'I should probably not know any better how to take care of a baby, if I had," an-' ewered Miss Smallkin, purposely misunderstanding the remark.

By this time the attention of every one in the car was attracted, and quite a Croup of ladies had collected about the centre of attraction. At this moment, the child, a handsome boy, apparently about a jear old, awoke from the sound sleep in hich he had been indulging ever since jiFThe Auxiliary sheets furnished by the SENTINEL NEWSPAPER UNION are cheaper and better in every way for publishers in the Southwest than any other can be. Containing the very latest general news, fresh and well selected miscellany, stories, poetry, etc, and a large amount of matter particularly of interest to the Southwest, they are fresher, better and cheaper than can possibly be had elsewhere. We invite examination by publishers, Address, J. W.

GREGORY. 3- WHOLESALE AiSD BET ATT. cated, and dismounting, hurried tip the walk with eager steps. Lettie having dismissed her little school Kansas City Missouri a few minutes before, wjis standing in the door. When within a tew feet of her.

the should be abolished and an allotment of MAIL OR EES SOLICITED man stopped and scanned her face eagerly, land and other property should ensue, it.