The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1870-05-05

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showed signs of Improvement. 1t
was kept scrupulously clean and
white-washed. Then it,was boarded
clothed and papered. The rosewood
cradle packed eighty miles by a mule
had, in Stumpy's way of putting it
it, "sOrter killed the rest of the furni-
ture." So the rehabilitation of the cab.
in became necessity. The men who
were in the habit of lOunging in at
Stumpy's to see chow The Luck got
on, seemed to appreciate the change,
and, in seIEdefense, the rival estab-
lishment of "Tuttle's Grocery" be-
stirred itself, and imported a carpet
and mirrors. The reflections of the
latter on the appearance of Roaring
Camp tended to produce stricter hab-
its of personal cleanliness. Again,
Stumpy imposed kind of quarantine
upon those who aspired to the honor
and privilege of holding ''The Luck"
1t was a cruel modification to Ken
tuck-whO, in the carelessnes5 of a
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 de-
cay-tO be debarred this privilege
from certain prudential reasons. Yet
such was the subtle influence of
innovation that he thereafter appear
ed every afternoon in a clean shirt,
and face still shining from his ablu-
tiODs. Nor were moral and social SAN
itary laws neglected. "Tommy," who
was supposed to spend his whole ex-
tistence in a persistent attempt to re-
pose, must not be disturbedsby noise.
The shouting and yelling which had
gained the camp its infelicitOus title
were not permitted within hearing
distance of StumPy's. The men con-
versed in whispers, or smoked in In
dian gravity. Profanity was tacitly
given up in these sacred precincts, and
throughout the camp popular form of
IeXpletive, known as "D-n the
luck ~ and course the luck p was
abandoned, as having a new personal
bearing, Vocal music was not inter
dicted, being supposed to haye
soothing, tranquilizing quality; and
one song, sung BY "Man-O'-War
Jack" an English sailor, from Her
Majesty's Australian colonies, was
quite popular as lullaby. 1t was a
lugubrious recital of the exploits of
''the Arethusa Seventy-four," in a
mufled minor, ending with a pro-
longcd dying fall at the burden o.
each verse. "On b-o-o-o-ard of the
Aretbusa" 1t was a fine sight to see
Jack holding "The Luck" rocking
from side to side as if with the mo-
ton of ship, and grooming forth this
naval ditty. Either through the pc
culiar rocking Of Jack, or the length
Of his song-it contained ninety stan
zas, and was continued with conscien-
tious elaboration to the bitter end
the lullaby generally had the desired
effect. At such times the men would
be at full length under the trees, in
the soft summer twilight, smoking
their pipes and drinking in the melo-
dious utterances. An indistinct idea
that this was pastoral happiness per-
vaded the camp. "Thi8 ere sort O.
think" said Cockney Simmons, medi-
tatively reclining on his elbow, 'is
'eavenly." 1t reminded him of Green
wich
On the long summer days "Tho
Luck' was usually carried to the
gulch whence the golden store of
Roaring Camp was taken. There, on
a blanket spread over pine boughs, be
would lie while the men were work
ing in the bitches below. Latterly,
there was a rude attempt to decorate
this bower with flowers and sweet
smelling shrubs, and generally some
one would bring him a cluster of wild
honeysuckles, azalias, or the painted
blossoms of Las Mariposas. The men
had suddenly awakened to the fact
that there were beauty and sgnif.
cance in these trifes, which they had
so long trodden carelessly beneath
their feet. A fake of gHttering mica,
a fragment of variegated quartz, a
bright pebble from the bed of the
creek, became beautiful to eyes thus
cleared and strengthened, and were
invariably put aside for "The Luck"
1t was wonderful how many treasures
the woods and hillsides yielded that
"wouId do for Tommy" Surrounded
by playthings such as never child out
of fairy-Iand had before, it is to be
hoped that Tommy was content. He
appeared to be securely happy, albeit
there was an infantine gravity about
him,a contemplative lightin his round,
gray eyes-that sometimes worried
Stumpy. He was always tractable
and quiet, and it is recorded that
once, having crept beyond his "cor-
ral"-a hedge of tesselated pine
boughs, which surrounded his bed
he dropped over the bank on his head
in the soft earth, and remained with
his notified legs in the air in that pO-
sitiOn for at least FIVE minutes with
unfiinching gravity. He was extrica-
ted without murmur. 1 hesitate to
record the many other instances of
his sagacity, which rest, unfortunate
ly, upon the statements of preiudiced
friends. Some of them were not
without a tinge os superstition. 81
crept up the bank just now," said
Kentuck one day, in a breathless state
of excitement, ''and dern my skin if
he was MT talking to a jay-bird as was
a sittin in his lap. There they was,
just as free and sociabIe as anything
you please, a iawin at each other just
like two cherrybums." Howbeit-
whether creeping over the pine bOughs
or lying laziIy 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 playfeIlow. For
him she would let slip between the
/ leaves golden shafts of sunlight that
fell just within his grasp; she would
send wandering breezes to visit him
with the balm of bay and resinous
gums; to him the tall redwood nodded
familiarly, and sleepily the humble
bees buZzed, and the rocks cawed a