The Nevada journal., 1857-04-03
For the Nevada Journal.
GOLD Flat, March 3OtA, '57.

| IL, tooJ to great eAteHL, Eli all parts oI
the world. You find a large class of
persons in every community, who seem
to be restless, and in fdget, when they
meet an acquaintance, until they have
found out every thing about him, wheth-
er of private or confidential nature, or
not. They will worry ont of you the
txery incest secrets of your nature, un-
less you come to direct issue with
them at once, and stop proceedings by
fiat refusal to testify.
The miners of California are most in
tolerably pestered by this system of in
quisitorial investigation. When mi
ner goes to town, particularly in the
money making season. he meets one of
these plaques who Immediately asks ::
chow are you doing?" Knowing your
man, you give him some general answer,
as pretty well" or "as well as could
be expected" and commence talking
about something else-so that if he
were a gentleman, he would not prose-
cute his enquiries any further. Not SO,
however, with your indefatigable bore.
Having failed by general questions, to
to find out the exact state of your fnan-
ces, he commences a system of minute
examination which will be successful in
the end, if you don't keep bright look
out. He employs series of questions,
such as these: "How much do your
claims pay per day to the hand p chow
many hands do you work ?'' chow long
have they paid at that rate?" show
much ground have youl' chow much
do you have to pay for water ?" chow
much did it cost you to get in?" chow
much were you in debt when you be-
gan to take out money! &c. &c; and
if you are accommodating and good ma
tured enough to answer all there ques-
tions categorically, he will tell all your
acquaintences how much you are worth
in cash, to dollar, and what you will
make for the next two years.
Now, we miners don't like, at all
times, TO make so particular an exhibit
of our personal affairs to the world. 1t
is all well enough for you town folks to
ask a mining friend, when you meet
him, how he is getting along, and if he
chooses to tell you exactly how much
he is making why, all right; but if
he don't, for decency's sake, don't force
him, by your inquisitiveness, to be un-
civil. Yours, &C., A MINER.
AN UNFORTUNATE ILLUSTRATIoN.-
Old Mr.. L, commonly called old
Bill" although occasionally profane,
and generally drunk, was, nevertheless,
an universal favorite in the little town
of c. g. His uniform good nature, his
fun-loving propensities, and his many
really good qualities, endeared him to
every body, despite his manifest weak
ness. Upon one occasion, elder M r
undertook to read him lecture about
his drinking SO much liquor. He told
him that he was getting old, now, and
that he couldn't stand as much hard
drinking as when he was a younger
man, and that, if he didn't hold up
| little, his constitution would certainly
give way, and he be precipitated into
an untimely grave. Old Bill had, for
most of his life, been engaged in the bu-
siness of wagon making, and the
elder thought he would draw an
illustration from his favorite pursuit
So he wound up as follows: "Suppose,
now, you had an old wagon, almost worn
out, with loose tires, and rickety spokes
and fellies, which you wished to pre-
serve as long as possible, would you
continue to use it as roughly, and load
it as heavily as when it was new and
strong? or what would you do with it ?
"By Cd" said old Bill, "I'd soak it,
| WAR! WAR! Don't be too intense
ly alarmed, gentle reader; there is no
immediate danger. War don't exactly
"exist by the act of the enemy" and
your scalp will probably be safe yet for
a few nights; but we advise you to
make your arrangements as speedily as
possible, in order to be prepared for a
state of hostilities. 1t is very true that
ne are now sat peace with all the
world" and that there is no very urg-
ent reason why we should disturb our
amicable relations with the rest of
manLin l." but amt Gen. Cass at the
head of the Cabinet and won't he in
continently kick up a fghtl If he
don't, :" there is no believing old signs