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Show IN HIS WESTERN DAYS. An Ansrilnte That Slums Hie Observing diameter of I'raaldrnl Honaevslt. MiHh of President Roosevelt's personality per-sonality la shown In tho following atory by a chance acquaintance on a train. The flrut time, aaya tha narrator, nar-rator, that 1 ever saw him was back In tho early 'Mi's. I met him on a sleeping car coining east from Wyoming, Wyom-ing, where lie hail been visiting hla ranch oa the edge of the bad lands. At that time he was unknown to the public except as the uutlwr of a few maguxlne arllclca on western life, but luckily 1 had read them and they formod a bridge fur conversation. I found him a burly young man with heavy brown beard, which he had allowed al-lowed to grow during hla trip, and with manners thut were nervoue and nlrupt, but nevertheless very engaging. engag-ing. He was Just recovering from an attack ot snow bllndnuaa and wore in rue blue glasses, so he waa pretty well disguised. There were eight or ten passengers on the car, represent-! lug the usual wide variety of type to be found on the frontier and 1 remember remem-ber that Roosevelt easily took the lead In conversation. Ills versatility and the extent of his Information were aur-prlsing, aur-prlsing, and there waa a vein of quaint humor that ran through hla talk and lent a certain sparkle to almost everything every-thing he aald. Somebody remarked, for Instance, that he had recently visited vis-ited a new mining ramp In the Iilack llllla and had t- pay CO ccnta for a drink of execra.ile whisky. "You can always determine a camp's age and stage of development by tht price charged for drinks," aald Roose velt chuckling. "Kour-blt whisky means recent occupation, unsettled conditions and the presence of one hall barrel, which Home fellow haa brought over the troll on a burro. Two-bit whisky Indicates that tha regulation boom la on, that tenderfoot are plenty and that regular communication with the outside world haa been established. Tha next drop to three for a half la not a sign of a slump, but merely shows that the first excitement baa passed and the town la getting down to what they call a 'buslnesa basis.' Klfteen-cent drinks mean that tha luminous basis la reached, courts have been established, a school-house la being be-ing built, claim jumping haa become bad form, plug hats are tolerated and faro hanks have moved upstairs. Any further decline, however," added Mr. Roosevelt, "la a danger signal. Two-for-a-quarter whlKky Is a sure sign of deterioration, and 6-cent beer mesne Ihut a statu pedo has set In for the next diggings. That'a the way to read the alcoholic thermometer of tha woolly West." |