The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1873-12-18
DAISY'S MISSION.


Until we see your happy looks again.
Chambers's Journal
DAISY'S MISSION.
Heil-Roaring Bar was neither a prett,
nor euphonious name, nor rcverentia
one, but considering the character of it
jewellers, 1t was an exceedingly fiittin!
one for the locality that bore it. A six
months residence there convinced me 81
thoroughly of this fact that 1 could no
conscicntiously have changed single let
ter of the name, even had possessed thu
power to do so. Not that it savored o.
sulphurous odors; not that the roaring:
OF its apparent patron saint were evel
heard echoing among the canons that en-
comprised it, but for sinfulness, and
wickedness, and riotous debauchery, il
was peerless among all the mining camps
l have ever visited in California.
was sent there in the summer of 1856:
by San Francisco firm, to close out
business that was drifting into involuntar,
bankruptcy, and long dusty ride found
me there early in June of that year. A
view of the camp from the mountain had
not impressed me favorably with it, and
nearer acquaintance confirmed the first
impression, but like half reluctant bride.
groom, had resolved to take it for "bet-
ter or WORSE" with slight hope, however
that it would prove any better that ii
looked
Hello. Deacon. What do you want in
Hell-Roarin'? Preachers don't stand
much show in these diggins. You amt
wanted; better gitr'
This was my greeting. I had Just
alighted from my mule, tired and out of
humor, and felt half inclined to resent
the brusque, unmannerly salutation, but
did not. 1t was not a consciousness of
the truth that quieted me, for my appear
ance was certainly slightly clerical.
True, had IA perfect right to differ in
opinion with the speaker, for of verify
this was just the place where preachers
should stay; but, making no profession for
godliness, held my tongue for moment.
l looked up; a brawny and powerful
figure confronted ME, and prudently held
my temper. replied blandly that l ex-
pected to remain there while, and sug-
gested, with all meekness, that appear
ances were sometimes deceitful. Soon
the Bar was agog with curiosity, and a
crowd gathered. And such crowd! !
Great, broad-shouldered fellows, dirty and
unshaven, deeply marked with chronic
dissipation, whose every second word was
an oath; striplings whose tongues were
volubly impudent and early trained to
blasphemy in imitation of their elders,
gathered around, while I unsaddled my
mule in so awkward a manner as to excite
derision: These people weighed every
thing, like their gold dust, in their own
scales, and, measured by their standard, l
was regarded as worthless impostor. l
had store clothes" ON, and this fact alone
was too much for the fixed conventional
ism of the Bar. Buckskin and gray fan
mel assumed a dignity in early times
among the "honest miners" more unyield-
ing, more exacting than purple and fine
linen. My ''boiled shirt was considered
an infraction, and therefore the Bar was
attronted. Deacon" was echoed from
mouth to mouth. Bets were offered and
freely taken that was psalm. singer; a
gambler, with dead thing" or "waxed
keerds;" a lawyer; doctor; anything
but horse jockey, or a gentleman. Al
though nettled with the uncourteous re-
ception, could not afford to fall out
with my new neighbors. Beating my
dusty hat against my knee, with a we'll
assumed swagger, turned quietly, and
asked if the Bar was dry? And the Bar
was dry!
With whoop, the crowd adjourned to
the saloon-a rickety, clap-board institu-
tion, furnished with a few stools and rough
tables-and the Bar drank-first with
myself, then with Joe Miles, the proprie-
tor; then with the bluff individual who
had first accosted me. Pressing through
the crowd, he held out his big, rough hand,
and, taking mine, he led me forward with
something of triumphant air.
Boys" he said, Il take it all back.
This is my old skipper; came out with
him from Boston in 40. He amt a
preacher; he spends his money like man,
and don't whine. ANY one that don't like
him can call on Bill Thorp. That's me,
boys! Let's take suthin'."
Finding that things had tax en- an unex-
pected turn, l Immediately took advantage
ofthe new situation. Thorp stood sponsor
for me, and his emphatic assurance of NV
Cnpreacher.likec character and proper dis
regard of the value of money put the Bar
in good humor; SO explained my bust
ness, and hoped to deserve we'll of the
boys. And won the friendship of these
people; not by pandering to their tastes
OF falling into their practices, but by mind
ing my own business. While abstaining
from rubbing against their prejudices
and scrupulously avoiding all inter-
ference with their pleasures, sympa-
thized with them in all their little troubles,
and they respected me. The Bar, by
day, did not seem to be very bad or
boisterous place; in working hours it
INDUCED in kind of feverish rest.
But it was by night that it shone in
the full glory Of its appropriate name.
Then 1t was that the vampires that
sucked the blood of honest labor came
Shnrf -
monte dealers, faro dealers, and others of
the fraternity sneaked out to prev upon
the earnings of the day, and the Bar ran
riot. 1t was then that great strong fel.
lows who were wearing out their lives in
daily conflict with Misunderstanding open
the mountains and wrestling with the
streams-that others might wear the gold
they won, would gather round the gamb-
ling tables to "try their luck"-and this
thing called eluck" in the early days was
strange thing. Existing on the super
stition that is found in the composition OF
every man in q greater or less degree, it
was phantom that haunted all classes
and entered into all human calculations.
Luck shamed reason and set at naught all
mathematical certainties, and forgetting
that mans luck was much of his own
making, it was followed with persistent
faulty that led the feet of too many into
bad and dangerous places. 1t was the
scapegoat for all sins and shortcomings.
1t was the rock upon which were built
the golden castles of the hopeful future;
the shifting sand that carried away with
it the unfruitful and disastrous past; the
harvest whose sheaves of promise often
yielded only bitterness and disappoint-
ment. In these tilts with fortune the Bar
drank Deep: II it was dry by day, it was
nnquenchsble by night. Ifluck was with