river--generally had lots of nigger
renters to look after. Miss Sallie, the daughter, was the belle of
the neighborhood. She had all the graces with a fair mixture of the
weaknesses of her sex. The trouble was, there was no young man in
the whole country fit to hold her horse. At least she and her folks
entertained that idea. There was a storekeeper and a young doctor at the
county seat, who it seems took turns calling on her. It looked like it
was going to be a close race. Outside of these two there wasn't a one of
us who could touch her with a twenty-four-foot fish-pole. We simply took
the side of the road when she passed by.

"About this time there drifted in from out west near Fort McKavett,
a young fellow named Curly Thorn. He had relatives living in that
neighborhood. Out at the fort he was a common foreman on a ranch. Talk
about your graceful riders, he sat a horse in a manner that left nothing
to be desired. Well, Curly made himself very agreeable with all the
girls on the range, but played no special favorites. He stayed in the
country, visiting among cousins, until camp meeting began over at the
Alabama Camp Ground. During this meeting Curly proved himself quite a
gallant by carrying first one young lady and the next evening some
other to camp meeting. During these two weeks of the meeting, some one
introduced him to Miss Sallie. Now, remember, he didn't play her for a
favorite no more than any other. That's what miffed her. She thought he
ought to.

"One Sunday afternoon she intimated to him, like a girl sometimes will,
that she was going home, and was sorry that she had no companion for the
ride. This was sufficient for the gallant Curly to offer himself to her
as an escort. She simply thought she was stealing a beau from some other
girl, and he never dreamt he was dallying with Neches River royalty. But
the only inequality in that couple as they rode away from the ground was
an erroneous idea in her and her folks' minds. And that difference was
in the fact that her old dad had more land than he could pay taxes on.
Well, Curly not only saw her home, but stayed for tea--that's the name
the girls have for supper over on the Neches--and that night carried her
back to the evening service. From that day till the close of the session
he was devotedly hers. A month afterward when he left, it was the talk
of the country that they were to be married during the coming holidays.

"But then there were the young doctor