Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-09-20

| Three months ON Buns and BokoRna-
Half RaaI0ns at That-WOrking for
Board and Cl0thes-YoanE lawyers
Carrying the Hod-A Mirage Dis
PEELED a
To the Union and American:
King-rs there no harm 10 It?
Hamlet-None i the world.
The topic on which / write was, q few
months back, one of most profound interest
| to me as well as to several young gentlemen
who were contemplating a trip West. 1 am
very sorry to say after taxing our rip, that
some of our interest in far off Denver
81 ,oyeliest city of the plain,n has Complete
| ly subsidized, while the remaining portion
can be bought extremely low. As ali other
non Informed young men, We found it
stGrester than our expectations" Our
idea was to find Denver inhabited by a
rude, half civilized sect, worse dreaded by
us than the epoor Red Man." However
"The best laid schemes O. mice and men 80
Gang aft aglee."
We supposed the town consisted chiefly
Of log huts with small gardens attached.
Imagine our disappointment as we neared
the suburbs to find neat race track and
fair grounds, and also stately mansions in
the perspective, and as we reached the de-
pot our establishment can better besimagined
than described. We finally landed 50 ely
on sierra firma," and our next object was
to make sure Of oar two or three "cedar
chests" which contained all our worldly
goods. We had heard great deal about
these Western t'shrewdsters,n and you may
guess We kept pretty close vigilance over
our "snall supply" e.-v-. d.
Having landed them on the Hbus," we
were of for "The Planters Hotel" Our
fare here was two dollars and O half day.
After partaking of hearty meal, we as
sembled for the purpose of holding grand
council, and came to the conclusion that by
living at that rate our hard accumulated
treasures would soon be "gone where the
woodbine twineth." So we set cut to find
suitable room, where we could locate our
headquarters and call sshome," leaving our
s'chests" at the mercy Of the clerk of this
so-called "hotel" very reluctantly. We had
proceeded but q short distance before we
accosted dusky specimen of African de-
cent, with distended jaws and ivory teeth"
and begged of him to inform US where we
could procure neat room. "Right dis way
gemmen," and we followed two or three
blocks, when n1irdbile visul we found our
to.be new LONE a fit companion for q
prince, comprising everything necessary
to compose an elegant apartment,
ornamanted with gorgeous paintings, min
erals, ct cetera. 1t resembled monu-
ment erected to perpetuate the name Of
one of the old masters. Next we had our
chests brought up by express. l neglected
mentioning that our party sustained an am
ateur artist and while he was busy draw
ing the detected looks of our treasurer, the
remnant of our party were appointed to
attend to the culinary de artment. Select
ing the first bakery we came to as q fine
place wherein to procure a recherche re-
past, We stalked in with the bizarre ap-
pearance Of "Frenchmen from Cork" and
demanded four pounds az OF Bologna
sausage and four dozen buns, regardless Of
expense, q regular cholera dinner.) We
now returned to our new home which We
had designated, "The Little House round
the Corner" and found that the rest of our
companions had set the table and were eat
ing visionary dinners in their far off Ten.
nessee home. We awoke them from their
reveries by tossing the sausage and buns on
the table, which "were soon numbered
with the things that WERE" We now took
active steps to procure some employment
for each mamber of our band. We con-
Guided to separate and meet at four O'Clock
in the afternoon to report on progress. We
all found it very Improbable business in
deed. ...-.
Hundreds of young men, book-keepers,
clerks, statesmen, ETC., are annually arriving
in Denver. Consequently, labor in their
branch is very cheap indeed. Clerks who
hold positions have had them long time,
knowing that if they thrown out Of employ
ment they can't be easily reinstated. Their
employers treat them pretty mean, in fact
treat them just as they please. In a great
many instances clerks work for the pitiful
sum OF ntheir board and Clothes" Young
men arriving so plentifully, are thrown out
of all chancellor honorable employment, and
after being without work for two or three
weeks their surplus change runs pretty low
and they 1t last resort to almost any kird
of work, (although it goes strongly against
the grain,) such as carrying hods, digging
cellars, ETC., thus working their way up with
the world, carrying up brick to the tops of
houses by means of "ladder.") During
cur stay in Denver We could zee at almost
any time young lawyers and teachers car
rying brick and doing every mental labor
Imaginable.
With detected looks we all arrived al our
appointed meeting place, and found each as
unsuccessful as the other. One reported
that be had stepped into dry goods house
and enquired Of the proprietor if he needed
any assistance, whereupon he gazed at our
representative from head 10 foot, and en-.
quired "what be would work for" Not be-
ing very particular about the amount of
wages, he told him he would work for his
"boYrj and Clothes" Our representative
having had a verv little to eat for three or
four days, looked little meagre, and the
proprietor, noting this fact, simply replied,
'sMy dear friend, you would be very dear
ct that price," The remaining portion Of
our party had different experiences to give
in, too many to mention here. By this
time you may guess thiCgs looked extreme
ly blue to us, seeing starvation staring us,
like bloodthirsty mongrel, directly in the
face. A rather well dressed blood from
"Giles county," Tennessee, would fr quent-
ly remark that the country was extremely
beautiful around Denver, particularly the
Rocky Mountains, but to save our souls we
could not see any beauty there. A good
plate of chicken with eight or ten buscuits
on it, would have looked twice as pretty 10
US. Things continued in this dull, monoto-
nous way for about four weeks, when
1t was found necessary that ca ange should
be made in our programme. Our "bill Of
fare" was Upt this time quite expensive
LBS of Bologna and two dozen buns daily
and our scSnty surplus wasn't increasing
"worth cent" So we conclude to doc
our high living, and make our meals on
buns alone. In order 20 make it as cheap
as possible, our treasurer rationed us three
buns piece daily. About seven O'Clock
every evening, when every thing was quiet,
each man would gather his three buns to-
gether, and repair to the nearest water
tank to saturate them thoroughly with water
and masticate them quite thoroughly in
deed. So you see we obtained our "cofee'
free gratis.
We received letters from home saying
"we miss you much, hurry and come
home." We could not appreciate letters of
that description at all. The only sconsola-
ton we had was in meeting men in our
same fix with "no money, no friends'
marked indelibly on their countenance.
Our trip West did our whole party an in
cslculable amount of good after all, as
venture to cay that we have all "settled
down to real life" now; and or trip to Den
yer will yet be the cause of US all makias
"independent fortunes" One incident