Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1873-04-11
A o L IN THH FOLD.

a 20
has been a respectable old gentle.
man 80 to spsak-as far as resi-
dencs In either State Ia concerned, and
has assumed a leading position in poll
tics and all movements of popular re-
form. The Union men Of this section
remember with admiration the stand
he took here during the war Of tho re-
bellion, and how boldly was his voice
raised in behalf Of his country and de-
nouncement Of traitors. He was and
IL q true patriot bnt his head IL not
evenly balanced. He 10 too apt to
switch of into the FORMULATION or
advocacy Of some new and strange
ism, or wild, Improbable theory,
and will radically and absorbedly In
dorss the same, to the exclusion Of all
possible idea that he may be In the
wrong. He Is an enthusiast In what
everhe undertakes,and conscientiously
believing that he Is in the right, zeal
ously strives to induce others to BE-
lisve as he does, and to lead chem In
further progress Of that belief. All
remember how hard he worked upon
models Of various quartz mills, which
were erratlc inventions OF his own or
ratio brain, and which only complete
failure when put to practical working
test could discourage him Into the Idea
that they were failures. AS to that
matter. however, We do not believe
that he ever did give In that he was
wrong. but he still, no doubt, consid-
ers that his inventions have not been
fairly tested and appreciated.
One miraculous mill, especially,
everybody hers remembers, for 1t OBJ
tanned publicity enough, and was as IA
military known as the mill that "San-
dy" was asked to loan. Hundreds
went to see the model OF (" Uncle
Johnny Collins mill" 1t was half
the size Of a wheelbarrow, and the
queerest, most complicated arrange
ment of wheels, scrapers, cams, shafts,
levers, bands, cogs, and %eccentrics
anybody ever saw. 1t took the full
power of a strong man to start 1t work.
ing, and then 1t would run only for q
minute or so, when something would
switch off or burst, and they would
have to "shut down for repairs" But
this mill was simply an ingenious
practical illustration Of the condition
and working Of the inventors own
brain. Since Collins has been In San
Francisco he has become prominent
regularly once a year, when the Wo-
mans Suffrage Convention occurred.
Then 1t was that his aspiring, enthusi-
astic old noddle would get away with
him and impel him to push In among
the women and try and lead them In
the way he had become convinced was
tho only feasible and correct one. He
felt that they needed him, and would
fail without his most strenuous efforts
In their behalf. And so It Is that on
those occasions he has oficlously
clucked, scratched and circled around
those women till M exasperatedly
yet happily compares him to ian old
rooster scratching after worms for the
hens, and looking for n for himself
now and them"
The women have concluded to row
their own boat and not allow him to
push himself In as coxswain any more.
They are right. He has stirred up
more dissensions In their midst and
done their cause more harm than any
thing else. They do not need him ;
they can get along without him, and
he will show much wisdom by aban-
doning them and their cause, going
back to his queer mill models, and
leaving them TO grind their own way
through. The following from the Oak
land Daily Transcript Of yesterday,
hits him off pretty we'll. yet compar-
Ing him to a "two-leggsd mitrailleuse"
Is almost as bad as the women calling
him a II ''old rooster scratching worms
for the hens" The transcript says:
Prominent among the nuisances the
honest advocates OF Woman Suffrage
have had to encounter in this State Is
Mr.. John A, Collins OF San Francisco.
He may be honest in his advocacy OF
the cause, but the trouble with this
man seems to be his abnormal selfsh.
ness and self-coneeit. "Rule or ruin"
Is written all over his patriarchial WIS.,
ACE. He makes his appearances like an
inevitable calamity at each and every
conventional self-constituted. living, |
t~vo.lseged mitrailleuse, pouring into
the seriied ranks OF the reformers an
unceasing torrent Of resolutions, mo-
lions, suggestions, aud long-winded
ear-piercing speeches, that contound
the thoughts of the listeners with a
confusion that drives the spirit OF har-
mony appalled, from his s%creeching
presence. He has started In again this
year OH the same tack, but the indica-
lions are that no will have to take a
back seat this time. He has made a
most humanity and ~nonsensical attack
on Mrs. Emily Pitts Stevens, which
places him In his true light, and dis
arms him OF half Of his power to
render himself odious. Whatever
may be the merits Of the Woman
Suffrage question per Sc. Mrs. Ste
e n Is known all yer the country
as one of its most intelligent, earnest,
persistent, honorable and consistent
advocates representative of the
purest and most uuseltsh Of the ad-
yanced minds OF the age, whose whole
aim it Is to work for the uplifting OF
humanity generally, to labor for the
promotion Of human rights, and whose
views arc o broad aud whose souls
too noble, to be coniued TO the narrow
guage Of any particular "ism."
The epizootic has reached Sacra-
mento at last In Its irresistible onward