Smyrna times., 1867-08-14
MISCELLAN ECU S.
A REaINlSJ JEM3E OF A. WARD.
BY MARK TWAIN.

had never seen him BEFORE He brought
letters of introduction from mutual friends IN
San Francisco, and by invitation l breaktased
with him. 1t was almost religion, there in the
silver mines, to precede such meal with whls-
XIV cock tails Artemus with the true cOSmo-
politan instinct, always deferred to the customs
of the country he was in, and he Or1ered
three of those denominations. Kingston was
present | am match for nearly any beverage !
YOU can mention except whlsky-cOcktall aud |
therefore | said | would rather not drink one
| said it would go right to my head, and con
| fuse me so that would be IN hopeless tan
gle in ten minutes | did not want to act like
lunatic before strangers. But ArtemuS gent
| ly insisted, and drank the reasonable mix
| ture under protest, and felt all the time that
was doing thing that might be sorry for
In a minute or two | began to Imagine that my
! ideas were getting clouded. | waited in great
anxiety for the conversation to open, with
sort of vague hope that my understanding
would prove clear, after all, and my misglvlng'
groundless
Artemus dropped an unimportant remark or
, two and then assumed look of superhuman
earnestness, and made the following astound-
ing speech. He said:
g Now there is one thing ought to ask you
: about before forget it. You have been here
in Silverland-here in Nevada-two or three
years, and of course your position on the daily
press mas I0due IL 0eCeSSdTy lUI yOu W eO
/ into the mines and examine them carefully IN
detail, and therefore you know all about the
silver mining business. Now, what want TO
get at is-is-well, the way the deposits OF ore
d are made, you know. For instance. Now, as
g | understand it, the vein which contains the
" silver is sandwiched in between castings OF
le granite, and runs along the ground and
ID sticks up like curbstOne. Well, take VEN
q forty feet thick, for example-Or eighty, fOl
IL fhaf m a hundrRd-SaV
~ down it with a shaft-straigh down, you know
"a or with what you call an 'incline may be yOI
at 90 down five hundred feet, or may be you don
ay 90 down but two hundred-anyway you e
rs down-and all the time this vein grows mar
~ ! rover, when the castings come nearer or ap
,st proach each other, as you may say, that Is
when they do approach, which OF course the
to do not always do, particularly in cases wher
the nature Of the formation is such that the
stand apart wider than they otherwise would
ld and whichgeoogy has failed to account fol-
IN although everything in that science goes I
prove that, all things being equal, It would,
- Il did not or would not, certainly If 1t did, an
then of course they are. DO not you think
isY'
I said to myself, Now, just knew how
would be-that cussed whisky cocktail h
done the business tor me don't understaI
snv more than clam" And then l "a
sloud. "I-I-that is-it you don't min
would you-would you say that over agair
DDS "Oh certainly, certainly. You see | q
/. Of very unfamiliar with the subject, ana pe1rha
Kid don't present my case clearly, but L
NoEno- no-you state il plain eno.ng
ng', but that vile cockta has mudlled me "A Il
ETY., But will UNI do understand, tor that IN
ter. but would get the hang OF It al the .
,o, ter if you went over 1t aagaln-and pay
~ ter attention this time.
en,S dIss He said, "Why, what was after was Thu
Oo'" ~. Here he became even more fearfully imp!
as s;ve than ever, and emphasized each parIi
best lar point by checking it off on his fnger-enC
O''' "Tbis 80 vein, or lode, or ledge, or whatever,
call it, runs along like curbstone, runs al
amp between two layers OF grvSnte 5Gi' 'pS No~ Sa