The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1870-04-28
The Luck Of Roaring Camp.

ume just published, entitled ''The Luck of
Roaring Camp and other Sketches" ;" by
Francis Bret Harte. In noticing the book,
the N. Y. Evening Post (high authority in
the literary w9rld) pronounces it 'a series
of Tales and Sketches, all of which have
very much merit, while several are almost
perfect in their way and of their kind.
The Luck of Roaring Camp is a most nat
ural and charming sketch Of rough life,
subdued by the tender influence of an un-
conscious child; it abounds with humor
and pathOs, and we would pity the reader
who could restrain either his laughter or
his tears while reading it'll
There was cOmmOtiOn in Roaring
Camp. 1t could not have been a fight,
for in 1850 that was not novel enough
to call together the entire settlement.
The bitches aud claims were not only
deserted, but "Tuttle's" grocery had
contributed its gamblers, who, it will
be remembered, calmly continued their
game the day that French Pete and
Kanaka Joe shot each other to death
over the bar in the front room. The
whole camp was collected before a rude
cabin on the outer edge of the clearing.
Conversation was carried on in low
tone, but the name of woman was
frequently repeated. 1t was name
familiar enough in the camp: "Cher-
okee Sal"
Perhaps the less said of her the bet
ter. She was a coarse, and, it is to be
feared, a very sinful woman. But at
that time she was the only woman in
Roaring Camp, and was just then ly-
ing in sore extremity, when she most
needed the ministratiOn of her own
sex. DissOlute, abandoned and ire
claimable, she was yet suffering a mar
| tyrdOm-hard enough to bear even in
the seclusiOn and sexual sympathy
with which custom wells it-but now
terrible in her loneliness. The primal
curse had come to her in that original
| isolation which must have made the
punishment of the first transgressiOn
50 dreadful. 1t was, perhaps, part Of
the expiation of her sin, that at mo-
ment when she most lacked her seX's
intuitive sympathy and care, she met
only the halEcOntemptuOus faces of
masculine associates. Yet a few Of the
spectators were, l think, touched by
her sufferings. Sandy Upton thought
it was trough on Sal, and in the con-
temptation of her condition for a mo-
ment rose superior to the fact that he
had an ace and two bowers in his
sleeve.
It will be seen, also, that the situa-
ton was novel. Deaths were by no
means uncommon in Roaring Camp
but birth was a new thing. People
had been dismissed the camp effec-
lively, finally, and with no possibility
of return, but this was the first time
that anybody had been introduced a6
niiO. Hence the excitement.
You go in there, Stumpy," said a
prominent citizen known as Kentuck,
addressing one of the lOungers. GO in
there and see what you kin do. You
have had experience in them things"
Perhaps there was a fitness in the
selection. Stumpy, in other climes,
! had been the putative head of two
families; in fact it was owing to some
legal inrormality in these proceedings
that Roaring Camp-a city of refuge
was indebted to his company. The
crowd approved the choice, and Stun
py was wise enough to bow to the ma
jOrity. The door closed on the eX
tempOre surgeon and midwife, and
Roaring Camp sat down outside,
smoked its pipe, and awaited the issue.
The assemblage numbered about a
1 hundred men. One or two of these
were actual fUgitives from justice, some
were criminal, and all were reckless.
Physically, they exhibited no indica
tiOns of their past lives and character
The greatest scamp had Raphael face,
with a prOfusion of blonde hair; Oak
hurst, a gambler, had the melancholy
air and intellectual abstraction of a
Hamlet; the coolest and most cOurag
eOus man was scarcely over five feet
in height, with soft voice and an en-
barrassed, timid manner. The term
''roughs,' applied to them, was a dis
tinctiOn rather than definition. Per-
1 hapS in the minor details of fingers,
toes, ears, &C., the camp may have
been deficient, but these slight Omis-
sions did not detract from their aggre.
gate force. The strongest man had
but three fingers on the right hand !;
the best shot but one eye.
Such was the physical aspect of the
men that were dispersed around the
cabin. The camp lay in a triangular
valley, between two hills and a river.
The only outlet was a steep trail over
/, the summit of hill that faced the
cabin, now Illuminated by the rising
moon. The suffering woman might
have seen it from the rude bunk
wbereOn she lay-seen it winding like
a silver thread until it was lost in the
stars above.
A fire of withered pine bOughs add
ed sociabiIity to the gathering. BY de-
grees the natural Ievity of Roaring
/ Camp returned. Bets were freely Of
, fered and taken regarding the result.
Three to five that "Sal would get
through with )" even that the child
2 would survive; side bets as to the sex
, and complexion of the coming strang-
| er. In the midst of an excited discus
sion an exclamation came from those
nearest the door, and the camp stop
ped to listen. Above the swaying and
moaning of the pines, the swift rush
of the river and the cracking of the fire
rose a sharp cry-a cry unlike any
thing heard before in the camp. The
, pines stopped moaning, the river ceas-
ed to rush and the fire to crackle. II
seemed as if Nature had stopped to
) listen too.
The camp rose TO its feet as one man.
5 It was proposed to explode barrel Of
gunpowder; but, in consideration OF
= the mother, better counsels prevailed
and only a few revolvers were dis
= charged. For, whether owing to the