The Van Buren press., 1871-01-31
Budget Of ScissoriBgS.
A Cal.fornia Yarn.

II the, other day. and went over there To see
what abe chances were Tor making good
bargain. sam IL dissatisfied sort OF a
fellow amt is always tiylng 40 bay into
something ri,h. SO, as / was saying. he
bulged right over to Groundhogs Glor,
the niomeat he heanfof il. sss H-
When he got there he found that the
owner of this claim aud his wife had gone
on a visit to another family in tie Big Bug
Canon. The only person about the prem
ises was a small hoy about twelve years
old From him Sam obtained some in
formation which the owner himself might
not have communicated.
Sam went down with the boy and took
look at the claim, While he was cast
ing bis eyes. around. the boy sat on the
bank and whisied "Oh Gosh! my own
Jemima."
Having finished his survey. Sam went
upand sat down beside the innocent iuye-
nile. -ta
Bub," said he, ., I've heard that this
is rich claim, ana j; does pretty well.
Now, ts tell the trath. what does your
father want to sci. out rot, if it's as ricn
as they p
The small boy stopped whstling, cooked
his head to one side, closed one eve, and
squinted thougltiolly q, Sam with the
Q her
Stranger, have you got half dollar
abeut you? II you have. perhaps
wouldn't mind telling you"
Sam forked over the half dollar, and the
l.ar Eal tt 4 a. Il
the tune, " Get out OF the Wilderness"
Well, fellow, bein as it is you, Idou't
object to saying that the on dad wants
to sell this claim is, cause it is too rich. :"
"Too rich Played out y put in Sam
Now, stranger, you jest hold her hosses
till l. get through, an I'll explain it to
you. Iou see this ain't like other claims
where the gold is in sandy gravel and most
ly in the bedrock, but the uank here Is
nearly all clay, and there's heaps aqd gobs
Of gold all through it The clay is the all
firedest stickiest stuff that ever wuz, and
you, cant begin to work it, When dad
gets to work down there he materially gets
the darnel STUFF all over him, and when he
comes in at night he's Jest coated with it
about six inches deep more or less, and this
clay is plum fall of gold
al don't see that that's any reason for
his wanting to sell out Interrupted Sam,
Well, old hoss, you keep cool aud
don't get rampagious, and III tell you how
it Is. When dad comes in at night he's
mighty tired, but nam, you soc is such an
economical woman that she don't like to
see SO much gold wasted as dad has about
him in the clay every night, so man she
alters in and cleans him up. AT hrst she
used TO bc'satisfel with scraping hin down
with hoe and panniug him out. She
made lots Of money at that He used to
pan ont rich, tell you. But pretty soon
nam got rnsatisfcd, cause it took too long
to pan him out every night, and besides
she didn', get half the gold. Tho clay was
was so sticky it wouldn't wash good
Then she 60, a string Of slnices out in front
of thcshcuseaua put up little hydraulic,
and used TO pipe him oil. Dad was dread
ful mad about it. You ought to hear him
growl aud cuss. He said it was too wear.
in'fer,a man to work all day in the drain |
and then 20 he worked hisself at night He
had to give in, though. Nam said he
shouldn't board with her if ho didn't, and
that fetched him, you bet.
Things ran on this way for some time
The old woman made two or three hundred |
dollars week reg'lar, But, as told you
before. she was awful savin and she found
she, couldn't pipe him off clean, and lost
ever So much in the tailins. You don't
know how sticky the clay is around hero
The only way in which you can work it
elsan, isto chuck it into kittle of bilin'
water and bile it for two or three hours.
fhst's the way the fellow which struck the
claimed used to work the rich crevices.
Nam hecrd Of this, and she thought ii she
could work the old man in some such way,
she could save the gold. OF course she
didn't expect to bile him right down. yoG
know. That wouldn't have been exactly
on the square, but she thought il she could
q let him stand in middliu' hot water for an
hour or two every night, she could run him
through the hydraulic then and wash him
off pretty clean. .u,
v.a . Well, stranger, you mightn't think it,
but dad was so pesky contrary that he
Z wouldn't do it. Nam said he'd got to do
it.. cause she wasn't goin to SEQ money
thrown away by no such contrariucss.
Neither one of 'em woulln'. give in, SO
they concluded they'd split the difference
by lsltin' dad sell out aud go below and
buy rancho.
4 "Thats jest how it is. stranger il You
aia't married aud want to buy this claim
you can make mighty good thing ont OF
ii but if you've got wife she won't let
you rest for tryin' to work You to good adj
vantage"
Hero the unsopbisticated infant finished
and walked away, calmly whistling, 81
:. Wish was daisy" while sam retired to
reflect on the matter, for ho was, andis,
married. d
@--- Said minister once when gently
limited to hin that he had not preached the
l.ospcl that morning: " No. said he