Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-11-12
@iseellaneoMs.
From "All The Y, ar Round.rI
MlNNIE'S DOWRY.

''No, mister, no. | won't 20 back from
nv word. The girl tancies you. and you
did me IL good turn onst, own that; and
Jonathan Fairlop's not the man to for
get how, but tor you, his scalp would be
swingin on the lodge pole of some pesky
Indian wigwam. But their air two sides,
Britisher, to bargain, and I've the right,
guess, to tack Il condition to what YOU
call my consent. III not see Minnie mar
ried 10 beggar; no, not yet deal unfairly
with my other children, that may pro-
vide for her start in life. This | say,
and this, Frank Meade, I'll hold to- II
you kin clap down twenty thousand
dollars on that table. say a year heace,
day for day, I'll double them, and
you and Minnie shall be man and wife.
But if not, why, neighbor, you'll Just con-
slider the swap has fallen through, and
make way for those that kin maintain a
household in a kinder different fashion
from what you could contrive at Burnt
Flat, | reckon And the obstinate, old
farmer brought down his heavy hand, with
a sounding slap, on the massive table of
black walnut wood. and stared me n the
face with somewhat of the dull, half-men-
acing expression which we note in the eyes
of an angry bull. He was one OF thoss
dogged, selt-wiiled men who pride them
selves on cast-iron consistency of pur-
pose, and well knew that even poo" Min
MES fearful gaze and beseeching look, far
less any remonstrance of mine, would
have no effect in modifying his resolution.
1t was with a heavy heart that rode
back to my poor little farm at Burnt Flat,
and sigh, in which envy had no share,
escaped me, as involuntarily contrasted
my few maize fields and sparcelv stocked
yard, with the well-stored pens, and cor
rails crowded with cattle and horses, of the
opulent neighbor, for the hand of whose
youngest daughter, was suitor. / was
perfectly we'll aware OF Mr.. Fairlop's
covert meaning. when he had limited at my
making way for another and wealth
ier admrer of Minnie $. She had attract
ed, unfortunately, the notice of middle.
aged speculator in mining property, one
Mr.. Lloyd, native of Pennsylvania be-
lieve, but resident in the little town Of
Pueblo. not far from the Goochtape Pass
over the Rocky Mountains, on the south
western slope of which stood my own
humble dwelling, aud the much roomier
house of Minnie's father. Old Jonathan
Western bordcrer. He had come from
Kentucky, as he boasted, u poor man, and
after struggling career on the frontier,
during which his wife and only son had
been murdered by the Indians, had be-
come rich. by the gainfu traffic in hogs
and horned beasts, great quantities of
which he reared for the supply OF the hun
cry miners Of Pixies Peak. The service
OF which Mr.. Fairlop spoke had simply
been that chance had placed it in my power
to save his lite in a border raid when row.
ing band of Blackfeet had swooped upon
a wagon convoy, west OF the mountains.
There was hard fighting, and the old farm
er, who was unhorsed and PROSTATE, with
a brace of tomahawks brandished above
dofenceless head. had given himself up for
lost, when three shots from my six-cham
bered revolver had turned the scale. In
the first warmth of his gratitude, Mr..
Fairlop had readily agreed to regard me
as his future son-in-law.
Gratitude, am sorry to say, has ten
dency to grow cold after time, and just
then. while everything had prospered with
the wealthy American settler, steady
and consistent run of ill-luck thu eatened
to overwhelm his English neighbor
My cattle strayed: promising crop OF
Young wheat. and another OF maize was
devoured by the locusts from the alkaline
deserts to the westward; of ninety choice
merino sheep, procured at much cost from
the Atlantic sea-board, two-thirds were,
through the carelessnesS OF their molattO
shepherd. drowned by freshet OF the
river near which they grazed. AS II
crowning calamity, maraudng party OF
the Crow tribe carried off my horses, on
the sale of which had in a great measure
relied for the means vi extending my mar
row domains, and found myself an i'm
poverished man, in spite OF hard work
and much seli-denial, poorer by far
than on the day, when. with fifteen
hundred pounds. my poor grandmother s
legacy, in my pocket,i had landed on the
quays OF New York. to exchange the posi-
ton of brietless barrister. with chambers
in Hare-court Temple, for that of farm
er among the ihinly-peopled regions OF
the Far West.
The misiortunes which had beiallen me.
were simply such as are babitual TO the
pioneers of civilization, in the hali-tamed
lands that lie near the spurs ofthe gigantic
mountain barrier that intersects North
| hIlltllSt, Dut L uutt Hdt. 10 my ItlGuDoiS >
in general, We're not slow to acknowledge
"a bad time" of it, in coming in for nearly
every mishap, short OF being sealped, or
having the root.tree burned over my head
frequent on the frontier. The rough, hardy
fellows really sympathized with the young
Britisher, knowing rs they did, that had
done my best. by thrift of toll, to eain II
competence, by every method known to
Western agriculture. Mr.. Fairlop. how
ever, who had from the first delded my
efforts as an improver, now proved him
self true jobs comforter in the hour ei
adversely. "Stick to hog and corn," he
would say "a good head of cattle and lots
OF live pork, with corn-cobs enough to pu
flesh on the beasts, are worth all your new
tangled nonsense ten times over, my chap
Your wheat and your vines, and your sol
woods, might be all very we'll in California
but rough-and- ready is the wa.chwor,
here. as you'll learn to your cost. ex
pect. And he favored the suit OF Hiram
Lloyd, although Minnie never could b'
brought to regard otherwise than with re
pugnance: the shifty eyes, hooked nose
and grizzled locks OF the well-to-do pre-
tender to her hand. Minnie was herself
gentle girl. voted on all hands to be unus
ually pretty, even for the wild West