The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-08-05

right TO my mead ana confuse me so that l
would be in helpless tangle in ten mi
nutes. did not want to act like lunatic
before strangers. But Artemus gently in
sisted, and l drank the reasonable mix
ture under protest, and felt all the time
that was doing thing might be sorry
for. In a minute or two began to i'm
agine that my ideas were getting cIouded.
I waited in great anxiety for the CONVEX
sation to open, with a sort of vague hope
that my understanding would prove clear,
after all, and my misgivings groundless.
Artemus dropped an unimportant re-
mark or two, and then assumed a look of
superhuman earnestness, and made the
following astounding speech. He said:
eNow, there is one thing I ought to
ask you about before I forget it. You
have been here in Silverland-here in
Neyada-two or three years, and Of
course your position on the daily press
has made it necessary for you to go down
to the mines and examine them carefully
in detail, and therefore you know all
about the silver mining business. Now,
what want to get at isis. Well, the
way the deposits of ore are made, you
know. For instance. Now, as I un-
derstand it, the vein which contains the
silver is sandwiched in between cast
ings of granite and runs along the
ground, and sticks up like a curb,
stone. Well, take vein forty feet thick,
for example-or eighty, for that mat
ter, or even hundred--say you 60 down
on it with a shaft-straight down, you
know, or with what you call an in
clined "-maybe you 60 down five hundred
feet, or maybe you don't go down but two
hundred; anyway, you 60 down, and all
this time this vein grows narrower, when
the castings come nearer, or approach each
other, as you may say that. is, when they
do approach, which of course they do not
always do, particularly in cases where the
nature of the formation is such that they
stand apart wider than they otherwise
would, and which geology has failed to ac-
count for, although everything in that
science goes to prove that, all things being
equal, it would, if it did; and then of
course they are. Do not you think it is ?"
said to myself: "Now, I just knew
how it would be, that cussed whisky cock
tail has done the business for me don't
understand any more than clam" And
then I said aloud: "I-I-that is-if you
don't mind, would you-would you say
that over again? I ought"
go, certainly, certainly. You see am
very unfamiliar with the subject, and per-
haps I don't present my case clearly; but
IL
"No, no-no, no-you state it plain
enough, but that vile cocktail has muddled
me little. But I will UNI do under
stand, for that matter but l would get
the hang Of it all the better if you went
over it again-and I'll pay better attention
this time"
He said: "Why, what I was after was
this" Here he became even more fear
fully impressive than ever, and empha-
sized each particular point by checking it
off on his finger ends.l "This vein, or
lode, or ledge, or whatever you call 1t,
runs along between two layers of granite,
Just the same as if it were a sandwich.
Very we'll. Now, suppose you 60 down on
that, say a thousand feet, or may be twelve
hundred lit don't really matter), before
you drift; and then you start your drifts,
some of them across the ledge, and others
across the length Of it, where the sulphu-
rets-I believe they call them sulphurets,
though why they should, considering that,
SO far as l can see, the main dependence
Of miner does not so lie as some suppose,
but in which it cannot be successfully
maintained, wherein the same should not
continue while part and parcel of the same
are not committed to either in the sense
referred to !; whereas under different cir
cumstances the most inexperienced among
us could not detect it if it were, or might
overlook it if it did, or scorn the very idea
of such thing, even though it we're pal
pably demonstrated as such. Am not
right?
/ said, sorrowfully, Il feel ashamed of
myself, Mr.. Ward. know 1 ought to un-
derstand you perfectly we'll; but you see
that Internal whisky cocktail has got into
nv head, and now cannot understand
even the simplest proposition. l told you
how it would be-"
cob, don't mind it, don't mind it; the
fault was my own, no doubt, though did
think I was making it clear enough for y
"Don't say word. Clear Why you
stated it as clear as the sun to anybody
but an abiect idiot, but it's that con-
founded cocktail that has played the mis-
chief" .a :,
"No, now don't say that; I'll begin it
all over again, and y
"Don't now; for goodness sake, don't do
ANYTHING of the kind, because | tell you
my head is in such condition that don't
believe I could understand the most trl-
fling question man could ask me.'
| "Now, don't you be afraid. I'll put 1t
so plain this time that you can't help but
get the hang of it. Well begin at the
very beginning. [Leaning far across the
table, with determined impresslveness
wrong hit upon his every feature, and lin
gers prepared to keep tally of each point,
as enumerated, and I leaning forward
with painful interest also, resolved to COM
prehend or perish.l You know, the vein,
the ledge, the thing that contains the
metal, whereby it constitutes the medium
between all other forces, whether OF pre-
sent or remote agencies, so brought to
bear in favor of the former against the
latter, or the latter against the former, or
all or both, or compromising, as far as
possible, the relative differences existing
within the radius whence eliminates the
several degrees Of similarity, to which,
I said "Oh, blame my wooden head, II
amt any use 1T amt any use to try
can't understand anything. The palmer
you get it, the more L can't get the hang
Of it."
I heard a suspicious noise behind me
and turned in time to see Kingston dodg
ing behind newspaper, and quaking witt
gentle ecstacy of laughter. l looked a
Ward again, and he had thrown OFT III
dread solemnity and was laughing also
Then I saw that had been sold-that
had been made the victim Of swiDdle il
the way of string of plauslbly worde'
sentences that didn't mean anything unde
the sun.