The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-03-03
~ For the Natiomal Era. 4
JASPER: A R0MhiNCE.
BY EDWARD SPENCER.
XII.
Hon Jasper flashed the Gold.

.sr
Hon Jasper flashed tile Gold.
lcrIArrKR TWELFTH coNcLUpRDl
A couple of months subsequent to Jasper's
recovery, he writes thus:
Our mining days are nearly over. We
have met with wonderful success latterly, and
a week or two more will put in my hands all
that need to enable me to set out and con-
quer the world. A pretty fool / am, to be
sure, seeking to- conquer the world, when
have not even gained the mastery over my own
self. And vet It's not so foolish, either, for
selfconquest is undoubtedly the hardest of any.
He who marched from Pella to the Indus,
everywhere victorious, yet fell PROSTATE at Baby
lon, the victim of an active little demon he
had not been able to cast out from himself
E coelo descenda, Gaothi seauton, and my COM
munications with the Powers above have been
very exceedingly few. For me the oracles are
dumb, and fancy that the only way to compass
this Gaothi seautOn is through the gradual,
cumulative empiricism of experience, (which,
of course, cannot be expected yet to have at
tanned to- or the learning made easy method
that goes under the name of revelation in re-
gard to which l simply remark, that have not
the pleasure of being acquainted with her mys-
teryship, the Sybil of Panzoust; and if were,
it is not likely that l would be able to under
stand the language in which she is accustomed
to promulgate her Vaccinations. AS for that
right reverend and well-known oracle of the
bottle, whose priestess is Bac-buc, and whose
portals motto is EN- ONO ALErHEIA l simply say,
prognisticatiOns.
"Oh, this gold, this gold! how much it is
capable of accomplishing how much myself
can do with it These petty little shining
scales, these dingy quartz humps, are more
precious in the sight of man than the fairest
vision that ever flashed upon his gaze, or the
erandest work of art that ever came perfect
from pencil, pen or chisel. Not to me, how
ever. Thank my stars, the anu Sacra flames
is no sordid passion in my breast. l value
gold only as a means, not las an end. The
glitter itself has no charms for me but ] am
able to charm others by means of that glitter,
wherefore / must have it, as it is needed that
"It is singular, amusing often, and oftener very
pitiful TO hearken to these miners talking of the
way in which they intend TO dispose of their
money. Some are here with pride-full motive,
others for ambitions sake, still more for the
wherewith to glut themselves on the pleasures of
sense aesthetic or brutal, as the chance may be !;
very few indeed, to do good with what they expect
to acquire. And it strikes me that those who
come with the meanest objects are the most
successful. Yon poor lad on the hill, who tolls
day and night, and dreams Of the house he
shall make his feeble old mother comfortable
in and to which he shall bring his Mary, his
happy bride, has scarce saved dollar; while
the gross villain below me, with his sensual
face and green eyes, who boasts so brazenly of
the table he will keep, the wines he will drink,
and the mistresses he will hire to roll with
him in soft luxury, is rapidly acquiring for
tune. That rowdy chap, too the Bowery Boy,
as they call him, how he does ventilate his fan
cies with visions of fast trotters, and 2.40 on
the Boomingdale road, and boxes at the thea
tres, and a Vice Presidency at Tammany.
While he grows rich, the poor doctor near by,
who tolls so earnestly for competence for wife
and child at home, can scarcely keep himself
from starving. BEN!
why let The stricken deer 60 weep,
fhe hart uugall play;
For some must u aich while DINERS tleept
Thus runs the world away ;
-" Yet ] love this life, hard one though
it be. 1t has many peculiar charms for me- 1t
suits me a present thing, for, through it,
can dream of what is to come. Delving here
up to my waist in black mud, tenderly handling
these glittering specks bending over, pick in
hand, till my bones ache, feasting by the pound
upon this salt meat, and scarcely purchasable
black bread, hearkening to the occasional mer-
ry chorus of the diggers-all this agrees with
me, convenes to my humor. Care is shut out,
for the regular toll of the day, and the regular
sleep of the night, leave no margin for the in
truding gloss of morbid thought. shall regret
the mines and the miners, when am away from
them. They think well of me, and hope will
soon come back to them. They are even now
contemplating county and municipal organi-
cation, and they wish me to take part in their
proceedings, limiting that any place l may de-
sire is at my bid. How much little afecta-
ton of bravery, little advocacy Of humane
principles, a little huency of speech and free
dom of manners, can do for one in such a dis.
organized society. But must think of moth
ing, until L have my profession. Already /
have to regret my neglected Blackstone. After
l am started -
- These extracts are very interesting,
five compare them with those previously given.
We see that Jasper has sprung out Of the flame
circle of thought that used to environ him, and
now begins to look intelligently about him, and
to entertain purposes. He has purged his mind
of bile, and only now needs the habitude of &C
ton to become worker. Like youth, he is
sanguine; like youth, his plans comprehend set
ting the world afre with his own torch, quench-
ing it in a second food of his own summoning-
up, and riding secure above the waters in a
Noah's ark of his own building. We all plan
thus. The race-horse, when he first bounds of,
thinks Z to put girdle round the earth in forty
minutes I" it is only when his eye-balls ache,
and the sweat oozes through every pore, that
he is content to come in on the Hhome-stretcb,
winner Of the heat" by a neck. 1t is the
failing muscle or the exhausted brain, only,
that can convince us we are not all Pucks.
XIII.
Ho1 Jasper Spent his Gold.
~. 'Un cou pousss rautren
How Jasper spent his gold may be very
easily indicated in few scenes, which we will
briefly place before the readers eye, with this
hr;afer consolinp adaoe