The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1873-09-19
NO. Is.
ggistellaaeons.
THE PIXIES PENANCB.

NHS lo4 AhtIS near the Benz
there was ample ability to conduct re
). SEARCHES beset by fsr more dificultie
Ie taau Was that Of the origin of tn,
u Fixes; but charge OF bnckshot which
{, / good-natured Yankee received on,
:, evening, soon after putting questions
i 20 venerable Pike, exerted depres
= ing il fuerce upon the spirit of inves
II tigati9p. They were no; blood thirst,
), these Pixies /; but they had good rea
!, son to suspect all irquirers of bein!
; at lesst deputy sheritfs, if not worse
2 and a Pixies hatred of officers O
E ,be law is Gquslled in intensity onl,
= by his hatred OF manual labor.
But while there wss doubt as to tn
ra.heIlaud OF the little colony OF Pike
at Jagger's Bend, their every neigh
: tor would willingly make afi1 isvit a
. 10 the cause OF their locating and thei
. remaining al the Bend. When hu
i msniisrians and optimists argued tha
{ it WAS because the water was gooC
and convenient, that the Bend itsel
c caught enough driit-wood, and tha
/ the dirt would yield little gold wher
manipulated by placer and pan, al
: tanners and stock owners would admit
the validity OF these reasons; but the
] admission was made with q counte
rance whose indignation and sorrow
; indicated that the greater causes were
yet unnamed. With eyes speaking
emotions which words could not ex-
; press, they would point to sections oi
wheat fields minus their grain bearing
heaGs; TO hides and hoOfs of cattle
! unslaughtered by themselves to mo
hers OF promising calves, whose ten
der bleatings answered not the mater.
nal csll; to the places which Esd once
|; known fine horses, but had been IN
lensnted since certain Pixies had gone
across the mountains for game They
would accuse no man wrongfully hut
in a country where all farmers had
; wheat and cattle and horses, and
whel proving Indians and Mexicans
were not, how could these disappear
ances occur?
But to people owning no property
in the neighborhood-to tourists and
artists-the Pike settlement at the
Bend was as interesting and ugly ss
Skye terrier. The architecture Of
the village was OF original style, and
no duplicate existed. OF the half
dozen residences, one wss composed
exclusively of SOD, another of bark,
yet another of poles, rooted with a
wagon cover, and plastered on the
outside with mud the fourth was OF
slabs, nicely split FROM logs which had
driited into the Bend the fifth was
OF hide stretched over frame strictly
Gothic from foundation TO ridge-pole;
while the sixth, burrowed into the
hillside, displayed only the barrel
which formed its chimney.
A more aristocrstic communitv did
not exist on the Pacific coast Visit
E the Pixies when you would, you could
never see any one working. Of church
; es, school houses, stores, aud other
plebeian institutions, there were none,
snd no Pike bemeaned himself by en-
tering q trade or soiling his hands by
agriculture.
, Yet unto this peaceful, contented
neighborhood there found his way 3
visitor who had been everywhere in
the world without once being made
welcome. He came to the house built
of slshs, and threatened the wife OF
Sam TIotwine, owner of the house /;
and Sam, after summing himself unes
silly for day or two, mounted pony
and rode off for doctor 10 drive the
intruder away.
When he returned he found all the
, men In the camp seated on a log in
front OF his own door, and then he
, knew he must prepare for the worst
only one Of the great Influences Of
the world could force every Pike from
his own door at exactly the same time
There they sat, yellow faced, bearded,
long backed and bent, each looking
like the other, and all like Sam, and,
as he dismOupted, they looked at him
"How is she p said Sam, tying his
! borse and the doctors while the latter
went in.
"Well," said the Oldest man, with
deliberation," the wimmin's all thar,
if that's any sign"
Each man on the log inclined his
head slightly but positively to the left
thus manifesting belief that Sam had
0 been correctly and sufficiently answer
. ed. Sam himself seemed to regard
: his information in about the same
manner.
Suddenly the raw hide which form
ed the door of Sans house was push
ed aside, and a woman came out and
called Sam, and he disappeared from
bis log.
As ne entered his hut all the womer
lifted sorrowful faces and retired; nc
one even fingered, for the Pike has
not the common human interest il
other peoples business-he lacks tha
as well as certain similar virtues o
y civilization.
% Sam dropped by the bediid snd
% was human his heart was in The
b right place, and, though intrenched
by years of laziness and whiskey anC
tobacco, it could be brought to The
front, and it came now.
} The dying woman cas-: her eyei
appeaIiDgly at the surgeon, and tha
worthy stepped outside the door
Then the yellow faced woman said
"San, docter says | amt got mucl
time LETT
d "Ms1y," said Sam, 81 wish ter Coo
Il !, 1 could die fur yer. The childer-
"Ios them l want to talk about
e SAM replied his wife. An l Sist
they could die with me, rather'n hey
'em liy ez I've he'd to. Not that yoI
aint been q kind husband TO me, iol
you hev. Whenever / wanted mea
; yev got it somehow; an when ye'
been ugly drunk yev kept away from
the house. But I'm dyin', Sam, snd
it's cos you've killed me"
"Good God, Mary - cried the IS
: tonished Sam, jumping up; your,
cTszy-here doctor"
, "Doc!or can't do no good, Sam
= keep slill snd listen, ef yer love m
Ike yer once said yer did; fur
i aevn't got much breath left," gaspeC
n toe woman
,e MARY" said the aggrieyed Sam
- i szow to God / dunno what We
; tdIlvin' at
Is "Irs jes. this, SAM" replied III
woman. 'Yer tux me, telIin' me ye,,
love me am honor me, an perfect me
You mean to say now yer done it
I'm a-dyin Sam-I hsin't gotno IA
wore to ask of nobody an Tn tellin,
the truth, not known what word j
be ny last.'
| "Then tell feller where the kiln
! came in, Mary, for heavens sake.
sid the unhappy Sam.
"It's come in all along, Sam,n sal,
the woman. "There is women in III
States, 30 I've heerd, that marries fu
home an bread an butter, bat yo
. pi omised more'n that, Sam. AM I'v
4 waited, an it amt come. Aa'there'
u sonethin' in me that's all starved an,
,e cut to pieces. An it's Jour fault