Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1868-10-23

/ of Deity had been uttered aught but profane
( ly in the camp. The form of christenin!
/ was perhaps even more ludicrous than tn,
satirist had conceived, but strangely enough
nobody saw it, and nobody laughed. Tom
my was Christened as seriously as he woulC
have been uLder a Christian roof, and cried
and was comforted in an orthodox fashion.
And SO the work of regeneration began in
Roaring Camp. Almost imperceptibly a
change came over the settlement. The
cabin assigned to Tommy Luck'--or The
Luck, as he was more frequently called
first showed signs Of improvement. 1t was
kept serupulously clean and whitewashed
Then 1t was boarded, clothed and papered.
The rosewood cradle-packed eighty miles by
muls-had, in Stumpys way of putting it,
'sorter killed the rest of the furniture So
the rehabilitation of the cabin became a ne
ceseity. The men who were in the habit Of
lounglng IN at Stumpy : to see how the Luck
got on seemed to appreciate the change, and
IN self defence, the rival establishment of
'Tuttles grocery bestirred itself, and import
ed carpet and mirrors. The reflections of
the latter on the appearance of Roaring Camp
tended to produce stricter habits of personal
cleanliness Again Stumpy imposed kind Of
quarantine upon those who aspired to the
honor and privilege of holding the Luck
1t was cruel modification to kentuck-who
IN the carelessness Of large nature and the
habits Of frontier life, had begun to regard
all garments as a second cuticle, which, like a
snakes only slOughed off. through decay-to to
be debarred this privilege from certain pru
dental reasons. Yet such was the subtle in
huence OF innovation that he thereafter ap-
peared regularly every afternoon in clean
shirt, and face still shining from his ablu-
tons. Nor were moral and social sanitary
laws neglected. Tommy, who was suppos-
ed to spend his whole existence in persist
ent attempt To repose must not he disturbed
by noise. The shouting and yelling whicl
had gained the camp its infelicitOus title
were not permitted within hearing distance
Of Stumpy's. The men conyersed in whis-
pers, or smoked in indian gravity. Proian-
Ity was tacltly given up in these sacred pre-
clncts, and throughout the campa popular
form Of eXpletiye. known a. p-n the
luck and Curse the luck was abandoned
az having new personal bearing Vocal
music was not lnteTdicted, being supposed L
have soothing, trauquiizing quality. and
one song, sung by Man O-War Jack. an
English sailor. from her maiesty's Australian
colonies, was quite popular as a lullaby. II
was a lugubrious recital of the exploits OF
the Arethusa, Seventy four. in a muhled
minor. ending with prolonged dying fall at
the burden OF each verse. On h-o-0-ard OF
the Arethusa. 1t was fine sight 10 sec
Jack holding The Luck. rocking from side o.
side as if with the motion of a ship. and
grooming forth this naval dittv Either
through the peculiar rocking of Jack or tie
length of his song-it contained ninety stan
zas, and was continued with conscientious
delberati,H to the bitter end-thc lullab,
generally had The desired effect At sucl
times would lie atiull length under the trees
IN the soft summer twilight, smoking thci
pipes and drinking in the mclodious utteran
ceS. I'm indistiuct idea that this was Iastlr-
al happiness Teryaded the camp. This er,
kind % think, said the Cuckney simmons
meditatIYely reclining On his elbow, is ewing
w. Ii reminded him of Greenwich
On the long summer days The Luck was
usually carried 10 the gulch. from whence
the golden store of Roaring Camp was taken
There, on a blanket spread over pine boush-
he would lie while the men were working i
the bitches below. Iatterly. there was 8
rude attempt 10 decorate this bower witt
flowers and sweet smelling shrubs. and gen
orally some one would bring him q cluster OF
honeysuckles, azalias, or the painted hloss ms
Of las Mariposas. The men had -uddeul,
awakened o. the fact that there were beaut,
and significance in these trihes which the1
bad so long trodden carelessly beneath then
feet. \ fake of glttering mica. fragment
of yariEated quartz, bright pebble from th,
bed Of the creek, became beautiful o. eve
thus cleared and strengthened, and were TO-
variably put aside for The Luck IL was
wonderful how many treasures the woods
and hIliside- yielded that would do for rom-
my. Surrounded by Viaythings such as ne,-
er child ont Of tairy-land had before. IL /, t,
Dee hoped that Tommy was CONTEXT He az
Ieared to be securely happy-albeit ther,
was an lniantine gravity about him-a con-
templatiye light in his round gray ewes tha,
sometimes worried StumIy lie was alway-
tractable and quiet, and it is recorded that
once, having cIept hey0ud his .cornl'-a
hedge of tasrelated pine boughs. which sur
rounded HE hed-he dropped over the bank
ON his head IN the -oit earth, and remained
with bis mottlci less in the air in that uo-
,ition for at least five minutes with unainch-
Ing gravity. He was extricated ~ithout
murmur. hesitate To record the many Other
instances Of his sagacity, which rest. unlort-
unatcly. upon the statements of preiudced
friends. Some of them were not without
tinge Of superstition. crept uu the bank
Just now, said kentuck one day. in breath
less state Of excitement. and dern my skin If
he wasn't talking TO iay-hiri as was a.
sittin on his lap. There they was. iust as
free and sociable as anything you please. a
iawin at each other Just like two cherry-hums
HOwbeit, whether creeping over the pine
pine boughs or lying laz ly on his back.
blinking at the leaves above him. to him the
birds sang. the squirrels chartered. and the
flowers blOOmed. Nature was his nurse and
playiellow. For him she would let slip be
tween the leaves golden shafts of sunligh;
that fell Just within bic grasp. she would
send wandering breezes to visit him with the
balm Of bay and resinOus gums to him the
tall redwoods nodded iamiliary and sleepiy,
the bumble-becs buzzed, and the rocks cawed
a slumberous accompaniment.
Such was the golden summer of Roaring
Camp. They Were flush times and the
Luck was with them The claims had yield
ed enormously. The camp was Jealous of it,
privileges and looked suspiciously on strang-
ers. No encouragement was given to immi-
grafton. and to make their secluslon more
perfect, the land on either side Of the mount
ain wall that surrounded the camp they duly
pre-empted. This, and reputation for sing
ular proficiency with the revolver. kept the
reserve of Roaring Camp inviolate The ex-
pressman-their only connecting link with
the surrounding world-somctimes told Won
dertul stories of the camp. He would say.
: They We a street up there in Roaring, that
would lay over any street in Red Dog.
They We got vines and flowers round their
houses and they wash themselves twice day.
But they'r mighty rough on strangers. and
they worship an lngin baby
With the prosperity Of the camp came
desire for further improvement 1t was pro
posed to build hotel in the following spring
and to invite one or two decent families to
reside there for the sake of the Luck who
might perhaps profit by female companion
ship. The sacrifice that this concession to
the sex cost these men. who were fercely
skeptical in regard to its general virtue and
usefulness, can only be accounted for by their
affection for Tommy \ few still held out.
But the resolve could not be carried INTO Ell
feet for three months, and the minority meek
ly yielded in the hope that something might
turn up TO prevent it And it did
The winter of 81 will long be remember
ed in the foothills. The snow lay deep on
the Sierras, and every mountain creek be
came river, and every river lake. Each
gorge and gulch was transformed into tu-
multuous water-course that descended the
hillsides, tearing down giant trees and scat
tering its drift and debris along the plain.
Red Dog had been twice under water, and
Roaring Camp had been forewarned. Water
put the gold into them gulehes, said Stumpy,
It's been here once and will he herea again =
and that night the North Fork suddenly leap
ed over its banks, and swept up the triangu
lar valley of Roaring Camp.
In the confusion of rushing water, crush
ing trees and cracking timber, and the dark
ness which seemed to flow with the water and
blot out the fair valley. but little could be