OSAGES CITY

THE GRAND HOTEL,

OSAGES CITY,

_Wednesday._

Dearest Mamma,--We arrived here last night and I am still enjoying

myself more than I can say, and just after I wrote yesterday such an

interesting thing happened. At lunch the Senator told us about a strange

character who abides in these parts--an almost outlaw who has done such

wild things and gets his money from heaven knows where. He is supposed

to have murdered several men, and every incredible story fit for pirates

of the Spanish Main has been tacked on to him--only of the land, not

the sea. He is called "Ruby Mine Bill;" isn't that a nice name! And no

one cares to "run up against him," because he is such a wonderful shot

and does not hesitate to practise a little when things annoy him.

Octavia and I said we simply longed to see him, and Nelson, who had been

talking to Lola (I have not said much of Lola, because she is really

so in love with her husband she is not a great deal of use to

other people), joined in the conversation, and said he had heard

"Ruby-Mine-Bill" was expected in the town he (Nelson) had joined us at,

and it was possible we might meet him at the next station where the

trains would pass each other. We were thrilled, and crowded into the

observation veranda as we got near, on the chance of catching a glimpse

of him. We drew up on a rough track; it is a sort of junction with

several lines, and the train from Osages was drawn up on the one

farthest off, and both the Senator and Nelson exclaimed, because on its

observation car there he was.

They shouted out, "Say, Bill, is that you?" And from among the four

or five men who were leaning over the balcony one who looked like a

respectable country piano tuner, or a plumber out for Sunday, called

out, "You bet!" and began to come down the steps.

"Move along, Bill, and be introduced to some English ladies," the

Senator said; so with an easy slogging stride he came over, and the

Senator presented him to us. He had a moustache and was most mild

looking and about thirty-four. He was dressed in ordinary clothes, with

a bowler hat, only no waistcoat, and a great leather belt round his

waist. He expressed himself as proud to meet us, and when he heard I was

married, too, his eyebrows went up in the most comic way. "Guess they

pair in the kid pens over there," he said! He was standing below us on

the track, with his hands in both his trouser pockets, while he looked

up at us with gentle grey eyes.

"Will you show our ladies how you can shoot, Bill?" the Senator asked,

and Octavia and I implored him to be kind and do so. "Runs rather fine,"

he said, spitting slowly to some distance; "reckon she's about levantin,

but I never refuse ladies' requests." Nelson had rushed to the dining

saloon and was back as he spoke with two empty bottles. "Bill's" train

was just going to move, already making groaning noises. He put his hand

under his coat in a leisurely way and pulled out his "gun" (you can be

arrested immediately for wearing one concealed)! Then his train gave a

snort and got slowly in motion, so he was obliged to run. He turned his

head over his shoulders and looked back as Nelson flung one bottle in

the air--bang! It went into atoms on the ground, and then, as he had

almost reached the steps, running at full speed now, the Senator flung

the other. It was high up, the most difficult shot even facing it, but

tearing as fast as one could in the opposite direction to jump on to a

moving train, it was a rather remarkable feat to be able to hit it, with

just a glance backwards, wasn't it, Mamma?! And no wonder people don't

care to "run up against him!" As the scraps of the bottle fell, he

bounded on the steps and was dragged in by his companions, while with

cheers from both trains and waving of hats we steamed our different

ways. Tom was transported with admiration. How those things please

English men, don't they? And I am sure he thought far more of

"Ruby-Mine-Bill" than all the clever people we had met in New York. And

certainly skill of this sort does affect one. The Senator can shoot like

that. Nelson told us. "He's had some near squeaks in his life and come

off top; and everyone in this country knows him."

The land along which we were passing, and indeed what has been ever

since we entered the mining country, is the most bleak and desolate on

the earth, I should think; not a living thing or blade of grass except

once when we passed a stream where low bushes bordered it; only barren

hills with a little scrub on them and a rough stony surface. What

courage to have started exploring on such places!

We passed one or two smaller camps on the way to Osages, with board

shanties and a shaft here and there sticking up from the earth. "All

going on," the Senator said. I can't tell you, Mamma, the fun we had

in the car; the party is so harmonious, and Nelson and the friend such

amusing people to keep it going. The friend is too attractive, that long

lean shape like Tom, and the same assurance of manner. Octavia says she

has not enjoyed herself so much for years.

Towards evening we arrived at Osages, and a most wonderful wind-swept

town it is. Imagine a bare plain of rubbly, stony ground, with a few not

very high hills round it, with shafts piercing them, and then dotted all

about on the outskirts with tents; then board houses of one story high,

looking rather like sheds for gardeners' tools, and then in the middle

a few stone and frame habitations, and standing out among the rest the

Nelson building, a hideous structure of grey stone making the corner

of a block. We got from the train and climbed into motors; to see them

seemed strange in such a wild; we ought to have been met by a Buffalo

Bill stage coach;--but there they were. It was a gorgeous sunset, but a

wind like a mistral cutting one in two, and such clouds of dust, that

even driving to the hotel our hair all looked drab coloured. The hall

was full of miners, some of them in what is as near an approach to

evening dress as is permitted; that is, ordinary blue serge or flannel

suits, with sometimes linen collars and ties; the others in the dress I

have already told you about that Nelson wears. Nearly all were young,

not twenty per cent. over forty, and none beyond fifty, and they were

awfully nice-looking and strong, and couldn't possibly have bruised if

you hit them hard!

We raced through and up to our rooms, and can you believe it, Mamma,

each bedroom had a splendid bath room, and all as modern as possible;

there was not a sign of roughing it. The Senator said we were not really

to dress as in the East--only "sort of Sunday." He was greeted by

everyone with adoring respect that yet had a casual ease in it, and when

we were all bathed and combed and tidy we found he had a dinner party

awaiting us--two women and about six men. The women were so nice and

simple, but we naturally had not much chance to speak to them--the men

were next us, superintendents of mines, and owners, and selected ones

who have "made good." They were such characters, and seemed to bring a

breezy delightful atmosphere with them. The Eastern America seemed as

far away as England; much farther really, because all these people have

exactly the casual, perfectly sans gêne manners of at home: not the "I'm

as good as you, only one better," but the sort that does not have to

demonstrate because the thought has never entered its head. You know

Octavia's and Tom's and Harry's manner, Mamma;--well, just the same; I

can't describe it any other way. It is the real thing when you are not

trying to impress anyone, just being you, and what you are. I can only

say even if their words are astonishing slang and their grammar absent,

they are the most perfect gentlemen, with the repose and unconsciousness

of the original Clara Vere de Vere. They had all the extraordinary

thoughtful kindness and chivalry which marks every American towards

women, but they weren't a bit auntish or grandmammaish. The sex is the

same as in England, and as far as that quality I told you about, Mamma,

you remember, they all seemed to have it; and going to Australia alone

with them would have been a temptation, though I am sure they have

none of them that wicked way of improving every possible occasion like

Frenchmen and Englishmen; I mean, you know, some Englishmen, as I am

sure, for instance, Harry is doing at the present moment over that

horrible Mrs. Smith.

We had such fun at dinner. The one on my right was a lovely creature,

about six foot six tall, with deep-set eyes and a scar up from one

eyebrow into his thick hair, got, the Senator told us afterwards, in one

of the usual shooting frays.

"We've been so mighty quiet, Nelson," this man said leaning across the

table to Mr. Renour, "since you went East. A garden for babes. Not a

single gun handled in six months. Don't rightly know what's took us."

The girls at once said they would love to see some shooting and a

twinkle came in one or two eyes, so I am sure they will try to get some

up for us before we leave.

The restaurant was wonderful--this rough place miles in a desert and

yet decent food! And think of the horrible, tasteless, pretentious mess

cooking we have to put with in hotels in England anywhere except London.

Whatever mood one might be in coming to America, even if it were fault

finding and hostile, one would be convinced of their extraordinary go

ahead ability, and be filled with respect for their energy. As for us

who have grown to just love them we can't say half what we feel.

Tom is perfectly happy. He understands every word of their slang, he

says, and they understand him; and Octavia says it is because they are

all sportsmen together, and have the same point of view. It won't be us

who have to make Tom stay away from the tarpons, he wants to himself

now. Gaston, too, has risen to the occasion, and is being extra

agreeable. I had a teeny scene with him in the lift as we came down. We

were the last two. He reproached me for my caprice--years of devotion he

said, did not count with me as much as "Ce Mineur with the figure of a

bronze Mercury" (that is how he aptly described Nelson). He could bear

it no more, and intended to cut me from his heart, and throw it at the

feet of Mercédès. I said I thought it was an excellent place for it, and

would please everyone, and he had my kindest blessing. He was so hurt.

"Could I but have seen you minded!" he said, "my felicity would be

greater," so I promised I would bring tears somehow to my eyes, if that

would satisfy him. Then, as he has really a sense of humour, Mamma, even

if he is in an awkward position, between two loves, we both burst into

peals of laughter; and he caught and kissed my hand, and said we would

ever be friends and he adored me. So I said, "Bless you, my children,"

and saw he sat by Mercédès at dinner, and all is smooth and happy, and

Gaston is placed; and now I can really amuse myself with Nelson, who is

more attractive than ever, to say nothing of a new one who had a roguish

eye, and teeth as white as Harry's, who peeped at me from across the

table. But I must get on with the evening. Octavia and I wanted to see

everything, gambling saloons, dance halls, fights, whatever was going,

and as Lola has done it all before, she said she would stay with the

girls, and have a little mild flutter in the saloon of the hotel at

roulette while our stalwart cavaliers escorted us "around." Gaston, too,

remained behind with them; the Senator manoeuvred this, because he said,

it was not wise to be with people who were quarrelsome, and Gaston is

that now and then with his Latin blood.

We went first to a gambling saloon. Think of a huge room with no carpet

and a horseshoe kind of bar up the middle, with every sort of drink on

it; and up at the end and round the sides gambling tables of all kinds

of weird games that I did not understand, and can't explain--except

roulette. There were hundreds of men in there, of all sorts, miners in

their miners' dress; team drivers, superintendents--every species. If

one said "gambling hell" in Europe it would sound as if it meant a most

desperate place, with people drunk, and impossible to go into, but here

not at all! Naturally, Octavia and I looked remarkable, although we were

dressed in the plainest clothes, and yet not a soul stared or was the

least rude. The only thing that was horrid was their spitting on the

floor, but we tried not to see that. Otherwise not a soul was drunk

or rude or anything but courteous. And such interesting types! Massed

together one could judge of them, and the remarkable thing was there was

no smell, like there would have been in any other country where workmen

in their ordinary clothes were grouped together;--only tobacco smoke.

They were some of them playing very high, and it looked so quaint to see

a rough miner putting $500 on a single throw. We had a sheriff among

our party. There was to have been a raid of the state police on this

particular saloon, for some new rule which had been made, but the

sheriff quietly said the law might wait a night; as they were showing

round some English ladies! Now, don't you call that exquisite courtesy,

Mamma? And what a sensible sort of administration of law, knowing its

suitable time like that, the essence of tact and good taste, I call it;

but I can't say in every way what darlings all these Westerners are. Our

escort presented numbers of them to us, and without exception they had

beautiful manners, the quiet ease of perfect breeding. It is

upsetting all Octavia's theories, and she is coming round to Mrs. Van

Brounker-Courtfield's view that it is the life a man leads more than

blood even, which tells; and there they are fighting the earth for the

ore with great courage and endurance and hard manual labour, and so it

produces finer expressions of faces, and lither forms than using your

brains to be sharper in business than your neighbour.

All the time Nelson and the man with the roguish eye stood on either

side of me, and the Senator moved from Octavia backwards and forwards,

and when we got outside they both held my arms, not with the least

familiarity, but the gentle protective respect they might have to

an aged queen, or you, Mamma; and it was just as well, because the

sidewalks were up on sort of sleepers, and were all uneven, and in some

places a board worn through, so one could have a bad fall by oneself.

And it was very agreeable, but I noticed that Nelson held mine rather

tight, and that his arm trembled. I suppose he was still feeling the

vibration of the train. I hope you picture it all--us walking through

these quaint streets, surrounded by a crowd of great big men. And

neither Octavia nor I have ever walked in a street before at night, so

it did seem fun.

After this we went to the large dance hall. It was too interesting, and

I simply longed to dance. I must describe it to you, Mamma, because of

course you have never heard of anything of this sort before. It was a

very large board room, like a barn with a rail across the front end of

it, and a gate; and in the front part a drinking bar, the musicians at

the other end on a platform, and beyond the rail and gate a beautiful

dance floor, while at the side were boxes where one could retire to

watch the dancing--all rough boards and gaudy cretonne curtains. The

lady partners were not in evening dress, just blouses and skirts, and it

seemed the custom for the man to pay the proprietor for each dance, take

his lady through the gate, and when it was over escort her to the bar to

have a drink. It could only have been very innocent refreshment, as no

one seemed the least drunk or offensive. The bar part was crowded with

every type of the mining camp, two-thirds of them splendid faces and

figures, just glorious men; the other third, dwindling gradually to a

rather brutal typed Mexican; and even though their dress was the rough

miner's, with great boots, all were freshly shaven and smart, and all

had a "gun" in their belt, although it is against the law to wear

one concealed. But grim death lurks near all the time. Numbers were

presented to us, and in no court in Europe could one find more courtly

ease of manner or sans gêne. Octavia and I are "crazy" about them.

There is no class here; it is the real thing, and the only part we have

seen yet of America where equality is a fact. That is, it is the man

who counts, not any money or position, only his personal merit; and the

Senator says if they are "yellow dogs" they sooner or later get wiped

out. It is a sort of survival of the fittest, and don't you think it is

a lovely plan, Mamma? And how I wish we had it in England. What heaps

could be cleared away and never be missed!

There was a Master of Ceremonies who called out the dances, and not more

than ten or twelve couples were allowed to dance each time, two-steps

and valses, and without exception it is the finest dancing I have ever

seen,--the very poetry of Motion. Nothing violent or rude, or like a

servants' ball at home, although they held their partners a little more

clasped than we do, and the woman's hands both on the man's shoulders,

and sometimes round his neck. (Tom says he means to introduce this style

at Chevenix the next ball they have. Think of the face of the County!)

But in spite of their funny holding, or perhaps on account of it, there

is a peculiar movement of the feet, perfect grace and rhythm and glide,

which I have never seen at a real ball. One could understand it was

a pure delight to them, and they felt every note of the music. They

treated Octavia and me with the courtesy fit for queens, and some

of them told us delightful things of shootings and blood-curdling

adventures, and all with a delicious twinkle in the eye, as much as to

say, "We are keeping up the character of the place to please you." We

did enjoy ourselves. The Senator says this quality of perfect respect

for women is universal in the mining camps. Any nice woman is absolutely

safe among them. I think there ought to be mining camps to teach men

manners all over Europe. You will feel I am exaggerating, Mamma, and

talking a great deal about this, but it is so marked and astonishing;

all have that perfect ease and poise of well born gentlemen (the Harry

manner, in fact) completely without self consciousness. I suppose they

get drunk sometimes, and probably there are riotous scenes here, but

I can only tell you of what we saw, and that was people happy, and

behaving as decorously as at a court ball.

Just before we left three or four really villainous looking men came in,

and instantly there seemed to be a stir of some sort; and Nelson and the

Senator stood very close to me, and while apparently doing nothing got

us near the door, and we all strolled out, and then they spoke rather

low to one another while they never let go of my arms. Awkward

customers, the Senator told us, and when these bad spirits were "around"

things often ended in a row. It was tiresome it did not happen, wasn't

it? Both Octavia and I felt we should have loved to see a really

exciting moment! To-morrow we go down the great Osages mine, which

belongs to Nelson and the Senator, and then to a dinner party in one of

the shacks, and the next day we start for the real wild, because this is

civilisation, and we are going to a quite young camp called Moonbeams,

miles across the desert. We shall have to leave the car, at the end of

the railway, and go in rough kinds of motors. It sounds too exciting,

and the Senator says there they can show us the real thing and we are

not to mind roughing it. We are so looking forward to it, and if you are

writing to Harry--but, no, do not mention me. By now he must have found

out Mrs. Smith has things which aren't attractive in a tent.

Tell Hurstbridge I will bring him a "gun," and Ermyntrude a papoose

doll.

Love from,

Your affectionate daughter,