The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-12-13
Daisy's Mission.

"AoJ q 4nloolVus
Hell-Roaring Bar was neither a prettv
nor euphonious name, nor a reverentiaI
one; but, considering the character of
1ts dwellers, 1t was an exceedingly fitting
one for the locality that bore it. A six
months residence there co1einced me
30 thoroughly of this fact that L could
not conscientiously have changed sin
gle letter of the name, even had pos
sessed the power to do So Not that it
savored of sulphurous odors; not that
the roarings of its apparent patron saint
were ever heard echoing among the can
yons that encompassedi it; but for sinful
ness, and wickedness, and riotous de-
bauchery, it was peerless among all the
mining camps had ever visited in Cal
ifornia.
l was sent there in the summer of
1858, by San Francisco firm, to close
out business that was drifting into in
voluntary 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 favor
aniy with 1T, and nearer acquaintance
only confirmed that first impression; !;
but, like half-reluctant bridegroom,
had resolved to take it for "better or
worse, with but slight hope, however,
that 1T would prove any better than it
looked.
Hello! deacon. What do you want
IN Hell-Roarin? Preachers don't stand
much show in these diggins. You amt
wanted; better gitp'
This was my greeting. 1 had just
10 oT
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 ap-
pearance was certainly slightly clerical.
True, had perfect right to differ in
opinion with the speaker, for of a verify
this was just the place where preachers
were wanted, and just the place they
should stay; but, making no professions
of godliness, held my tongue for a
moment. 1 looked up; brawny and
powerful figure confronted me, and 1
prudently held my temper 1 replied
blandly that expected to remain there
awhile, and suggested with all meekness,
that appearances were sometimes deceit
full. Soon the Bar was agog with curl
osity, and crowd gathered. And such
crowdl Great broad shouldered fell
lows, dirty and unshaved, deeply mark
ed with chronic dissipation, whose every
second word was an oath; striplings
whose tongues were volubly impudent
and early trained to blasphemy in imita-
ton of their elders, gathered round,
while l unsaddled my mule in so awk
ward a manner as to excite derision.
These people weighed everything, like
their gold-dust, in their own scales, and,
measured by their standard, 1 was re-
garded as worthless impostor. 1 had
1'store clothes on, and this fact alone
was too much for the fixed convention
alism of the Bar. Buckskin and gray
flannel assumed dignity in early times
among the "honest miners" more unyield-
ing, more exacting. than purple and fine
an in fraction, and therefore the Bar was
affronte,I. Deacon" was echoed from
mouth to mouth. Bets were offered and
freely taken that was a psalm singer; a
gambler. with dead thing" or "wax-
ed keerds;" l.Swyer; doctor; any
thing but horseNjockey, or gentle
man. Although nettled with the un-
courteous reception, 1 could not afford
to fall out with my new neighbors.
Beating my dusty hat against my knee
with a well assumed swagg2r, L turned
quietly, and asked if the Bar was dry?
And the Bar ,cas dry!
With a whoop, the crowd adjourned
to the saloon-a rickety, clap board IN
stitution. furnished with few stools Snd
rough tables-and the Bar drank-frst
with myself; then with Joe Miles, the
proprietor; then with the bluff individ-
ual 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 nv old skipper; came out with
him from Boston in 40. He amt no
preacher-he spends his money like a
man, and don't whine. Anyone that
don't like him can call on Bill Thorp
That's me, boys! Let's take suthin'."
Finding that things had taken an un-
expected turn. | Immediately took ad-
vantage of the new situation Thorp
stood sponsor for me, and his emphatic
assurance of my unpreacher-hke charac-
ter and proper disregard of the value OF
money put the Bar in good humor; so L
my business, and hoped to de-
serve we'll of the boys. And I won the
friendship of these people; not by pan
dering to their tastes or falling into
their practices, but by minding my own
business. While abstaining from rub
bing against their preiudices, and scru-
pulously avoiding all interference with
their pleasures. sympathized with them
in all their little troubles, and they re-
spected me. The Bar, by day, did not
seem to be a very bad or boisterous
place; in working hours it INDUCED in
a feverish rest. But it was by night
that it shone in the full glory of its appro-
nriafe name. Then il was that the yam-