The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-12-28


well as tickle. A cane falling upon the
q lond laugh excites Indignation. There
was a western man, who, having made
a few thousands In the mines, casne to
San Francisco to take steamer home. On
the night before he was to sail he entered
the Argo saloon, seated himself Mt the table
in sheer listlessness, aud staked $40 and won.
He won again. In two bours he wen a for
tune. An hour later he rose from the table
O ruined man. The steamer sailed without
him. He was simple man, knowing little
Of the world, aud the sudden winning and
losing Of a fortune crazed him. He went
again to his work, and regularly took his
seat at the table and spent the earnings
which he had saved. So year passed. If
he had forgotten waiting wife she had not
forgotten him, and one evening she landed,
with her child, upon the pier at San Fran
cisco, penniless and alone. She told her
story TO John Oakhurst, who quietly pro-
Yided for her wants. Two or three eve-
nings after, the western Dlan won some trif1e,
and then gained other plays in succession,
and it really seemed as thodgh fortune
had come again. John Oakhurst saw
his JOY and said: t'I will give you
$4,000 for your next DEAL" He beSi-
tated. "Your wife is at the door will you
take it?" The man accepted; but the spirit
of the gambler was strong within him, and,
as Mr.. Oakhurst fully expected, he waited
to see the result Of the play. Well, John
Oakhurst lost, and with look Of gratitude
the man turned aghast, seized the money.
and hurried away as if he feared that he
might still be cnchained by the spell which
bound him. g That was bad spirit Of
yourn, jack" said his friend. Yes" said
jack, "but got so tired of seeing that fel.
low round. 1t was put-up game between
the dealer and me. 1t is the first time," he
added, with an oath which I think the re-
cording angel placed to his credit. " it is the
first time ever played game that was not
on the square" [Applause.
The social life of that day was peculiar.
The best-dressed men were gamblers, aud
the test-dressed ladies had no right to that
title. Gentlemen young in years had wives
much their seniors, and considerably larger
in their physical persons, and often one lady
had troop OF gallants to do escort duty Of
an evening. Surely, in the multiplicity of
such attention there was safety, and espe-
cially so when each gentleman wore his re-
volver. A wife Of an old pioneer used to
show chair With hole through the
cushion made by gentleman caller, who sat
down In bashful confusion and exploded bis
revolver.
Such was the ripened life of the Argo-
nauts. But with change Of affairs a CORE
spending change took place in morals and
manners, and people began to put locks on
their doors, and portable property was no
longer left out at night. [Applause.] Fine
houses were built, and real estate rose, and
the dealers were convicted Of forgery and
deceit. California is a country unlike any
other. Nature here is rude and unfinished
as the lite itself. The people seem to have
come here thousand years too soon, and be-
fore The great hostess was ready to receive
them. Everything is new, crude, and strange.
There is nothing soft, tender, or pastoral in
the whole Landscape. Nature invites to Ho-
mericS rather than TO Bucoiics.
Mr.. uarte referred to the regret with
which the miners left behind them the chin
news to their cabins, for the Snlplc reason
that they could not carry them away with
the shantieS, which were made movable.
Happily, the wants Of the Argonauts were
few and iDfrequent. 1t was often that the
diversity Of amendments to the miners
clothes were a serious perpleXity TO the
recognition Of the person wearing them. In
the earlier days, two gentlemen Of respecta-
blity lost their identity entirely in the
labels of the flour sacks which had been
added to their clothing, so that one Of them
came 10 be called "GcneSsee Mills" and the
other Eagle Brand" [Lnughter] The
lecturer then spoke briefly of domestic life,
and described the time when the highest en-
cellence in woman was to keep boarding
house, and to be the wife OF an aristocratic
ArgoDnut was to be able Of taking in wash
ing. Tne only legacy of the SpaniardS
10 California were the names left there, but
these were fast being superseded hy the
hardly musical Iames of the Argonauts.
Aunt Rulh's history was then sketchcd, ut
whose death the miners whispered rcvcrent-
", "She died of longing to go to Heaven"
The Heather Chinee was not forgotten by
the lecturer, and the concluding thought was
the following:
"I once more refer to the Argonauts Of '49.
In the rank and tile there may be MANY
known personally to some Of this audience.
There may be gaps which the memory OF
others may supply. There nre homes all
through the land whose vacant places can
never be filed. There arc graves all over
California on whose namelesS mounds none
shall weep. Ishould like to end this picture
with u flourish, but the trumpets and tile
bands have gone on before, and the noun
tains are beginning to hide the Argonauts
from our view. They are marching to the
city by tic sea they are watching for the
sail of the last Argo, and when thelast Argo.
naut shall have passed in. she, too, will
spread her white wings and slip unnoticed
through the golden gate to the haven that
opens in the distance"