The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-08-25
Thirty Proposals.
A ALIFoENIA LOVE sroEY

crate bachelor. Somehow he never
cared to go round with the girls as the
rest of us did; but always took his
mother everywhere and waited upon
her as though she had been queen OF
England. All the girls liked him, and
II he ever ventured where they We're,
they would fiutter round him, but it was
plain that he never gave them second
thought.
"His mother used to say, Tf my son
ever marries, twill he very superior
woman, quite different from the girls
one ordinarily meets
"When we heard at home that he was
married, the girls said, little spiteful-
ly, | reckon, There must be one won
derful woman in California; and they
| hoped she would be superior enough TO
teach the old bachelor a lesson or two.
How is it? Is she likely to ,"
"Well, there's more to her than you'd
think at first sight. She must be real
good herself or she never would have
appreciated our friend. He is solid and
substantial, but not very snowy. Pve
known him intimately for years, and |
never knew him to say or do n mean
thing. He deserves his good luck, and
/ will own il; though, to be honest. /
wanted that woman for my wife, and
have not reached a point yet where |
can take much pleasure in thinking of
the wedding. Come over here under
the trees, and I'll tell you how it came
about but you'd better not let on you
know il, for tits sort of understood
thing that we are to keep it on the
square, and it's rather tender subject
with the boys.
Al 4
over the cafion was telling you about
there were thirty of us in the gang, and
we had four cabins, with stOrehouse,
which were public property. We worked
hard through the week, and on SUNDAYS
did our washing and brought our house
work up little. | suppose we should
be called hard set, but we were not
any rougher than men generally who
get a living by themselves for Il year or
two.
''Eight of us camped together, and
each o: us had rs distinct an individual
ity yas though we represented different ma
tions. Somehow or other we had ac-
quired a sObriquet which was acknOwl-
edged to be characteristic, and we were
called by it in camp to the complete
ignoring of our real names.
"There was Hal Winterton, South
erner, and n fierce secessionist; we
called him South Carolina Dave
Austin, Connecticut man and a regu-
larsell, we called him Nutmeg Dandy,
stuck to Charlie Chaplin, for he was
regular fop. Then there was Ned Simp-
son, regular Aunt Betty'-you'd know
his name at the first glimpse without
my saying a word Otis Allen would
faint if he jammed his finger or had a
sight of blood. He was Our Baby.'
Jack Cummings was wag, and he GER
tainly deserved his cognomen, Jack the
Wicked Jim WoOdruffwas known all
over the country by the appellation of
Judge and your humble servant, from
his black eyes, swarthy complexion, and
jetty locks, perhaps something, too, in
my manner, was styled Senior
''Well, we were n good-natured set of
fellows, always making allowance for
each others peculiarities, and never
having any friction in the camp. Some
times / used 10 think we joked Aunt
Betty and Our Baby rather unmerci-
fully, but word from our Judge would
straighten us at once.
'If one was sick, we all took turn
about in nursing and watching, but the
Judge was one that knew just what to
do, and was always near to do it. Ten
der and patient as a woman, we all hon
ored him, and held him a little higher
i'm our estimation than we did any one
else i'm the camp.
81 forgot To tell you that a month be-
fore, and when Dandy and Aunt Bet
ty' We're not of our number, we had i'm
their place Will Browning, who was
equal to two men, any day. Good to
work and good to play, as smart as need
be, and true to the core, | think most
any of us would have been glad to have
gone with VIII over the mountains, but
he said, NO, stay where you are, BOYS:
you are doing well, and if / find anv-
thing better, | will let you know at once.
Then come, all hands of you, and il will
be jolly time when we get together
again.
"You know it wasn't the pleasantest
travelling i'm the world to get around two
years ago.
1--WE hadn't heard a word from VIII,
though he had been gone for long time.
Several letters had come for him. but of
course we couldn't forward them, hav-
ing no idea of his whereabouts, and we
had come to the conclusion that he
would walk i'm upon us some time dead
broke and cured of his rowing disposi-
tion. We had finished work one dav.
and supped Off three BIS, as we called
our beans and bacon and bread; the ta-
BILE stood just where we had left il, for
you know miners are not very fastidious
i'm their notions. We We're sitting on "A
long bench which reached across the
end of our rude cabin, talking over our
days work, and specializing on what
the boys We're doing over to the left side
of us, when all at once young woman
stood right in our cabin door.
"Now, a woman in those DAYS was a
curiosity among bucks here among the |
hills, and there were men in our camp |
who hadn't set eyes on one for better than |
two years. She stood still, looking at
us. don't know what the rest thought, |
but Aunt Betty said afterward, that Ii |
seemed like IA warnini to some of u.s. |
and he was wondering whose time had /
come. The Judge sat ON the edge of the |
bench, and he arose and took off his hat. |
One after another followed his exam /
pie slowly, each one getting up in turn |
and taking off his hat.
1--WE must have looked cOmical, for /
we all had on wOOlen shirts, our sleeves
rolled up, and our collars turned back.
Our pants were tied about our waists,
and tucked i'm no very careful manner
into our rubber boOt-legs. Add to our
costume eight faces unshaved and un-
shorn for weeks, and you catch some
idea of our general appearance.
'sThe pale light of our sputtering cam
lies added to the weirdness of the scene,
and when Jack the Wicked murmured,
TO your knees, boys, all ut once |
ruess we were all more than half in
.lined 10 obey. The Judge recovered
himself the niIickest. and advanced to-