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

memories of mother, or sister, or swee
heart far away, and the Bar was please,
The boys christened the little daughta
Daisy" and she was we'll named. FrOl
this day q marked change took plac,
Every one desired to be well thought
by the new corners; dress became an oil
Ject of solicitude; drunken yells rendin
the quiet night were less frequent; spirit
OF evil seemed to be quelled, and the b.
was on its good behavior.
Little Daisy was everywhere as mini.
tering angel. If there was sick-bcd i
the camp, Daisy was beside it with tn
little luxuries that the hand of woma
only knows how to prepare. If a poo
fellow was about to "pan out'' his fe,
last sands of life, Daisy was there to We
the parched lips, to fill the poor, neglecte
heart with hope, or to write the last mes
sage to loved ones over and beyond tn
plains. Quiet and unobtrusive, Dais,
moved about in her ministrations A
she passed the saloon on her errands o
mercy-her brown hair neatly folded
over the pale forehead, her little baske
of goodies" on her arm, and word ant
smile for everyone-oaths half uttered
would be choked back, and rough anG
brutal jests shrunk unspoken, as il
ashamed in her presence. Even Oregon
Sis-to whom blush was a stranger
would hang her head silently when Daisy
was near, and her eyes would swell-per
haps, poor thing! with looking back to
the old days among the apple blossoms
when she, too, was pure and innocent
at least, l thought so. Somehow, the Bar
was not SO dry as formerly, and Joe Miles
its ruling spirit. neglected his business
and said he was sick of whisky selling
He laid aside six-shooter that, reports
said, had served him only too well on
more than one occasion, with the remark
''that the Bar was so quiet now, it want
no use to carry it." Joe was very par.
ticular now as to his personal appearance
dressed in the once despised "store
Clothes" and took to solitary rambling
about the neighborhood. 1t was noticed
if Daisy hal occasion to pass along the
dangerous trail through the canon, Joe
was there with his strong hand to guide
her. If she crossed the foot-log over the
turbulent stream, steady arm was gen.
orally there to support her, and more than
once Joe was found in earnest converse
ton with her, or reading the books with
which she supplied him. Joe finally
sold out the saloon, and invested in a
mining claim, which he was industri-
ously working when I closed out nv
business and left the neighborhood.
l visited the Bar once again. Down the
wild Sierra, by the same tortuous and rug
ged trail that 1 had traversed nearly two
years before; winding among the same
lordly pines, rich in fragrance, and stand
ing like sentinels in the mountain passes
fhrnr1rh tho Of 1orprn1 aud
manzanitO, glistening like waves of emer-
aid and silver in the MONDAY sun, full
blossomed and wondrous in their beauty,
l approached the Bar. The place seemed
changed. A few little white cottages
age, spots of ground were under cultiva-
busy. The clap-boarded saloon stood in
the same old place, just as had first seen
it, but its dilapidated condition showed
that the institution was poorly patronized.
A crowd had gathered near it-not such a
and quiet one. Every one looked anxious
to tell me something, but no one spoke
till l found my old friend Thorp. Taking
my hand kindly, he led me aside, and for
a moment was silent. "Weli, Cap" he
said, earnestly, "things is rough on the
Bar; they amt like they was when you
left. She's gone-that's Daisy-and
things amt gone right for some of the
boys ever since. Yes, Cap, it is mighty
rough!"
l asked where Daisy had removed to.
ooh, no, Cap, you don't understand.
The old woman, she went back to Sacra-
nto-broken-hearted, they said; but
Daisy, she's gone; called for; taken up
among the stars, where she belongs. We
miss Daisy, Cap. She got round some of
the boys, and she made them promise to
knock off their grog; hain't touched it
since, and I've saved little. If she'd
only staid, this thing wouldn' "a hap
pened. You see, Cap" he continued,
there's how it was: One o. the boys got
badly hurt in his drift across the creek,
and one mornin' Daisy started over to
take him somethin', and it was a-runnin'
and the log was slippery, and
well, we found Daisy mile below, with
her brown hair all tangled among the
willows, and her blue eyes kind o. plead
in for help; and we brought her back
poor thing! There want a single drink
taken that day, Cap; it seemed to be agin
the boys. And Oregon Sis-her that we
all thought SO bad-she combed out the
tangled hair, and she knelt down and
kissed Daisy, and went two miles foot
up the meadows and got flowers and put
them in the little blue hands, and-there's
where we laid her, Cap-up there, where
you see them white pickets."
For some time the poor fellow could
say no more, but sat with his face buried
in his hands.
"And Joe?" asked.
"Hush," he said, pointing to the saloon,
"Joe's in there; his sands about PANIED
night afore last in a row.
Joe's a-passing in his checks, sure! You
see Joe went to the bad He sat by the
old foot log, melancholy like, and wan
dered up and down the creek, and no one
could do anything with him, and he took
to drink again; and the cussed temper
come back. and he got to quarreling with
everybody. Night afore last he got in a
row with Portegee John, in a poker
game; they both drawed; but John was
too quick for him, and Joe's bad hurt.
The doctor says he amt got no living
show. May be you'd like to see him,
Cap"
We went together into the room where
the wounded man lay. The broken win.
dows were darkened with blankets, and
on rough pallet we found the poor fel-
low, breathing heavily, and two of the
boys tanning him tenderly, as mother
would have done. The ashy face and
heavy drops of sweat that had gathered
on the forehead told the unspeakable ago
ny of the sufferer, and showed that, sure
Joe's sand was nearly run out,
and he beyond all human leechcraft. We
had not meant to disturb him, but his
ear, quickened by pain, caught our
stealthy footsteps, and, turning round he
me.
20, Cap" he said, "you have come at
last. knew she would send some one to
talk to me, as she used TOTO tell me
ab0at that blessed land where Christ lives
Him that she just made me understand
q little when she left us. And pray for
me, Cap, and ask Daisy to forgive me for
letting the devil come back, and for for
gettin' all that she taught me. She told
me, if I would only believe all she said,
that would 60 to q glorious land that
vvaa avvay hevOnd tho atara Shosa rono