New-York daily tribune., 1843-11-15
western "Paper.v

Winch b3nlshes bitterness, WratN anu icei,
Saying" Man is distant, but God ia near
Western "Paper."
TO the Editor of The Tribune
The following extract of letter from fellow
student of mine, who is now in illinois, may be
entertaining to some of your readers: II you
think so, viii thank you if you will publish
l. Yours T.
eFortune, who formerly amused herself by
making wry faces at me, has latterly smiled, IN
such wise that hope to retain her good will Tor
some time. When arrived in these dlgglns'
had but light purse, and very thin soles to my
boots; my patronage had been, all along, only
from inn.keepers, who paid only IN board ana
indeed, was growing SO worn III my exterior
manliness that stood little chance Of being
noticed by the class from whom | expected the
means of making it better. But the dear lady
aforesaid, God bless her, took me by the hand
Just in time to save me from sinking; and the
wy she managed was as folows:--
,s0ne evening as sat drying my Uncovered
feet by a tavern fire, long and durable locking
man,swith d long cigar il his mouth, which he
seemed too gr,G of 70 snare his innth for speech
he!d l,s1k his hand to rne e,;fh 9 hrrdle Of pa.
pers--rnaking noise in his throat which seemed
TO mean 1i look at me- looked, and saw that
they were promises to pay such and such sums,
'out of my shop or store or in produce sc.
The man still kept his hand held out l. supposing
him in haste to take back his papers, returned
them; but he twiddled his fingers and stamped
his foot, and made his inarticulate noise in his
throat, SO as to make me take him for deaf and
dumb person, and to make signs to know what
he wanted !. whereupon he slowly removed his
cigar, relieved his mouth Of an enormous guam
tity of saliva, and said: Wal now, reckon you
are . stranger = said yes, and asked what /
was 70 do with the papers. Wal! just let me
see yourn ! had none What don't you
trade in nothing, nor do nothing2' l pant
miniatures, What's them?' ] took from my
pocket q likeness of myself which he marveled
as extravegently; inquired the price; and told
me to take it out of that are bundle, or this one
handing me another. All ha! well you're 4
stranger, and don't understand. You see this
hereiis away we've got into up these dgglnS,
since money has got scarss. We issoo our o,cn
promises, TO pay our own notions aud that's q
tarnal sight better than the banks. There's all
sorts of produce in that thar bundle and this is
for store goods and other things that's cash. Now
if you want any thing to eat, drink, smoke, or
wear, there you have it; take your pick And
how am to pay. BY hghnin halo! Colonel !;
give US pen and bit of paper. Pay, gosh
molly, Just give me your paper for thirty dollars
and take 1t out of them thar bundles. Matters
were soon explained found that ] could obtain
all thai was necessary for present use--board
boots and shoes, all kinds of mechanics work.
and even store goods; SO rather gladly wrote
my promise to pay, in my work, painting like
nessea or landscapes. In the course of the even
ing all the neighbo.hood was about me, to see my
picture; and Iexchanged my own paper for
that Of others, to the amount of $50 dollars And
here IN these diggins / have been, circulating
through space of some thousands of square
miles, living at great rate, riding good horses,
and enjoying myself; though have not accumu.
lated much cash. have managed to sell q
number OF horses, 50 as to get cash payable In
New.O Orleans, whence it went home to pay old
scores, which, thank God, arc now wiped out.
For the rest, live on the fat of the land, having
good paper enough to keep me a twelvemonth,
my time is mostly spent In painting landscapes
which viii, / hope, do something for me in old
London, when ! get back.
"The young women here are glorious, and re-
mind me of the Greek models we used 10 draw
from in Somerset house and the British Museum
some of them are very accomplished and we'll
DrCQ WOitueIluuf ik VIZ CotlSlOSI new
state of society. Indeed have had need of all
my philosophy, and all my ambition, to keep me
from getting married / might i've here well
enough and if did not itch constantly to return
to the world of art, should bow to such potent
charms and become an artist of the wild prairie.
But need not tell you, whom I have many a
time talked with till after midnight with Red
grave and Smith, and Herbert, and the rest OF our
the grand style, and the sacrifices we
must make for II in these brick.and- mortar days
II need not tell you. my modern Athenisn,
that i shall place no clogs on myself, to hinder
noe from arriving at the go4l which the old mas
ters haYe passed so long ago. We must strive
hard, and deny ourselves, and obey the love OF
the soul rather than the lusts of the body,if We
would be artists worthy Of our vocation, in these
DAYS of the golden calf and the senses.
" Good bye good bye for the present but l
hope to see you ere long perhaps in our Mecca; (;
perhaps in the hot battle ground, old England; if
io., certainly viii see you in New.Y York before