Trail and Camp-Fire 



nor write — a fact well known to all of us — we 

 were somewhat surprised at his request ; but 

 in nowise abashed at the witticisms which it 

 provoked, Cherry examined the letter very mi- 

 nutely, scrutinizing it carefully from every pos- 

 sible point of view, and finally handed it back 

 to the postmaster with the utmost gravity, re- 

 marking that "the devil himself could not 

 read it." 



When we reached Cherry's ranch we found 

 that his partner had just returned from a trip 

 to the nearest railroad station above, and had 

 brought back a telegram and letter for Cherry. 

 He as well as Cherry was unable to read, and 

 Cherry brought the telegram to me, asking 

 that I should read it, stating, by way of 

 apology, that he " could read books and let- 

 ters, but he hadn't got along quite as far as 

 telegrams yet." The letter was typewritten, 

 and this he also asked me to read, remarking 

 that he could read " what had been writ in a 

 good common school hand, but that letter had 

 been writ most awful poor." 



One of Cherry's most elaborate essays at 

 fiction was what would be known on the stage 

 as "the story of his life." 



This narrative he imparted to me while we 



54 



