Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-01-17

' Thunder It a sucker
And when we came to pull him slowly in,
and get hi~ two pounds in a landing-net.
sure enough it was Sucker-an innocent
sucker. But it was narrow escape. 1t
might have been a trout.
TnE ARGoxAUrs or '49.-The following
are some of the good things in Bret llartes
lecture on the California pioneers. whom he
called the Argonaut- of 40
lie declined 10 describe the Christian
principle, of these men at least he should
defer criticism until he had, with present
calmnesS, the safe distance of the historian.
(Applau>e) In distant parts of the country
they left children and families. and even Off
GERS of justice, perplexed and lamenting
They deserted their own wives. and in some
extreme cases even deserted the wives of
others. (Iaughter.) Some of the best men
had the worst antecedentS. and some of the
worst had a >potieSs Puritan pedigree He
pictured their mode Of life. and their in
yeterate passion for gambling one night
at a faro-bank a man slipped dead under the
table. Three physicians. all PLAYERS. de-
clared that he died Of disease of the heart. the
Coroner, who sat at his left, inpanelled his
brother gamblers on the Jury the inquest
was straightwav proceeded with. and they
returned a verdict in accordance with the
facts (Laughter) The social life of that
day was peculiar \ lady still exhibits
broken chair occasioned by the discharge Of
a gentleman revolver while sitting down in
hashful confusion. CIaughter.) Women
We're So few, proportioned 10 the men. that
an officers wife boasted of having full
platoon to accompany her home daughter }
With the influx of strangers the condition of
society continually changed and the old Argo-
naut element moved toward the mountain
They constructed nothing save what was port
bic lived almost exclusiyevon beans .dressedin
the most picturesque Of costumes. and the
identity of two gentleman was known in all
seriousness. by the labels on their panta-
looms. As '' GenesSe Mills " and B. Eaglo
Brand. ~ (Laughter) The absence of do
nestle ties induced friendships 50 strong as
To be undiminished even in death. Insult q
mans partner and you more than in
suited himself In their relations We're OBJ
-eryable the iealousies Of coniugal liieand one
once dolefully remarked. e Ny partner LETT
me well, I might have reckoned on it. for
he was ALWAYS tickle and fond of iewerv and
plain, ncouth, but kind wife of Texan
was venerated as the embodiment of heaven
ly grace and beauty. She died. and the
most heartfelt grief peryaded the entire
camp Bear-eved Bill. saluting his partner.
asked what she died Of Doctor SAYS She
died Of Hostaigia, was the reply. w hat
the - Is that - was the question, and the
answer was. "A kind of longing TO get to
heaven" Oaughter) The laws against
dishonesty were 50 strict that di-honeStieS
were punished with death. \ hor~e-thief
was tried. and the jury having retired To de-
liberate upon their verdict were slow on
returning into court The Judge pushed
bis head through the door of their room, and
found they had not agreed. Take your
time. gentlemen. he said 'but remember
we are waiting for this room 10 lay ont the
corpse in" (Great laughter.) With
much graphic power the lecturer continued
TO refer To the fondneSs for witticiSms so
general among them. and the epigrammatic
terms in which they We're expressed. \
gentleman replied once to a query Of
parishioner of Rev Thomas King. that a.
preacher he won every trick. daughter
An engineer on the Pacific Railroad told of
comnde who died Of consumption. Poor
Jim, he said. got a runnin slower and
slower, until one day he stopped on his CEN
ire. W hat a picture of the helpless hitch
of this weary human machine. (AppauSe
\ teamSter met a surveyor and a farmer
angrily discussing. Siding with the sur
yeyor. he said. If were You | wonld Just
theodolte that fellow ont of camp.
(Laughter.) Another teamster was re
buked for his profanity by young girl re-
turning from clmpmeeting. ''Why, Mis-,
said he, You don't call that swearing, do
YOU? Why YOU ought to hear Bill Jones
exhort the impenitent mule. - (Laughter.)
The names of places were expressive. \
letter dated from Dead Broke" was'not
calculated to induce credit, and a stranger
would hesitate TO accept an invitation to
"Murderers' Bar QLaughter.) \ stage
in California was run from Happy Valley. to
Mount Dolores, and from Blazes to Purissi-
ma Continued laughter) Adyerting to
the recent Spanish colonists, he minutely de-
seribed how the ArgonautS at first pretended
friendship and afterward completely robbed
and despoiled them They joined their fan
dangoeS and bull-fghts, but were decidedly
anxious 10 give the bull Il show. (Laughter.)
On one or two occasions they substituted n
grizzly bear, that cleared the ring and ef-
feetually wiped ont the two first rows of
benches daughter Bu. withexperienee
! the Spaniard became wise and allied himself
with his oppressors Being the earliest in
| habitant. his evidence ON the question OF
titles was 50 valuable that he knew every
thing that was wanted to supply deficiency
on either side of case. (Laughter.) This
extended so far as eventually to destroy all
ownship to property in California. The ad-
vent of the Heather Chinee impaired a new
| life. a new conservatism to the character OF
the Argonaut. He engendered cleanliness,
attended to all domestic necessities, and acted
at table like man who, knowing his supe-
riority, could never jeopardize his position
by condescending to speak. He worshipped
the devil in your household with franknes,
that shamed your owa attempts in that di-
rection. Q.aughter.) Opposed by eruel
statute, he had an innocent way OF defraud-
ing the customs by conyersing with custom
officers. while seated on a chair stuffed with
smuggled opium. He avoided the State taA
by taking the name and assuming the facia
expression of some other brother who had
paid the taxes. daughter Knowing the
character of his Christian brethren, he es
tablished doctors Offices at every street-cor
ner of San Francisco, distributed medicines
the mention of which would bring on ses
sickness, and when finally discovered retired
with dignity to his native rice the happy
possessor of half million dollars. The lee
turer wound up with brilliant description
of the resources of California