The Star

Clara Morris on Horseback

While Clara Morris was in Washington, she took a horseback ride with a gentleman whose name we withhold, as he is sensitive to ridicule. Clara wished to see all the noted places around Washington, and she was favored with a week of delightful weather in which to do it. The horseback excursion was to "Cabin John bridge." Cabin John is the name of a small creek that can not be surpassed for beautiful scenery. It is named for a cabin that stood on its banks, the owner of which was named John. The bridge (a viaduct) was built when Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War. It is the largest span in the world, being 200 feet from arch to arch. During the war Gen. Meigs caused the name of Jeff Davis to be erased from the stone on which it was inscribed. Clara Morris had heard of these wonderful things, and was determined to investigate for herself. The distance to ride there and back was sixteen or seventeen miles, and there was less than three hours for its accomplishment. Mr. Herriot, Clara's husband, was expected from New York on the afternoon train, and she must be back to welcome him. She had a good horse, and, unmindful of the agony her escort was enduring to keep up with her, she sped on, thinking only of gaining the goal. At last the gentleman called out that he must stop, and he would sit on the roadside until she returned. Clara now flew on faster than ever, reaching the bridge, investigated its wonders, and returned to her cavalier, who was hors de combat. As she approached him she drew out her watch, announced she had but fifty minutes to reach the city and welcome Fred! "Hang it," said the gentleman, "I can't ride in that John Gilpin way." "Well," said the lady, "I will ride on and send help to you." She gave the reins to her horse and was soon out of sight. Ruefully the deserted man remounted his steed, but could only endure the slowest and easiest motion of the horse. Soon a man appeared coming from the city with his horse and wagon. Seeing the forlorn appearance of the rider, the teamster inquired: "Are you the sick gentleman that the lady on horseback told me to pick up?" "Yes, I'm sick," he said, "and how much will you charge to take me to Washington?" "Oh," said the man coolly, "I can't go back to-night, but I'll take you home with me, and carry you in the morning." But no, that would not answer, for there were imperative reasons why he should be home, or else wife and children might be alarmed. And so he plodded on his weary way, being interrogated by every one he met as to whether he was the sick gentleman that the lady who rode so fast told them to look after. At length he succeeded in bribing a man with a large sum of money to turn back and let him ride in his wagon as far as Georgetown. His horse was led, and, when he reached Georgetown, he remounted, and under cover of shades of evening he reached home a wiser man than when he started, wiser about his ability to keep up with so noted a horse-woman as Mrs. Herriot, and also that when a woman sets her heart upon a thing she will accomplish it if her strength is equal to her will, and that no man should mount a horse for so long a ride if he is out of practice. Nothing will so soon take the conceit out of a man as such a trial as the one endured by the gentleman who undertook to show Clara Morris the romantic beauties of Cabin John bridge.