atsoever Madam she may desire."

"Urbanity" is the one word that fits the German, my host. His Frau,
who is of the pure Teutonic type, has a heart of great goodness, with
emotions that lie close under the exterior.

All might have been well with me at this hotel, but, unfortunately, in
descending the closed-in stairway, I stepped on a sleeping cat and
plunged headforemost to the bottom.... "Der drouble mit you," says my
host, "a crick in der back is." The cat's "drouble" seems to be
paralysis.

Some one has said that reserve is a sign of great things behind. Sweet
Christians! this is entirely true; I realized it to the full while
holding back the tears and assuring the assembled household I was not
even jarred. I am proud of the way I behaved, and sorry my own folk
were not there to see. Now, they will never believe it.

One of the maids brought me brandy which I did not drink, but after
awhile, my hostess fed it to me in what she called canards. You dip a
lump of sugar into the cognac and transfer the lump to your mouth--that
is all. You could never believe how nice they taste, or how curative
they are for "crick" in the back.

Before long I am able to limp down the street and call on the doctor.
I used to know him in days when we both lived farther south. But any
way, a previous acquaintanceship would have made no difference. We do
not need introductions at a frontier post like this, for there is an
undercurrent of good fellowship which understands that the stranger who
talks to you is not necessarily a scalawag, with subtle designs on your
purse or your person. Any one who fails to grasp this plainly obvious
fact is either a newcomer or a solemn humbug.

This doctor has charge of the hospital car that lies in the station
yard, and most of his time is spent travelling from camp to camp down
the line of construction. I saw the car to-day, or rather I nosed it,
for the smell of iodoform came siftingly through like dry cold. It is
owned and operated by the railway company for the benefit of their
employees. At certain stations along the line, the company have placed
cottage hospitals where emergency cases are treated. Those who have
fevers or require major operations, are usually taken to the city.

Long ago, when the earlier railroads were being constructed it was not
possible to supply such life-saving appurtenances, so that nothing
remained for the wretched fellows but to drag themselves away and