Loading...
The Huron Expositor, 1873-01-10, Page 2NEVADA AND CALIFORNIA SKETCHES BY MARK TWAIN. .1 . NABOBS. There were nabbbs in those days -in the "flu& times, » I Mean. 'Every rich strike in then:nines created one or two. I call to mind several of these. They were careless, easy-going fellows, as a general thing, _and the community at large was as much benefitecl by their riches as they Were themselves -possibly mon, in some cases Two cousinsteamsters, did some haul- ing for a man, and had to take a. Emaall segregated portion ot a silver mine in lieu of $300 cash. They gave an -outsider a third. to Open the mine, and. they went on teaming. But not long. Ten months afterward the mine wasout of debtand payiug eaeli owner 1;8000 to - 810,000 .a mo -nth -say $100,000 a year. One of the earliest nabobs that Nevada was delivered of wore $6000 worth oft diamonds in his bosom, and swore he was unhappy because hf, could not spend. his money as fast as he made ,it. Another Nevada nabob boastei an in come that often reached $16`,000 month ;tjand he used .to love to tell how he had Worked/ in the very mine that yielded it, for five dollars a day, when • he first came to the country'. - The i1ver and sage brush State has knowledge of another of these petti, of . fortune -lifted from actual poverty to affluence almost ir a single night -ho was able to offer 8100,000 for a position of high official distinction, shortly after- ; • ward, and did offer it -but failed. to g 't it. his politics not being as sound is his bank.account. Then there was John Smith. He was a good, honest, .kind-learted soul; born and reared in the lower ranks of life, and. miraeulonsly ignorant He drove .a team, and owned a small ranch -a ranch that paid him a comfortable living, for I al- though it yielded but little hay, what. little it did yield was worth from $250 te $300 ingold per ;On in the market. Presently Smith traded a fewacres-of the ranch for a small undeveloped_ silver mine - in Gold Hill. He opened_ the utine, and built a little unpretending ten -stamp - mill. Eighteen months •afterward he re- tired from the hay hiisineas, for his min- ing income had reached a most comforta- ble figure. Some people said it was $30, - • 000 a mOnthand others said it was.$60,- Ci00. Smith was very rich at any rate. .•And then he went to Europe and trav- elled. And when he ca.me back he was never tired of telling about the fine he had seen in England, and the gorge, ous sheep he had seen in Spain, and the fine cattle he had.noticecl ia the vicinity of Rome He was full of the wonders of the Old. world, and advised everybody to travel. He saia a man never imagined •whit surprising things therewere in the world till he had travelled. One day, on boaa d ship. the passengers made :opt a pool oF. $500, which.was to be, the property of the Man who should come nearest to guessing the run of the vessel for the next twenty-four hours. Next day, toward noon, the flgtires were all in the purser's hands, in sealed enve-- lopes. • Smith was serene and happy, for he had been bribing the engineer. But another party won .the prize! Smith said 1 "Here, that won't do ! He guessed two miles wider of the mark than E did." The purser said, "Mr. Smith, you San Francisco. For this he was to ha a large percentage of the profits on pi chases and sales nwle on it by his s.fellow- Conspiricer. So .Yn.., went. Atisgujsed as a teaMster, to a little wayside Telegraph office ittith,e mountains, got' acquainted with the operator, and sat iithe office „I • iy Asir day, Smoking, hi ipe, core- plainint,that hia. tea*. was fagged out nue unable, to travel -and inemititne listening to the despatches as they passed clicking through the machine from Vir- ginia. Finally the private despatch, an- nouneinfthe result of the lawsuit Ora over, the wires, and as soon as -he heard' it he telegraphed his friend in an Fran- cisco : - 44Artil-tired waillitig. Shall sell the team lin4 go horne." . It was..the signal aereed upon. The word " waiting" left out, would have signified that the suit had gone the other way. The mock teamster's friend picked up a deal of the mining stock, at low figures, before the news became public, and a fortune was the result. 1 For a long time after one of the great Virginia mineshad beep incorporated, . about fifty feet of the originallocation were still in the hands of a man who had never Signed the incorporation papers. The stock became very valuable, and every effort was made to find this man, but he had disappeared. Once it was. heard that he was inTew York, and one or two spectilators went east, but failed to find, him. Once the news came that he was in he Bermudas, and, straightway a speculator or two hurried east and sailed for Wrmuda-but he was not there.. Finally he was heard of in. Mexi- co, .and a friend of his, a bar -keeper on a salary, scraped together a little mowy and sought him out, bought his " feet ' for a hundred, doIlartip. returned, and sold the property for $75,D00. - But why go on ? The traditions of: Silverland are filled,. with instances like these, and I went.' never get through en- umerating them were T to attemPt to do it. I only desire to 9 -sive the reader an idea of ,e/ peculiarity of the • ' flush times," which,' could not present so strikiegly in any -other way, and which seine men- tion of was necessary to a realising com- prehension of the time and the country. ' -I-was ,personally acquainted._ with the majority of the nabobs I have referred to, and so, for old accniaintance sake, I have -shifted their occupations and. ex- periences around.in such a waylas to keep the Pacific public from recognising these once -notorious men. No longer notori- ous, for_the majority of them have drift- ed back . into poverty and Obscurity again. . 1 119-;. MOST 'INFLUENTIAL CITIZEN. The first twenty-six gravee in the Vir- ginia cemetery were occupied by9ato•der- ed men. So ,everybody said, so every- body 'believed, and so they will always say and believe. • The reason why there was so much slaughtering done, w as, that in a newt miniug district the rough element* predominates, and a person is not reimected until. he has "killed his man." That was the very expression I used. If an unknown individual arrived, they did not inquire if he was capable, honest, -industrious, but -bad be killed his man? If he hail not, he gravitel to his natutal and proper position that of a man of small "f h 1 I consequei ; e tat- , the cordiality of his roc% thin was grad, tutted according to the number of his dead. it was tedious -work struggling u to a position of influence with olood- p missed it further thananyman on board,. Tess hands ; but when a man came with: We travelled • two hundred and eight the blood of half a dozen,' men on 'this piles yesterdh" • soul, his worth was recognized at once,- . " Well, sir," sax Smith, " that's just and. his azquaintance,sought. con "Vereuson up and scooted him. where I've got you, for I guessed two In Nevada, for a time, the laa•yer,' the through the window and he lit on old ' ' hundred. and nine. If you'll look at my editor, tlie banker, the chid desperado, Miss Jeffesson's he:id, ,poor ld filly. She figaires again, you'll.Ld a`2 and two O'S, the chief gamblin. and the saloon -keeper - whieh suands for 200, don t it ?-and. occupied the same level in society, and after 'elm you'll find a 9 (20(9), whith it was the highest. The cheapest and stands for two hundred and nine. 1 easiest way to become an influential man, reckon PH take that mone31, if you and be looked; Up to b3 the community at please." 1 , - The Gould & Curry claim comprised twelve hundred feet, and it all belonged originally to the two num whose names it bears. Mr. Curry owned two-thirds of it -and. he said that he sold it out for twenty-five hundred dollars in cash, and and an old plug horse that , ate up. his market value in hay and barley in tieven- teen days' by- the watch. And he said that Gould sold out for a pair of second- • hand governMent blankets and a bottle -of whiskey that killed nine men in three and. ! He said'he- could lift a keg -44 riepa; with. his teeth. He Picked up a 1e0Mmo4,glasi tumbler and bit a semi - 'elide out if it Then he opened his bo - 'Spin and showed us a net -work ef knife and brillet scars, showed us more on his aris and face,.and said he believed be li*, linnets enough in his body to make pig of: lead. lie was maned to. the teeth. e c16 -Sed. with the remark that he was Mr. • — of Cariboo -a, celebrated name, whereat we shook in our. shoes. • would publish the naine, but for the sus- picion .th*he 'might come anklcarveme. He finally inquired if Brown still thirst- ed for blaodP Brown turned the thing over in his mind a moment, and: then- askeithint tttampper. - THE STORY OF THE OLP RAM. Every now and then, in these days, the. boys used to -tell me I ought to get one Jim Blaine to_ tell me the stirring story of his grandfather's old ram -but • they alwayli added that I must lint men- tion the matter unless Jim was drunk at the.tline-just comfortably and sociably 'drunk. Tbey kept this up until my cariosity was on the rack to hear the story. I got to. haunting Blaine ; but it was'd no use, the boys always found • fault with. his condition ; he was often moderately but - never satisfactorily drunk..' I never witched a mati's con- dition with such absorbing interest, such anxious solicitude; I never so _pined to . seh a man uncompromisingly drunk be- fore. At last, one evening I hurried to his' cabin, for I learned that this time his situation was such that even the most fastidious could find no fault with it - he was tranquilly, serenely, synirnetri- , cally drunk -not a hiccup to mar his voice, not a cloud upon his brain thick enoughto obscure his momory. As I eatered, he Was sitting upon an empty powder -keg, with a.clay pipe in one hand and the other raised to command silence. His face was round, red, and very seri- ous ; throat was bare and his hair tumbled ; . general • appearance and costume he was a stalwart miner of the period. . On the pine table stood a can - dl and its dim light revealed " the boys " sitting here and' there on bunks; candle -boxes, powder -kegs, etc. They said: Sh-! pon't speak ; he's -going to commence. I found a seat at 'once, and Blaine said : . I don't reckon them times- will ever come again. There never was a more burlier old ram than what he was. Grand- father fetcted hilt; from Illinois -got .him of a man by the name or Yates - Bill Yates-- ina,ybe.you might have heard of ;- his father was a -deacon-Bap- tist-and he was a rustler, too ; man had to get up rather early Go get the start of old Thankful. Y ates ; it *as him ' that put the Greens up to .jining • teams • WAth ' my grandfather when be. moved west. Seth Green was probly the pick of the flock; he married a Wilkerson- - Sarah' Wilkerson- good cretin.; she was. •-one of the likeliest heifers -that .was ever raised in cild Stoddard, everybody said that knewed her. She could heft ber'l of flour as easy as I can flirt a flapjack. And spin ?.. Don't mention it ! Independent ? Humph ! When Sile Hawkins came a brewsing, around heir, she let. him know that for all his tin lie couldn't trot in harness 'alongside of hr. You see, Slle' Hawkins was, -no, it warn' t Sile Hawkins after all -it was a gaL loot by the n'aine of Filkins-I disremem- ber his first name; but lie was a `stump - come into prtilr meeting drunk, one night 'hooraying •for Nixon, becuz ie thought it was a primary ; and old dea, large, was to stand behind a bar. wear a cluster diamond pin, and sell whisky. I am not sure but that the saloon -keeper held &shade higher rank than an other member'of society. His opinion had weight. It was his privilege to say hew - the elections should go. • _Na great move- ment could succeed. without the cu ante- nance and direction of the saloon -keepers. It was a nigh - favor when the chief saloon -keeper consented to servo in the legislature or . the board of Aldermen. Youthful ambition hardly aspired so hours; and that an otioffending stranger much to the hollers of the law, or the army that smelt the cork was disabled for life. and navy, as to the di,gnity of proprie- Fonr years afterward the mine thus dis- 48114) a‘saloon. • . posed, of was worth in the ban Francisco To be a saloon -keeper and ldli a man market seven millions six hundred thous- was.to be illustrious. Hence the reader and dollars in gold coin.. . . ' - In the early (Iva a poverty-stricken Mexican, who lived in a canyon directly back of Virginia City, had a stream of watei, as large as a man's- wrist, trickl- ing from the hill -side on his. premises. The Ophir Company segregated a hun- dred feet of their mine And traded it to him for the stream .of water. The hun- dred. feet proved to he the richest part a the entire mine : Mir years after the swap, its market value (includingc its • mill) was $1,500,000. An individual who owned twenty. feet • in the Ophie mine, before its great richee were revea,led to men. traded it for a • horse, and a very sorry -looking brute he was, too. A, year or so afterWard, When Ophir stock went up to 0000 a foot, this man, who had not a cent, used to say be li was the mo4t startling example of mag- nificence an misery the world had ever -seen-because he was _able to ride a aixty- • thousand dollir horse -yet cntld not scrape up cash enough to buy a saddle, and was obliged to borrow one ride • bareback. He said if fortune . were to . give him another sixty -thousand -dollar. horse it Would ruin hint. - • A youth of nineteen; who Was a -tele- graph operator in Virginia, on a salary will not basurprised to learnt that more than one man was killed In Nevada un- der hardly the pretext of provocation, so impatient was the slayer to achieve repu- tation, and throw off the galling sense of being held in indifferent repute by his as- sociates, I knew two youths who tried to • kill their men" for no other reason -and 6 4ot killed themselves for their pains. " There gdes the man that killed. Bill Mama," was higher praise aad sweet - sound in the ears or this sort Of people than any other speeeh that admiring lips could utter. 3. .A SPECIAIEN enARA.c.r.srt. I remember an instance of ae despera- do's contempt for such slim:11 game as a private citizen's iife. I Was takink a -late supper at a retaurant one nighp., with .two reporters and a little printer named. --Brown, for instance -any naine will do. Presently a stranger with , loug-tailed coat on came in, and not notic- ing Brown's hat, which was lying in a. chair, sat down on it. 'Little Bro,.vn was a igood soal-had a .g ass eye and used to lend it to old MissWagner, that hadn't any, to receive company ; it warn't big enough, and. when Miss Wag- ner warn't noticing. it would get twisted around in the socket, midi:co-A up, may- or out to one side, amt. every which. way, while Vother was looking as stiang it aheadas a spy -glass.. grown. people idn't nnnd it butitm.ost al- ways made the- child] en Cry, it was se sort of scary. She tried - packing it in raw cotton, but it wouldn't work, some- how -,-the cotton would get loose and stick' out and looked. so kind of awful that the children couldn't stand it no way. She was always dropping it out, and turning up her old dead -light ion the company empty, and making them un- .conifortable,. becuz never could tell -when it hopped out, being blind. on that side, you see- So,- shinebody would have to bunch her and say, ' You game eye has fetched loose, Miss Wagner,' dear ;' and then all of them would have to sit and wait till she jammed it in again -.--- wrong side before, as . a general thiug.,„ and green as abird's egg, being a bashful. cretur and easy sot -back before corn-. piny. But being wrong side before warnh much' difference; anyway, becuz her own eye Aras sky-blue and the glass one was yeller on the front side, so which- ever way she turned it it didn't match nohow. Old Miss Wagner was consider, able on the borrow, she was. . ‘Vhen she had a quilting,. or Dorcas ‘S'iety at her houseshegeullly borrowed Miss Hia.. . gm's wooden leeeto stunap aroend. on ; it ,,,was aonsideralZe shorter than her other ,pin, but much- alie minded that. She ,said she couldiet abide crutches when 'she had company,• becuz they were so sldw ; said When she had company and • thlus haito be done, She Wanted td get 'up thiclhunip herself: She Was as bald as it jug, and used to borrow - Miss. Ja- eop's wig -Miss Jacop's was: the coffin- • peddler's wife -a ratty old ' buzzard, 'he was, that used to good roosting -areund where people was sick, waiting for em; and there that el:drip would sit all day, 1 in the shade, on a Collin that le judged .1 - would, fit the can'date • .and if it was a slow customer and kind' of uncertain, he'd fetch li-is• ratione an blanket along and sleep in the coffin nights. He was an- chored out that way,- in frosty weather, for about three weeks, once, before old Roblinns's . place, waiting for him ; and after that, for - as much as two years, Jacops was net on speaking terms with the -old man, On , account of his disap- Outing him. He e;ot one of . his feet froze, and lost money, too, becuz old 1 Robbins took a favorable turn and got t well. The next time Robbins got Sim, v Jacops tried to make up with him, and f 'V. =shed up the same old coffin and fe ched it along; but old Robbins was --c t o many for him; be had -burn in, and 'peared to be powerful weak • he bought the coffin. for ten dollars, and'Jacops was to pay it back and twenty-five more be. sides, if Robbins didn't like the coffin after he'd tried it. And then Robbins tlied, and. at the funeral he bursted off the lid and riz Up in his shroud and told. 1 - thepar son to let up °Lithe performance, .becitz he COM not stand such a ccfria as that. You'see he had been in a trance sprang up and became abusive in a mo- ment. • The stranger smiled, smoothed out his hat, and. offered it to Brown with profuse apologies douched in caustic sar- casm, begged Brown not to destroy bine Brown thre NV off his coat and. of a hundred dollars a month, 'and who, when he could not make out germanchallenged the mau to fight, abused him, names in the list of San Francisco steam- threatened him, impeached his courage, er arrivals. -used to ingeniously select and urged and even implored him to and supply substitutes for them out of Tight, and in the -meantime the an old Berlin city directory, made him- stranger placed himself under our pro - self rich by watching the mining tele- tection in mock distress. But presently he assumed a serious tone, and said : grams that passed through his, hanris, "Very well, -gentlemen, if we naust and buying and selling stocks a.ccording- fight, we must, I _ suppose. But don't 1y, through a friend in San Francisco. Once, when a Private despatch was sent 'rush into donger and then say I gave from Virginia, anriouncing a rich strike in you no warning. I am more than a in -itch for all of you When I get started. a prominent mine, and advising that the - matter be kept secret till a large ,.mount I will gie you proofs, and then if my friend here still .insists, I will try to ac - of the stock could be sectired. bought forty " feet " of the stock at twenty dol- co in odatc him." leas- a foot, and afterward sold half of it at eight hundred dollars a foot, and the • rest at double that figure. Within three • montna he was worth $150,000, and. had 'resigned his telegraphic position. ' , Another telegraph operator, who had been disoharged by the company for di- vulging the secrets of . the office agreed with a moneyed man in San Francisco to • furnish him the result of a great Virginia mining lawsuit within an hour after its • private reception by the parties to it in The table. we were- sitting at was about five feet long, and unusually cum. bersome and hey. He asked us to put our hands on the dishes and hold them in their places a moment -one of thenu was it large oval dish with a portly roast on it. Then he sat down, tilted up one end of the table, set two of' the legs on • his knees, took the end of the table . . be- tween his teeth, took his hands away, and pulled dcwn with. his teeth ti1l the table came up to a level position, dishes • once before, when he was young, and he took the chances on another, eallating tlyit if he made the triii it was money in his pocket, and if he militted tire he couldn't lose a cent. And bY George he • sued Jacops for the rhino and got judg- ment, and he set up the coffin in his • beok parlor, and said he 'lowed, to take his time now. It was alwaman aggra- vation to- Jacops, the way thatmiserable old thing acted. He moved hack to In- diany pretty soon -went to Wellsville -- Wellsville was the place the floga.dorns was from.. 'Mighty' fine family. Old Maryland stock. Old. Squire Hogarlorn could carg. around more mixed licker, .and cuss better than most any man I ever see. His second wife wesiAlie widder Billings -she that was Becky Martin ; her dam was deacon Dtinlap's first wife. Fier oldest 'child, Maria, married a mis- sionary, and died in grace -et up by the savages. They et him, too, pour feller - idled him. It warn't the custom, so they say, but they:explained to friends of liis'n that went down there to take away his things, that they'd tried mis- sionaries every other way and -never could get any good out of 'em -and so it annoyed all his relations to find out that that man's life was fooled away just out of a dern.'d experiment; so to speak. But mind you. there ain't anything ever reely lost; everything thia people Can't un- • derstand andalon't see the reason of does good. if you. only hold. on and give it a fair shake ; Prov!dence don't fire no blank calridges, boys. That there mis- siona,ry's substance, unbeknowns to him- self, actuly converted every last one of 'em heathens that took a chance at the barbacue. Nothing ever. fetched -them but that. Don't tell me it was an acci- dont that he was biled, There - ain't no such thing as an aceident. . When my Uncle Lein was leaning up a,gin AB caf- folding once, . sick, or drunk, or su"thin, an Irishman with a hod full of bricks fell on him out of the third story and broke the old man's back in two places. Peo- ple said it was,an accident. 'Much ac- cident there was about that, He didn't know what be was there for, but he was there for a good object.-, If he hadn't been there the Irishman would have been killed. Nobody can ever make me be- lieve anything different trona that. 11 ri- ck Lein's dog was there. Why didn't the Irishman fall on. the dog? Becuz the dog seen him a -coming and stood. from under. That's the reason the dog warn't app'inted. A d4g can't be depend= ed upon to carry out a special provi- dence. Mark my words it was a put-up think Accidents don't haven, boys. • Uncle Lem's dog -I wish you could a seen that dog. Ile was a reglar shep- herd -or ruther he was part bull and part shepherd- si.lendid animal a be- longed to parson Ilagar before Uncle Lem got him. Parson Hagar belonged to the Western Reseve .Hagars ; prime family his mother was a Watson' ; one of his -sisters married: a Wheeler; they settled in Morgan enmity, aaid. he got nip- ped. by the machinery in a carpet factory, and went through in less than a quarter of a minute ; his widder bought the piece of carpetithat had his remains wove - in, and the peeple came a hundred miles to 'tend the funeral. There was fourteen yards. in the piece. She wouldn't let them roll him up, but planted hitn just se -full length. The church. was mid7 ling small where they preach&I the fun- eral, and they had to let one end of the coffin stick out of the window. They didn't bury him -they planted one end and let him. stand up, same as a monu- ment. Aix] they nailed. a :sign on it and, put -put on -put on it -'-sacred to -the m -e -m -o -r -y7 -of fourteen y -a -r -d -s ----of three -ply -car - - - pet -r -containing all that was --- m -o -r -t -a-1 - of - of -W -i -1- 1 -i -a -m Jim.Blkin.e had been. growing gradual? ly drowsy and drowsier -his head nod- ded, once, twice, three times -dropped, peacefully upon his breast, and he fell: tranquilly asleeti. The tears were run- ning down the boys' cheeks -they were suffocating with suppressed laughter - and had. been from the start, though I had neVer noticed it. -1 perceived; that I was " sold." I learned then that Jim Blaine's pbeuliarity waas that whenever he reached, a certain stage of intoxication, no human ppwer could keep him from setting out., with imprcssivp unction, to tell about a wonderful adventure which he had once with his grandfather's old ram --and the mention of the ram in the ili•st sentence was as far as any man had ever heard. him get,,, feonderning it. He always maundered. off,: interminably, from one thing -to anotheai till his whisky got the best of him and he fell asleep. 1Vhat the thing was that happened to him and his grandfather's old -ram is a dark mystery to this day; for nobody has ever yet found out. A POP tmATION WITHOETT woarax AND cHILDREN. It was in this .Sacramento Valley, just referred to, that a deal of the most lucre:. tiare of the early gold. mining was done and you may still see, in places. Its grassy slopes and levels torn and autter- er. and disfigured by the avaricious spOil- ere of fifteen and twenty years ago: You may see such disfigurem‘ints far and wide over California -and in someauch paces, where only meadows and forests are visi- ble -not a living creature. not a house,' no stick or stone or ieumant of a ruin, and not a sound, not even • a, whisper to disturb -the Sabbath stillness -you will find it hard. to believe that there stood at one time a, fiercely flourishing little city, of two thousand or three thousand souls, with its newspaper, -fire company, brass band, volunteer militia, banb, hotels, noisy Fourth of July processions and speeches, gambling hells crammed. with tobacco smoke, . profanity, -and tough -bearded men of all nations and colours, with tables heaped with (told dust sufficient for the revenues -ed a Ger- man principality -streets crowded and rife with business -town lets worth four hundred dollars a front foot -labor, laughter, music, dancing, swearing, fighting, shooting, stalibing-a bloody in-. quest and a man fer lareakfast every morning ----everything that delights and. adorns existence -all the appointments and appurtenances of a thriving and pros- pering. young city -and now nothing is eft of it all but a lifeless, -homeless soli- ude. The men are gone, the houses have anishcd, even the noine of the place is orgotten. In no other laud, in modern times, have towns So absolutely died and lisapeeared, as in the old mining regions of California. It was a driving, vigorous, restless population in those days. It was a curb- ou,s population. It was the only popu- lation . of the kind that the world. has - ever seen gathered together, and it is not likely that the world will ever see its like again. For, observe it was an as- semblage of two hundred th ousand. young •men ---not simpering, dainty, kid -gloved weaklings, but stalwart, muscular, daunt - f11-1 of "6.11sla anda aeseeatel.nerlipuglea:eedir, cauntil riLiteleierintail-efilett l'r-v16,P15rtioh.611.e,0147di , neverresuit fr in be use of airy. 000 elni less young braves, brim I II endoiVed ivirt oral, energy, am rope y attribute that goes to make up a peerless aatincdi illaehorcr' ofthewAnphrVds-g-tloblieovpebilotitt No women. no chil ren, no grey an stooping veterans, -none but erect, bright-eyed, quick-movhig, strong -hand- ed young giants -the stran,gest popula- tion, the finest population, the most gal- lant host that ever trooped clown the startled solitudes of an unpeopledeleit'd., And where are th now ? Scattered to the ends of the I --or -pitltiaturely aged and -decrepit -or shot or stabbed in street affrays ---or dead of disappointed hopes and broken hearts -all gone, or nearly alleAltetini*Tdevoteda-upon--the tar of the golden calf -the noblest?. holo- iciapioisnt. that ever itafted its satrifiCial in - cerise heaveavard. It is pitiful to think It was a splendid populatioie-for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish -brained sloths staid. at home -you never find that sort of peo- ple among pioneers -you cannot build pioneers out of that sort of =aerial. It was that population that gave Califor- nia, a name for gettrtig up astounding en- terprises, and rushing them through witli a magnificent, dash, and daring, and a recklessness of cost or consequences, whieh she bears unto this dayr--and-when sbe projects a new stirprise; the grave world smiles as usualtInd says, 4,` that is California all over." But they wererough in those times ! They fairly revelled in gold, whiskey, fights, and fandangoes, and were un- speakably happy. The honest miner raked frail a hundred to a thiNsand dol- lars out of his claim a dayilnd what with the gambling dens, and the other enteitainments, he hadn't •a cent the next morning, if he had any sort of hick. They cooked their Own bacon and beanS, •sewed on their own buttons. washed ,their own shirts .-blue woolen ones; anct • if a man wantea a figet on his hands • without any annoyiiiig delay, ail, he had to do was to,appear in public m'a white • shirt or a stovetpipe hat, and he would be accommodated. For those people hated aristocrats. They had a particular and malignant animosity toward what they called a" "biled shirt.' • It was a wild, free, disorderly, gre- tesque •society I Mea -only swarming hosts of stalwart mene--nothing juvenile, nothing feminine, visible anywhere! • In 'those days miners would flock in crowds to catch a glimpse of that rare and bleSsed spectacle a wourn ! inhabitants tell how, ina certam camp, the news went abroad early, in the morn- ing, that a woman was come ! They had seen a calieo dress hanaing out of a wa- gonte. down at the caniping, ground -Sign of emigrants froia over the great .plains. • hverybod.y went down there, ajid a shout went up when an aattual, bona 'fide dress was discovered finttering in the wind. said. !migrant was .The miners aid "Fetch her out !" He said: "It is„my wife, gentlemen - she is sick -we have beeir robbed of money, provisions, everything, by the lndians-we want to rest." "Fetch her out ! We've got to see her !" • "But, gentlemen, the poor thing, she " i` FETCH HER our !"' • EEc 't fetched her oat," and they swung their hats and sent up three rousing cheers and a tiger; and they crowded around and gazed at her, and touched her dress, and listened to her voice with aloyk of men who "Wetted to a memory rather than a present reality ---and then they collected twenty-five hundred dol- lars in gold and gave i to the man, and swung their hats again, and -gave three more cheers, and. went home satisfied. Once 1 dined in :San Francisco with the family of a pioneer, and talked with , his datighter,- a young lady,- whose tirst • experience*in t.:;:an Francisco was an ad- venture, though she herself .did not re- member it, as sire was only two or three years old at the time. Her father •said that, after landing froin the ship, they were walking up the street-. a servant leading the party with the little girl in her arlins. And presently a huge miner, bearded, belted, spurred,' and bristling with deadly weapons -just down from. a long campaign in the mountains, evident- ly -barred the way, stopped the servant, and stood. gazing, with a faee all alive with gratification ail(' astonishment Then he said. reverently : Well, if it ain't a child I" And then he snatched a little leather tack out of his podiet and said to the servant: • " There's a hundred. and fifty dollars in dust, there, and I'll give it to you to let me kiss the child !" That anecdote is truea, • But see how thn- igs change. Sitting at that dinner -table, listening to that anecdote, if I had offered double the money for the privilege of kissing the ame child, I would- have been refused. Seveaiteen added years have far more han dmibled the price. . sPEcliaL NOTICES: /BREAKFAST ---1-1PPS'S COCOA.---GRATE- la, AND COMPORTING. -( eey a Trough nowledge of the natural law which overn the operations of digestion and. • utrition, and by a careful application of he fine properties of well -selected cozoa, Ir. Epps has provided. our breakfast ta- les with a delitately flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors' • S'erviee Grazette. Made imply with Boiling Water or Milk. ach packet is labelled-JamEs _Errs & • '0;1. Homteopathic Chemists, London." MANUE.ecTURE 0000A.---'' We will low give an account of the process adopt - d by Messrs. James Epps & Co., man- ifacturers of dietetie articles at their 1 vorks in the Euston Road, L'ondon"- ,aasell's Household Glad f. CONSUMPTION, BRONCHITIS, GENERAL EBILITY -CAUTION - vpopnospurr ES 4`ELL0WS' COMPOUND SYRUP OP HYPO- nIOSPDITEs.-AS tide preparation is en- i.rely different in its combination and effects from all other remedies called Hypophosphites, the public are caution - hat the jennine las the naine of " Fel- ws & Co," 'blown on,, the bottle. The %nature of the inventor, James L Pci- 1ows, is written with red. ink across each bel, and the iirice is $1 50 per bottle. Fellows' Compound. Syrup of Ilypophos- phites prestribed .by the first physi- Clans in every city and town where in- troduced, and is a thoroughly orthodox preparation. of tblifJL azj!erellotileaftinehillillaittle:IntaittnTgrtit'lleStillgite4 Per181f)(lirminati°14 a. compound which could not by any poesibility be Map rom any other combinaiion or proporti.ens of the same in other and entirely tlfg2iltil;01 an7 in6n.edierits' tains10.orlot;:eadna3t'ilthie illigtenevitleis, one Mhu,b plot lidos the most aetenish.ing.re suite, find havime a wider range a appbeation than Any medicine ever before diecovered. It -con- tinently loetfs nothing by evaporation. Wherever applied you ga the benefit of every drop, whereas ith ether preparations nearly all the teleohol is lost in ilia -way, and you get only the BIllan 4111611- tity of oils whichsthNey. Trry(n,erit.,onste,113.11ELps, N. y. Antl NORTIllOP & :Newcastle, Diet, Sole Agents for the. Doininion. NOTF;.—LIeetrie—Saceted.ane Electrized, Sohl jn Seaforth by Er rniekeon, & Co. and 11. iiiiinf4:7W:On(3:411:014701St' 1);..17,17/71,11117,411-,tr'/ILII,1-2ei.41)-- filHIS invaluable ineflieine is %Whining in the cure -of ell those painful and dangerous diseasee to eltich the female eonetitntion is sub Lt moderates all excess and removes all obstructions, end a speedy cure nifty be relied on. inarried Iadiee, it is peculiarly suited. It will ee. 8, ebort time, bring on the monthly period with; egillithnlieslet)1"ills should not be taken by Penieles during the firet three months of Priemacy, Ile they 1 are sure to bring on Mieterriage, but nt any other tu,eatililecaY "sees fittigfeN'in ervona aria Affeetions, pains in the heel and limbs, fatigue, on Blight ex- ertion, palpitation of the heart, hysterics, and rawIlientensss package, which should be carefully preserved, S ob Moses, New York, Sole Proprietor. $1.00 and 124 cent e forpostage. enclosed toNorthop &Lyman Newcaitle, Ont., general agents for the Donn'nfori: will ineure it bottle, eentaining over 50 pills by re tiltria Smaoldilin Seafortb by E. & Co., and R. Linn, sden. 197-6 To the Public of the Ilritieb. Provinces of North CA• A:7LO. 14 T BEG most respectfully to acquaint the public of the British North American Provinces thet 111 3fay, 1871, Teamed the business at SO Maiden - Lane, New York, for the sale of Holloway'sPilis and Ointnient, which were up to the t time pre- pared by William Brown, now deceased, to be closed.. r regret to say that I have reason to know that the msnagenient of the late bu,einess had for some yeti's, in ntany waysk been most cor- rupt, and it inay be that the Pills end. Ointment were not prepared with the vire I have alwee-s de- sired. Those who do not -what to be fleceived by - Spulioua Medicines, -which are now likely to emanate from the St:des eleewhere, to posseAs themselves of the genuine Holloway's Pills and Ointment, manutectared by me in London, Eng- land, will ilo well to bee thet each pot and. box: beats the British Goverrimeet stamp, on which is engraxed the words, " Effalowsees Pills ami Oint- ment, and that the atldress on the label is 583, Oxford-street,.London, 'where only they ere =mu - &attired, and in no other part of the world. .The retail prices are on the lebels in British emrenty, • and not _in dollars and cents. No representative of mine will ever travel through any part 'of the , British Provinces or the 'United S'tates, either te sell or to take orders fax ray Pills and. Ointment, and as I have reason to belieie tlitat attempts will probably be made tv deceive the public in this way by persons calling tipon medicine vendors, falsely representing thut the'? are acting for roe :and -with my knowledge and consent, I deem it saleable to put the public. on their guard against an such de- ceptions. I most earnestly entreat all those who laity read this adYertisement that tb be pleased, in the public; interest, to communicate the purport • of the same to theiririends that they may not be defrauded of their Jemmy by purchtl.shig, perhaps, worthlees intitatious of the genuine Holloway's Pilis and Ointment. I woultlask, as a great favor that, should it come tathe knowledge of eny per- son that spin -ions ecl ure behrg made or sold in my nan Le, he be pleased to send me all the par- ticulars he on collect respeeting the pestle, that nt to say, the naine tnel address orthe vendor who is selling the opurions reedichies, mei likewise the iiame and address of the Hou.se in the United ' States or elsewhere,ii•aiili. may have supplied them so as to enable me, for the protection of the pub- lic, to institute proceedings against such evil- doers, end I engag,e to rentunevate very handsome- ly any person who mny give me such information, the informant's name never being divulged. Should any person have reason to believe that he ha.s been deceived by bnying spurious imitations - ef these medicinee, he will do well to send me,in a letter; to the address at feet (which. he can do at a cost of six cents in postage), one of the books of instruction 'width are ailixtelto theeame. I prom- ise to exanike it and sendea reply, stating whether the medicines are genuine or not, so that, if epn- Timm, inay apply to the person. from whom he purthasea them to have his money returned. Chemists and Druggists who desire Zo obtain the medicines can be reapplied -at the lis wholesale prices, in quite ti ties of not less than .e.,;20 'worth - viz., Ss. 60., 2es. and 34e. per dozen bo..xes of Pills or pots of Ointment, net, withont diecount, fo which remittance must be eent advanee. I have the honor te be, • With great respect. EOLLOW.A.Y, 553, Oxford street, (late 2-11 Strame,) Londo2n40,•N-V26.C., • Oct. I, 1871. t INSURE- YOUR PROPERTY AD YOUR LIVES. A. Strong, SeafOrth. AGENT FOR The Scottish Provlimial Insurance Company- -- Fire and Life. The Western Ineurance Company, of Toronto-• -, Fire and Life. The Isolated Risk Insurance Company, of Terms as reaeonable es offered by any other agent doing business for reliable Companies. • 'MONEY TO LOAN. Aleo; Agent for the Agricultural Investment Soeiety, London. This Company offers better in- ducements to borrowers than any others doing bueinese in this Province. Call end get circulars giving full particalitr.s before purchasing elsewhere OFFICE -over Strong & Fairiey's Grocery Store, Main Street. Seetforth. 252 REMOVED. REMOVED. • M. ROBERTSON, 1 Thomas' Edectric On, WOnTII TEN TniEs ITS WEIGHT IN OoLD. DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING OF IT ? tv Nov, iT Is TIS1 n YOU DID- • There are but few preparations of medicine -which have ifithstood the imelartial judgment of the people for any great length of time. One of these is Thames' teen:num One purely it prepar- ation of tax of some ef the best oils thueare known, each one possessing virtues of its own. Scientific physicians know thet medicines may be formed of Cabinet-maker and_ Undertaker, BEgo-yED big ware -rooms to • JOHNSON'S OLD STAND, •• Main -street, Seaforth, • Where he has on hand a. saperior stock of Zuni. • ture of every descriptio; CALL AXD SEE IT. UNDERTAKING 'Haying purchased 3Ir. Moines Bell's HEARSE, I am prepared to Attend funerals on the shortest notice, either in town or country. • • Coffins, All Sizes, Rept conetently on hand. STYL1S11 CUTTERS AND SUBSTA.NTIAL SLEIGHS At the olhi and favorably known SEAFORTH CARRIAGE WORKS. WILLIAM GRASSIE Tias now on lewd ilia for stile a number of Baia- - soniely fiuished and substantially built CETTritS, Also, a number of ClOOD SIGEIEG911S, Bath light and heavy, fox sale cheap for ready money. Cutters and sleighs mule to order on short no- tice. Blaeltsmithing, Horse Shoeing tlia General Job- bing promptly ettended to. WILLIAM GRASSIE, Gotlerieii street, Setiforth. BOAR Di NG. flCOLLADAY has leased the large and• cote- niodious house, cm the 'Salt Works Gronndfs, adjoinine, the Railway Station, and hes fitted it tip as a boanlii,ne-houge. Good. table and comfortable -rooms. Persons ;wishing a pleasant beardhig- house should tipplean there are at present a few vacancies. Trausient boarders accommodated at leas than hotel rates. 228 If twvat bow many , a Joubt 7 ' --Why] obi home stops at a —Lore know lots can see tw as I ka.n. • — Yon witness, " to nu - -ig . . -mai e what you said the wl ing AS that i—A, -fat -who has tw girls, plaex door one n1 dofo wn r t the parlor, clever, thi skill on "a who hati hi the nearest had the hal ing from In tral ia. —A gra nerainst a o chickens,a1 from nusto stand: repd thus: (shaking I me warn y again.' ..ri ing in his e playing a b J pr timeju. me," —The IS illustratl Biiton. which hew a: plate tin produced 11 was to I spider, hoi would not i with inn -Be consellent found out friend bad:: —We ea Philosophy .IVIen". take the media papev, " lal ans that w1 cut him to, unite and f cloud -of ST • savage crowd g.11 gust at tl when left." : ---,-:This 1 Enoch Ali Wis.: The back and g at the felie household 1 and melam He kicked sorted i0vei brats after I ing his wl peaceful a family. --H Strikin•l .A. gentlii suasion, ca ly ariived , nation in a of ten 4161h home -one ! .loungrer b we will ed trot fifteen , t, “ Vot •I", -gotten fift( •der un Mit: # couple oi tollars.• B don't get e for more," •" Vot y tor niorel bier vages : ain't it 4" " Yes,' yon wouldi ., All ri•l So Am Aii ss usual lil shop, he ,t office -door,' came down out in fron with a11 hil giouud, sql ".Dare 1.. higher ,r5 The 1)/ oi :with ,all Id effect of 4 ground, an assault •to mayor :ask( he replied "Veil, I .out vot_ del, horoe mit a got some /I ter go 6tri 'ts he striken bin now 1 *ma'. tell' ; 1 to dot" During 1 the Gel ma,