The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-09-11
A1tllturu1ls ggeadi1rgJ,
A Reminiscence Of fArtemus Ward.

vitation I breakfasted with him. 1t was
almost religion, there in the silver mines,
to precede such q meal with whiskey
cocktails. Artemus, with the true cos
mopolitan instinct, always deferred to the
customs of the country he was IN, and SO
he ordered three OF those denominations.
Kingston was present. [ am match tor
nearly any beverage you can mention
except whiskey cocktail, and therefore
| said would rather not drink one. l
said it would 60 right to my head and
confuse me SO that would be in help
| less tangle in ten minutes. I did not
| want to act like lunatic before strangers.
But Artemus gently insisted, and drank
the reasonable mixture under protest,
and felt all the time that 1 was doing
thing I might be sorry for In minute
or two I began to imagine that my ideas
were clouded. waited in great anxiety
for the conversation to open, with a sort
of vague hope that my understanding
would prove clear, after all, and my mis-
givings groundless.
Artemus dropped an unimportant re-
mark or two, and then assumed look of
superhuman earnestness, and made the
following astounding speech. He said:
"Now, there is one thing ought to ask
YOU about before I forget it. You have
been here in Silvcrland-here in Nevada
two or three years, and, of course, your
position on the daily press has made it
necessary for you to go down in the mines
and examine them carefully in detail, and
therefore you know all about the silver
mining business. Now, what l want to
eet at isis. Well the way the deposits
Of ore are made, you know. For in
stance. Now, as I understand it, the
vein which contains the silver is sand
wiched in between castings Of granite,
and runs along the ground, and sticks up
like curb-stone.
"Well, take vein forty feet thick, for
example-or eighty, for that matter, or
even hundred-say you go down on it
with q shaft-straight down, you know,
or with what you call an 'incines'-may
be you 90 down five hundred feet, OF may
be you don't go down but two hundred
anyway you 60 down-and all the time
this vein grows narrower, when the cas-
ings come nearer, Or approach each other,
YOU may say-that is, when they do ap-
proach, which, of course, they do not al
ways do, particular in cases where the ma
ture of the formation is such that they
stand apart wider than they otherwise
would, and which geology has failed tc
account for, although everything in that
science goes to prove that, all things being
equal, it would, if it did not, orwould not,
certainly if it did, and then of course they
arc. Do not you think it is 2"
I said to myself, ''now l just knew how
it would be; that cussed whiskey cocktail
has done the business for me; don't un-
derstand any more than clam" And
then I said aloud, "I-I-that is-if you
don't mind, would you-would you
would you say that over again? l
ought"
aoh, certainly, certainly. You see I
am very unfamiliar with the subject, and
perhaps don't present my case clearly,
but l."
aNo. no-no, no-you state it plain
enough but the vile cocktail has muddled
me little But [ will un-I do under
stand. for that matter, but | wonld get
the hang of it all the better if you went
over it again-and I'll pay better attcn-
tion this time"
He said, "Why, what I was after was
this.o (Here he became even more fear
fully impressive than ever, and cmpha,
sized each particular point by checking 1t
off on his fingcr-cnds.) "This vein, or
lode, or ledge, or whatever you call it.
runs along with two layers of granite,
lust the same rs it wcro at sandwich
Very well. Now suppose you SO down
on that, say thousand feet, or may be
twelve hundred Git don't really mattcr,)
before YOU drift; and then you start your
drifts, some Of them across the ledge, and
others along the ledge, and others along
the length Of it. where the sulphurets-l
believe they call them sulphurets, though
why they should, considering that, SO far
as can sec, the main dependence of q
miner does not so lie as some suppose, but
in which it cannot be successfully main
tained, wherein the same should not con-
tinue while part and parcel of the same
arc not committed to either in the sense
referred to, whereas under different cir
cumstances the most inexperienced among
US could not dotect it if it were, or might
overlook it if it did, or scorn the very
idea of such thing, even though it were
palpably demonstrated as such. Am l
not right%
said sorrowfully, 81 feel ashamed of
myself, Mr.. Ward. I know ought to un-
dcrstand you perfectly well, but you see
that Internal whisley cocktail has got
into my head, and now l cannot under
stand even the simplest proposition. l
told you how it would be-"
"Oh, don't mind it, don't mind it; the
fault was my own, no doubt-though /
did think 1 was making it clear enough
for"
nDon,t say word. Cear Why you