The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-07-26
mother and the child she has born :"

3 11oA 1IOiu h1S N41Cs L OE d IlOLlGnU |
MS resolution wavered, but the pur-
pose which had been months in crys-
5allizing, could not easily be shaken. |
He could but give his reasons for so de-
3ided a step, which he did, gently but |
irmly: Margaret, we have no thoughts |
Or hopes i'll common, nor can we labor |
for common purpose; hence, it is best |
we part. 1t is inevitable; if not to-day, |
another day, 1t is custom of the
country that wives from the States shall
seek divorces and form new alliances
when they come into the mines. | ac-
cepted the common fate for you, months
since"
Margaret covered her face with her
hands, and John continued: "FOr this,
if for no other reason, | go now; but,
before | go, let me say, that, cOnceding
your superiority in all things that strike
the world, / envy not what you are.
Could |, by a mere effort of the will,
place myself on level beside you, the
effort would not be made. There is a
higher knowledge than comes from
POoks-a better grace than is learned
ID society. do not take the boy to be
r cnged on you; nor because | think
As4su will lead the life of a~WantOn, for
DItve no such belief; but because his
CHARACTER is to he formed, and | would
4Apt have it developed under your int1u
aSce, even at your best"
Margaret sank into chair, and gave
way to a food of tears. When she
aroused herself, it was to find that her
husband and little Johnny had disap-
peared. A letter she found, cOldly stat
ing that her checks would be hOnOred
at the bank for a monthly sum sufficient
for her needs.
When Margaret realized that there
was a separation, her first impulse was
to continue her WayWard course of life,
but somehow, she could not tell why,
the spirit was wanting. Balls were
held, but she was not present; and her
doors We're closed to all visitors. Com
paniOnless save her maid-servant of all
work, whose stout husband served as
warder to her castle, Margaret sat down
to consider whether there were things
in life that had so far escaped her
notice.
John Hemming, at the newly discov-
cred mining camp of Jasper Creek
busy in the daytime with his mining
interests, and in the evening with the
recitatiOns Of his son, to whom he was
teacher (the schoOl-master, in the alb
senCe Of children at that precinct, be-
ing abroad)-tried to think himself hap
py-tli led to think himself content with
the inevitable but the consciousness of
the inevitable heals few griefs, and
John was sad.
Not sad was little Johnny. Rosy with
health, eXuberant with the Joyous spirits
of childhood, idOlized by his father, the
pet and special care of the packers and
mirers, life to him so abOunded in
+1,c4 /, H. 4o
for the loneliness of his mother. It is
inherent in the nature of man to love
children, and Johnny was the recipient
of the affections of the camp; and so it
was when the days grew, short near the
close of the year, and the boy fell sick
of the mountain fever, the labOrs of
many were forb0rne and business was
in part suspended, that the miners might
sit Watching around his sick bed, or
stand waiting in the hope of an Opportu-
nifty to do him service.
Slowly the disease triumphed over
health and strength; slowly the lad
wasted, until, one evening, at the close
of his visit, the doctor called Hemming
from the bedside to an adjoining ROOM
and said, with ayerted face, Johnny
will die" AS Hemming returned to the
sick-roOm, Johnny opened his eyes fol-
the first time in twenty-fou hours, and
said, "Papa, take me to my mother"
"1es, Johnny said he, "I will. Goo
forgive me that I ever took you from
her."
It.was the fall of 1861-the beginning
of that season which has passed into
history as the wet winter Of California
For thirty days it had stormed almost
incessantly-rain in the valleys, snow
on the hills. The lOwlands bordering
| the Sac ramentO River were inundated
the SUBMITS of the Sierra were burdene(
with twenty feet in depth of snow. Al
commun, cation of mountain towns witt
each other, or with the plains below
was shut off. Trails for animals coulC
neither be made nor kept open; and tht
usual winter method of transit by means
| of snow-shoes was forbidden by denst
pail of clouds so Obscuring the vision
| that the hardest mOuntaineers deemet
it madness to attempt ever, five-mIi'
| Journey over o familiar trail. So, whel
| It was announced that Hemming pro
posed to carry the sick boy thirty mile
across the country to Howe's Flat, tn,
miners said, at is madness" Th
| dOctor-familiar with travel in tn
mountains, in winter as well as summe
deemed it next to an impossibility fO
! q man to find his way between the tw
points; and discouraged the attempt
saying, " It matters nothing oJohnny--
his sfJpor will continue, with scarcel
any interruption, till death ensues
then why should You peril your life 70
what, if successful, he cannot appreciate
| John answered: "It is not for tb
| boy alone; it is due to his mother that
make this attempt. Whether she kis
the living child's lip, or lay down m,
life, the effort, perhaps, will atone i
part for the grievOus wrong l did her il
taking away her child"
| There were not wanting heroic spirit
who volunteered to accompany John o
| his Journey but he sternly forbade.
The preparations for the journey weT
made with the assistance of many read
hands. Blankets were cut, shaped, an
sewed, to shelter and support the boy
and attach him to his fathers shoulders
while the champion of the snOw-sho
adepts of the district volunteered hi
favorite pair for Johns use, and mad
them ready by applying his choices
"dope,n the composition Of which wa
well guarded secret.
i When the dawn of Christmas Day az
neared, John, with his burden, sallie
forth. Hemming was fully conscious {
| the desperate nature of his undertaken.
Thirty miles in a short winters da.
dragging heavy snow w-shoes through til
J moist, yielding, new-fa1len snow, an
hearing such q burden as he carried, !
we'll knew was sufficient to tax to tE
+ utmost the physical powers Of the hal
"Were the perils thousand time
, | what they are.U said John to hImSel
"sfill would I venture. She has boz
and nurtured the boy, and, il he live
Eli night, she shall see him once agail
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