The Shasta courier. [volume] (Shasta, Calif.) 1852-1872, 1853-03-12
The California discourse.


five mistake not the following inimitable
Discourse was whitfield out by the pen-knife
of "Old Block" and first appeared in the S. F.
Picayume.
We fluid the following amusing caricature of
the Miners Life floating around. 1t is by a
physician who had turned miner, and Is too
good to be lost-Eastern Paper.
Why rM ye dig ."-Son of man! for the
light of whose presence my spirit yearneth and
my bowels grambleth, dost thou ask me why
Is it not written that fortune smiles upon fools
And for the sake of all these smiles hath not thy
servant been making a fool, yea, an of him.
SELF in vain For five years and ten days he
has sojourned in this place-he has dived INTO
the water-he hath torn ancient rocks from their
resting places, and removed them afar oh-he
has likewise torn his breaches in parts not 10 be
spoken of he has rooted into the mud like I'M
to swine. His beard has grown long-the
skin upon his hands and his face hath changed
Its color until he is now ikened unto wild
beast, and his garments are rent and solled, SO
that ssackcloth and ashes'' would be as fine
linen and purple to him. He who in time past
was wont to fare sumptuously, and to grumble
over great delicacies then were piled upon the
table of Dives, now snuffs with gladness the
fragments of pork and beans, and crashes his
teeth impatiently over frying slap.jack. He
bolteth a raw onion with unspeakabie avidity.
Potatoe skins fear his presence, beef vanishes
from before him. and dogs look in vain for the
bones. In his sleep, nevertheless, the good
angel OF the past deigns to visit Inn, and delight
full visions are opened to his recollection, for a
delicious bill of fare floats before the mind OF
the dreamer and he orders oysters and terapin
for SIX only to waken up to get his internal slap
jacks and molasses.
All this hath thy servant endured Is he not
then a fool an abomination in the very sight of
wisdom? l must secrete myself in fortune S
path and seize her unawares. But she gldeth
off, as though had caught hog by his creased
tail. iSinctrancit, exclaiul, as with sick heart
revile poverty and curse fortune.
Surely he hath not slnned as other men sim
eth He had not coveted his neighbors OK, nor
his ass, nor his man servant, nor his maid SER
vant-for be it known unto thee, that there are
no maid servants here. He had abided by the
Law of the Prophets, but the profits have not
abided by him.
Now, therefore, renounce these diggins-I
absquatulate the premises-I vamouse the ranch
Il depart without script or provender taking
no care for the morrow, for the morrow takes no
care of me. Ere five days shall have passed,
the shirt tail of thy servant will be waving in
the breezes of the Nevada. remnant of it will
be nailed upon the highest mountain that he
crosses, as an emblem of the extremity to which
a man may be reduced in the land of Ophir.
Yet think not, oh Elisha, that would rend
my garment for this alone. Verify l say unto
thee, an evil genius hath long pursued me. She
has followed SO close upon my footsteps that
every thread and fibre Of my old shirt tail are
familiar to her eye. And it, in her pursuit of
me, she should gaze upon all this relic in the
solitary fastness of the high mountain she will
at once recognize it, and believing to have
been torn and destroyed by wild beasts, she will
retrace her steps, and thus will escape her.
AS Moses reared the serpent in the wilderness.
for the children of Israel to look upon and be
cured of their infirmities; so will | elevate my
tin among the Gentiles that they may look upon
it and be made as whole. The offerings of gold
and silver will be acceptable unto me, and IT
they live not afterwards, per adventure they may
find a treasure in Heaven.