The Kansas State Register from Wichita, Kansas • 8

TOMMY'S AMBITION. BY KENNETT F. HARRIS. Jim Taylor he says 'at he wants ter be A circus clown er an ackerybat Like them at the circus he went ter see; An' wear caliker pants an' a thimbleshaped hat; A joshin' the man with the big mus', tache, An' dodging the whip with the crackin' cus, lash. I wanted ter work in the circus before I thought about runnin' the little school store.

Ellery Ransom, when he gits big. He's goin' ter git him a sword an' a gun, An' all the rest of the soldier rig. When them Spanyuds see him Ibet 'at they'll run! That'll be -ter wear soldier clo'es An' have people holler wherever he goes! I was stuck on that, too, but I ain't any more, I'd druther be runnin' the little school store. I useter think 'at I'd be the man What sloshes the mortar about in the box When I grew up, then I got a plan 'At I'd be a perliceman, an' then Jocks! I'd swing my club an' I'd scare that kid 'At lives next door; but then instid Of being them things I'd heap ruther more Be ownin' and runnin' the little school store. Gee! but you ought ter see what they've got Right in the winder, not countin' inside; Dandiest whistles an' horns, a lot Ofmarbles- -all kinds, an'stick horses what ride 'Ith a drum in ther back of 'em-you seen the kindThere's tops what you whipan' there's tops what you wind, Them square kites like that one I had what got toreWell.

say! there's more things in that little school store! Third readers, slates, rulers an' such, Pencils an' copybooks, boxes of chalksGot 'em o' course, but they ain't so much. Popcorn an' candy's the stuff what talks'Taffy an' lickrice an' peanut rock'At's what I'd keep in the school store stock. The other old truck I'd clear out before I opened 'er up in the little schoolstore. Then all ofthe kids could walk right in. I wouldn't care if they hadn't a cent.

I'd open the showcase an' we'd begin. I'd fill you up, fellers, before you went. Gee! but we'd have dandy times, you can bet, All that you wanted I'd let you get. I'd never run arrants fer pennies no more When I was the boss of the little school store. Wants to Be an Actress.

Emma Calve said in a recent interview in Paris that she had now only one ambition, and that was to become an actress. "I have made a success as a grand opera singer," she is reported as saying. "I am rich, too. But what I now want to be able to do is to move people by acting as I have already done by singing." Buffalo Bill as a King Among the Ranchers Of His Three Big Ranches the T. E.

in the Center of the Rockies Is His Favorite DERHAPS it is not generally known that Col. Cody, the famous scout, owns three big ranches of his own: but this is the case. His favorite, the Big E. T. E.

ranch, is sitdated in the very heart of the Rocky nountains, and when the show season 's over Col. Cody loses no time in "making tracks" for this ranch, where be spends the most of his leisure time Bunting elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep, bear and lions or in the more quiet enjoyment of fishing. Those who have been to Buffalo Bill's Wild show and have seen the fate of the glass balls which he has shattered with such unerring aim while at fulling gallop, can be excused for wondering what chance the wild game of the Rockies has when Buffalo Bill is once on its trail. Col. Cody has, on his favorite ranch, $20 acres under cultivation and numerbus fenced pastures, but his stock is tree to range on a wide expanse of wild government land.

Of stock he has on this ranch 500 head of Herford cattle with thoroughbred Herford bulls, in irrigated. Of the cultivated ground 2,000 acres are devoted to alfalfa and the balance to corn and grain. Col. Cody has, at present, on this ranch, 200 head of thoroughbred horses and mules, 100 head of fine cattle and 1,000 hogs. The most interesting fact about this great farm is that it is all under the management of a woman- W.

F. Cody. Col. Cody, at one time, made a single shipment of ten car loads of bronchos, each car containing 25 animals. And some of them brought as high as $600 a pair in New York.

Col. Cody has been trying the experiment of crossthe range or broncho horse with thoroughbred stock and by this method he has been able to produce what he considers the finest cavalry horse in the world. He says that the high altitude in which the animals are raised gives the creatures great lung power; and that the limestone formation has a good deal to do with the strong bone, hoof and sinew of the animal. At the age of four years some of his bronchos weigh from 900 to 1,500 pounds and COL. CODY SHOWING A CROSS BETWEEN A BRONCHO AND ENGLISH HUNTER.

which he takes no little pride: and they are a fit horse for almost any pur- he also keeps near him on this ranch 500 head of his finest horses. Col. Cody does a bigger business in bronchos than almost anyone else in the country, and hundreds of his bronchos are used in the cavalry service of the English, German and Russian armies. On Carter ranch, in the Big Horn basin, he keeps 1,000 head of thoroughbred and graded horses and ten thoroughbred and imported stallions. On this ranch he has 640 acres under cultivation.

Being a stock farm, the chief crop which he grows is alfalfa and timothy hay and oats. Imagine an 8,000 acre pasture land and fenced in, too! That is the size of Ill the pasture on the Carter ranch. The manager of this ranch is Guss Thompand he is by all odds the best broncho breaker on any of Col. Cody's HALF BLOOD AND FULL BLOOD BRONCHOS. ranches.

It is the usual practice of Col. Cody to have his colts halterbroken during the first winter, 1 but, save for this simple breaking, little attention is paid to them until they are three or four years old. They roam at will over the wild range unless they are wanted for some specific purpose. They are fed very little and learn to depend, winter and summer, upon the grass of the prairie. When they are three or four years old those that have not been handled are wild enough to give the man who endeavors to break them a lively tussle.

But there isn't a horse in the country that's too much for Guss Thompson. He has earned a reputation in the Big Horn Basin as an expert in this work. The third range belonging to Col. Cody is known as the Scout's Rest ranch and it is located at North Platte, Neb. This is a ranch and 4,000 of these acres are cultivated and Why Rowing Has Declined in Central Western States THY ing has off in there the been west in such a rowing? fall- That there is little interest shown where years ago the oarsmen of the Northwestern Amateur Rowing association and the Mississippi Valley Rowing association had many enthusiastic members and innumerable crews of oarsmen, is palpable.

The closest followers of the sport are at a loss to tell' just why there are no great regattas and rowing carnivals. These two controlling organizations practically have gone out of existence, yet the executive boards of the organizations maintain a semblance of life. There is money in the treasury of each organization, according to old-time rowers, and all that seems to be lacking is some one to give the sport a fresh impetus. If the indifference of the rowing associations is pronounced, the contrary is the truth at the University of Wisconsin. Never will the Badgers forget the gameness of their crews of Poughkeepsie, and Coach O' Dea and his crew of cardinals, who failed to win at the Hudson river regatta, will continue to be the missionaries for rowing in the college world of the west.

Just why the big universities that are athletic rivals of Wisconsin, such as Chicago and Northwestern, do not take a pronounced stand for aquatics, is unexplainable to some critics. But when efforts were made to lay out a boat course Dn the drainage canal, so that Wisconsin. Chicago and Northwestern. and any other western 'varsity eight that might enter, could have an annual event that might be likened to the Harvard-Yale contest or the larger regatta at Poughkeepsie. cold water was thrown on the venture.

Objections by the sanitary trustees were not well founded. They have been overcome. But the apathy of the maroon and the purple could not be dissipated in a breath. Although Lake Michigan 1s but a stone's throw from Northwestern, the claim is diligently made that the water of the lake is not suitable for rowing in shells. Hundreds--yes, thousands- of dollars would have to be expended in building piers and breakwaters before the students of this university would be able to practice rowing with any degree of pleasure.

As there is already enough difficulty in getting support for the athletic association that attends to football and track athletics at this fastitution, the navy is out of the question. Time and again the leaders at the University of Chicago have been importuned to institute rowing as a feature of college life. The beauties of a practice course on the drainage canal have been pointed out, but the argument was made that no navy would be a success there on account of the difficulty in reaching the Watter. After study hours were over, it would be dark before the crews could get out on the water. Perhaps when the projected scheme of making a Midway water course materializes, if it ever does, the big 'varsity may include rowing in the features of athletic life.

Until the maximum amount of interest has been aroused CHARLES T. ESSIG. in the west, Wisconsin's crews, both freshmen and varsity--and the women rowers must not be forgotten, for there is great interest at the state 'varsity in the work of the fair scullers and members of their rowing crews- -will continue to give the eastern coaches of Cornell, Columbia and Pennsylvania plenty to think about preparing to beat the husky Badgers from Madison. Charles T. Essig, who was once the best bow oarsman in the west and 3 championship baseball pitcher in the University of Tennessee, where he did good work in athletics, is one of the pioneer rowers who regard the situation with considerable grin.

Essig tries hard to be optimistic. But the old Iroquois Boat club rower hopes to be able to arrange inter-city rowing competitions in singles, doubles, pairs, fours, barges and eights, between St. Louis and Chicago oarsmen. The Murdock Boat club, of, the city by the bridge, has a lot of men out on the river all the time, but it, too, seems to lack the services of some industrious promoter of competitions. Essig pulled bow oar and captained the famous barge crew that holds the world's record.

With Fred Bender as a partner Essig helped to win the international pair oared race at Lake Geneva, in 1893. In all this veteran athlete has earned about 85 medals by his prowess on water and land and is conversant with the rowing situation. "One deterrent effect upon rowing in the west," said Essig, "was the shrinkage in membership in the Delaware, Iroquois, Catlin, Farragut and other clubs with national reputations, due to the removal of their JOHN MORGAN FRANCIS. pose. Until recently the United States has been much less prone than European nations to look upon the western broncho as a fit cavalry mount.

Now, however. every year finds more bronchos in the American cavalry. In Col. Cody's opinion they will ultimately supersede every other breed of animal for this purpose. His faith in them, he says, is based upon their activity, durability, sure-footedness, intelligence and the fact that they can carry soldiers quicker and farther on less feed and water than any other horse in existence.

There are many bronchos that are plenty heavy enough, according to Col. Cody, for heavy cavalry, and even for infantry work; and the United States army is now beginning to realize this fact and to employ them in the service. Russia has become so convinced of the superiority of this hardy little animal of our western prairies that she is sending great numbers of them to Siberia for breeding purposes. It should not be understood that the wild native horse of the plains meets the requirements of the cavalry service: but that the ideal cavalry horse is had by crossing that animal with the Kentucky thoroughbred or the English hunting horse. The ideal horse had in this way will be more than 15 hands high and tip the scales at 1,100 or 1,200 pounds.

"There is no such thing," said Col. Cody, "as breaking down one of these crossed animals. The creature will come out of a day's journey of 100 miles not a whit the worse for wearand carry a heavy rider, too. The German cavalrymen didn't think much of the animal when they first saw it. They'd been used to big, heavy horses and were taken back when they saw the little range horse.

But they have at last come to appreciate the half broncho, which is taller than the old native Oregon broncho and quite large enough and heavy enough to meet all the requirements of the service. The English army has used thousands of these animals in South Africa and the report is that the half broncho is the best all-around cavalry horse that has ever been used." At the present time Col. Cody has on his ranches no fewer than 600 brood mares--and this is an indication in itself that his stock farms are run upon no small scale. In his long plains-experience Col. Cody has had many valuable animals given to him, one of which came from the noted Chief Rain-InThe-Face.

When Col Cody retires from active life it is his purpose to repair to his favorite ranch in the Rockies where he can have enough sport with his gun to keep himself in practice. MILTON B. MARKS. Sending Coals to Newcastle. We have begun to export golf sticks to Scotland.

club houses to make way for the croachments of building and business. Members would not go to the lagoons provided for the rowing practice and the sport fell off in importance. Regattas were planned for Black Lake, Holland, and one or two other places, but the entry list generally was confined to a few experts. For five years no real earnest effort has been made to revive the once popular regattas. And the consequence is that one of the most healthful and beneficial of the outdoor sports has fallen into the slough of indifference.

Iroquois club, of which I have been a member for many years, is active enough, but it is only one organization. It will endeavor to have some regattas before the year is out. Recently the sympathy of Gov. Yates, of Illinois, was enlisted on the side of the rowers, for a proposition to build a costly club home for rowers in Lincoln park. Chicago, modeled after the plans of either the Detroit Boat club or the Philadelphia Barge club.

All that is required is the permission to build, and I will guarantee that the money for building will be forthcoming. Despite all of the depression in rowing circles, John Corbett, ex-champion single sculler of America, works hard coaching the members of the Iroquois crews. He had contributed an elegant diamond medal emblematic of the club championship, which will be contested for this year. I look for a general proselyting expedition 111 the northwest this year. Strange, indeed, is the punishment that the victorious Cornell oarsmen have placed upon one of their former hard working colleagues- John M.

Francis. This Ithacan oarsman is conceded to be one of the most promising scullers in America, yet the Cornell crew refused to permit him to row in the Poughkeepsie races. Francis is the son of Minister Francis, the United States diplomat at Athens. Greece. The latter made a long ocean voyage expressly to intercede for his son, who wanted to row with his 'varsity crew.

But the young man, in his eagerness to learn some extra frills in sculling, had engaged Ned Hanlan, the great oarsman and coach, to give him "pointers." Because of this--or was it because Hanlan was coaching the Columbia university boat -the members of the Cornell 'varsity crew declared they would not row with Francis, and the young athlete was barred. To the casual follower of 'varsity rowing, there seems to be little difference between getting information on rowing at your alma mater from Coach Courtney, Coach O'Dea or any other professional who is engaged to impart his knowledge of the stroke, slide- -in fact, everything about rowing--and studying the science of the oars with Hanlan, Ten Eyek. MeDowell or any other teacher of his art. Since the defeat of Pennsylvania in the finals at Henley by the Leander Rowing club veterans in the grand challenge cup event, the 'varsity boys have had many opportunities to sound public sentiment at home. Everybody is glad that they won two heats in the trophy event and everybody is pleased because Leanders were forced to the limit to win by a scant length.

And every critic now knows, or should know, that Pennsy's performance was the grandest in the history of the Thames river classic, for her rowers were mere boys compared to the bronzed veterans of Leander. The latter are perienced rowers whose arms have been burned by the suns of many summers. The Quaker 'varsity crew is in good luck to have done so well against these almost amphibious lishmen. E. G.

WESTLAKE HELP YoUR A Seasonable Argument. The courtroom was hotter than the Soudan in a sandstorm. The judge was 8 wreck, the jury had wilted. "Your honor and gentlemen," said the attorney for the defense, "I will indulge in no heated argument, but proceed at once to marshal the cold facts." And so he won his -Cleveland Plain Dealer. store..