Weekly Trinity journal., 1864-01-16

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ry Sam. Wilson"
Why you see, Hetty, could not help it. There
is to be a great hunt up on Sarondaga river
next week, and it would have killed old Sally
Prim if had gone with Sam without being mar
ried, and it would kill me, sure, to stay at home.
And so l thought the best thing for us to do
land Sam thought so too was to get married,
and so we did
There was satisfaction for you, but it was all
we ever got they went to the hunt the next
week. and from there up the lakes into Canada,
and were gone month, coming home by way of
Niagara and the Springs, and when another
month had passed by Sam took his law books
under his arm and started for California, rs that
Ell Dorado had just been opened to adventures ;
and when six months more had rolled aronnd
Maggie woke all up again ~ the announce
ment of her sudden departure for the same dig
gings.
"Why Maggie" said I, when she came to bid
me good bye, 90 how you leave your father
and mother, with all the refnements that sur
round you, to follow Sam. Wilson to that wild
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not do it,
| "DaEe not, Hetty Did you ever know duty
dared not do ? You strangely forget yourself
l am his wife, and there is power under
Heaven that shall keep me from him, sneer as
you may over lazy Sam. Wilson. One CLEAN of
his red head, and one look at his freckled face is
dearer to me than all the world beside, and go
to him will
And 60 to him she did. "What though her
mother did fret and her father did frown,n the
first steamer out bore Maggie Wilson and her
dog Lion to her waiting husband.
While at Chagres she wrote humorous sketch
of her voyage, after which nothing was heard
from her for several months, when one day a
package was received containing the lkenesses
of herself and husband with her noble dog Lion
lying at her feet. 1t was accompanied by let
ter of extraordinary dimensions, which, when
| opened, gave out such a shower of pins and
rings of native gold beside unwrought mettle,
that fairly turned the heads of all the neighbor-
hood, intensifying the California fever that was
then raging to such degree that it feared
at one time there would not be man left in the
town. Sam. Wilson was no longer Lazy Sam,
but was transformed into Samuel Wilson, Esq,
one of the shrewdest lawyers in the country
But all this was UNDECIDED by the loved ones at
home, while reading of the terrible perils that
had surrounded her on her lonely journey across
the Isthmus.
You remember, dear mother wrote she,
a how much you was opposed to my learning the
use of firearms, and also to my studying the
ter he was home from College. Well, those two
accomplishments have saved my life, for with
out knowledge of both should undoubtedly
have been murdered, although dear old Lion
proved himself equal to almost any emergency.
"There were but three ladies beside myself,
and as they were accompanied by their husbands
l was necessarily left to my own resources, the
male portion of the company being too eager to
reach their destination, to care for any one but
themselves, and as there were several merchants
in our company who required all the means of
transportation to be obtained, found much diff
fculty in procuring mules or attendants, but at
last succeeded in getting two from villianous
looking Spaniard by paying three times as much
as any one else would pay, and five times as
much as they were worth. After packing my small
stock of luggage upon the back of one mule,
(for Sam had warned me to bring but little, J my
muleteer led up the other upon which mounted,
a la horsen,on, as | the rest do. 1t was a
novel mode of travelling, but l found it much
more safe and comfortable than the usual side
saddle fashion.
II did not like the looks of my conductor,
neither did Lion, for he kept his eye constantly
upon him, growing fercely if he saw him lag
behind which he seemed often inclined to do,
while he walked steadily by my side, often look
ing up at me with his great wild eyes if he
wished to reassure of his protection and
fidelity.
q While in New York bought me Colts re-
volver, which / had secured in the bosom OF
my travelling habit, and as knew my nerves
were steady and aim true let him do the scold
ing until in crossing one of the innumerable
morasses which lie hid away among the almost
inaccessible precipices-for it was either dizzy
hight or bottomless quagmire all the way-my
mule stuck fast in the mud without the possioii-
ity of extricating himself or me.
81 suspected he was led into it ON purpose,
for my yinianous guide so dilatory in get
ting him out that the party was out OF sight be-
fore we were on the move again and then when
we did at last reach the hut near which they had
halted the pack mule with all my baggage was
no where to be found.
: az knew that we were not very far from the
last elevation that overlooked the bright waters
of the Pacific, and therefore felt no very serious
apprehensions when the party declared their in
tention of starting on, leaving me and Lion
alone in the hut, my attendant not having re,
turned from hunting the mule. But as the time
wore away without bringing my conductor or my
baggage began to grow alarmed, and was just
, in the act of mounting my mule to pursue my
journey with guide but Lion, when dark
sinister looking Spanard, accompanied by {