San Andreas independent., 1858-06-26
FROM MURPHYS.
Correspondence Of the Independent.

ure of seeing Aurora's first and softeSt smile
resting lovingly upon the rugged brows of the
distant mountains and nesting amid the green
tasseled foliage of the sombre pines while its
pure breath lay upon my hot and aching brow,
| soft and soothing as kiss of love. With a
mind filled by dim, shapeess thoughts and
fragments of broken dreams, stood upon the
silent hilltop, gazing long and anxiously down
the concave east, while like bird escaping
| from the thraldom of its gilded cage, did my
restless spirit plume its wings for flight and
float upon the golden clouds to its early home.
Distance was annihilated and time forgotten
in that waking dream of joy Once more
stood beneath its viny bowers and heard the
song-birds of childhood warble their merry
notes of welcome. Once more the little rill
murmured its well-remembered songs and the
old familiar trees bowed in the breeze as
passed them. Again the light of long fed
ing walls like smile and methought heard
the low voices of the lost, whispering sweet
music through its high-arched halls. Year
after year, with their joys and sorrows-their
tears and smiles, rolled slowly o'er Memory's
plain, like waves o'er the bosom of the deep.
| Ah! how dark were the shades on that pano-
rama of Life, yet, here and there joyful mo-
ment shone through its cherries gloom, like
twinkling stars through night and cloud
/ Then came the changes of absence, and awoke
with sigh for it was home no more. But
change is here as we'll as there, and each Cay
draws from the secret store of the future to
add to that of the past. The flowers we priced
have withered and fed-forms once fondly
loved, have faded away-the wreaths of love
are scattered and torn-the links of friend
ships golden chain broken and lost, and the
star of our destinies clouded and pale. The
| little mounds upon the hill, with their white
stones and neatly painted palings, tell me that
it is so.
Five years have wrought great change in
this place. Although larger and more beauti-
full than then, boasting its fre-proof buildings,
inviting stores and luxurious hotels, and beau
teous gardens, its youth has fled and prema-
ture old age seems to have settled upon it.
Then the miner went to his daily toll with a
smile and left it with song. Now, he well
comes the night and sighs when the morn
comes, heralding another long day of bootless
toll. Then, the town was filled with strangers
and overfowing with hustle and activity
Now, it is in a state of apathy, from which
nothing can arouse it but the completion of the
Flume. Then, the tide of emigration was to
it now, it is from it. Then, it was the first
among mining towns, and now it is the-the-
the first place still, and ever will be, for our
claims are rich and almost inexhaustible while
in a few months more we will be able to boast
of one of the deepest and best Fumes in the
State. A few months later, and those who are
now leaving it on a wild-goose chase to the
north, will be sorry that they had not little
more patience, when they find that they have
left certainty for uncertainty. The last
meeting of the stockholders and citizens
passed off smoothly, with one exception, and
am sorry to say, that some of my fun-loving
friends so far forgot themselves and their usual
courtesy as gentlemen, as to deny member
the right to speak. That his right was an un-
deniable one, cannot be contradicted and il
his remarks were somewhat wild and not at
all to the purpose, he should have been lis
tened to with respect, if not attention 1t is
rather poor sport to wound the feelings of a
fellow man, and to drown the sound of his
voice because nature has not made him Pat
rick Henry, Choate, or Bascomb Plain
common sense is what we want and not vain
display of lofty eloquence, fancies bathed in
the tints of sunset, or sarcasm keen and start
ling as the lightning's flash and as it was for
the general welfare, and not entirely for his
individual interest, | am of the opinion that it
was wrong, and that he should have been
neard. 1t Is free country, and you had a
right TO hiss him down, you say. Undoubted-
ly but the same rule guarantees him the right
to speak. 1t is bad practice and should be
discarded. The fate of the Flume has been,
at last, satisfactorily decided, and in less than
week, the merry clinking of drills and ham
mers will be heard upon it again. As the
miners have pledged their property for GER
tain amount of cash, necessary articles or Ia
Dor, there is not a single doubt but that the
work will be vigorously prosecuted and brought
to speedy completion. l believe there is a
proposition before the Company to alter its
original course, so as to take advantage of
several claims which are already opened to the
required depth and of considerable length the
owners of which refused, at first, but are now
willing that it should be done. If this be true,
it will not take one-half the time to finish it
that we thought it would Once into the Flat
and our good citizens will be astonished at its
progress, and come focking to our assistance
with all that is useful or necessary to its final
triumph. When | hear some old weather.
prophet predict its failure it makes me smile
for if the Company should become bankrupt
the people never can, and are always ready
Since it has been decided to complete the
work, there is already change for the better
in the Camp, and an occasional song enlivens
the night as of old.
| Between the Frazer river mania and the
Sunday Law, or acting as they do together,
opine that the export of gold for '5S-9 will be
rather small, and the State funds somewhat
| lightened. One more law of the same kind
would depopulate the State. What pity it
| is that we could not all be made Christians by
an Act of the Legislature, that we might be
able to see and appreciate its skillfully hidden
merits.
"Renzi," yonr threat of turning me out to
! l. l. L .