Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-01-15
From the Overland Monthly of December.
DAISY'S MISSION.

nor euphOnlOus name, nor q reveren-
tial one but, considering the charac-
ter of it's dwellers, it was an exceed
ingly fitting one for the locality that
bore it. Ask months residence there
convinced me 30 thoroughly of this
fact that I could not cOnscientiously
have changed letter of the name,
even had possessed the power to do
so Not that it savored Of sulphurous
odors; not that the roaring of it's ap-
parent patron saint were ever heard
echoing among the canons that encom:
passed it; but for sinfulness, and
wickedness, and riotous debauchery, it
was peerless among all the mining
camps had ever visited in California.
l was sent there in the summer of
1858 by San Francisco firm, to close
out business that was drifting into
involuntary bankruptcy, and a long
dusty ride found me there early in
July of that year. A view of the camp
from tho mountain had not impressed
me favorably, and a nearer acquain
tance only confirmed that first i'm
preston; but, like half.reluctant
bridegroom, had resolved to take it
for 6 better or worse" with but slight
hope, however, that it would prove any
better than it looked.
:'Hello, deacon! What do yom
want in He'll Roarin'2 Preachers don't
stand much show in these iigglns.
you ain't wanted; better git!"
This was my greeting. 1 had just
alighted from my mule, tired and out
of humor, and felt half-inclined to re-
sent the brusque, unmannerly saluta
tion, but did not. It was not = con-
sciousnesss Of the truth that quieted
me, for my appearance was certainly
slightly clerical. True, I had a per-
feet right to differ in opinion with the
speaker, for of verify this was just
the place where preachers were wanted,
and just the place they should stay ;
but, making no professions of godli-
ness, held my tongue for a moment.
l looked up; a brawny and powerful
figure confronted me, and 1 prudently
held my temper. I replied blandly
that l expected to remain there awhile,
and suggested, with all meekness, that
appearances were sometimes deceitful.
Soon the Bar was agog with curiosity,
and . crowd gathered. And such a
crowd! Great broad-shouldered fel.
lows, dirty and unshaved, deeply
marked with chronic dissipation, whose
every second word was an oath strip
lings, whose tongues were volubly inn.
pudent and early trained to bias
phemy in imitation of their eldera.
gathered round, while I unsaddled
my mule in so awkward a manner
as to excite derision. These people
weighed everything, like their gold
dust, in their own scales, and, mea-
sured by their standard, I was Ne
garded Us an imposter. 1 mad " store
clothes" OH. and this fact alone was
teo much for the fixed conventional
ism of the Bar. Buckskin and gray
flannel assumed a dignity in early
times among the "honest miners''
more unyielding, more exactine, than
purple and fine linen. My ':boiled
shirt was considered an infraction.
and therefore the Bar was affronted.
"Deacon " was echoed from mouth to
mouth. Bets were offered aud freelv
taken that I was a Psalm-singer a
gambler, with a "dead thing" or
" waxed keerds :" q lawyer a doctor:
but horse-jockey or a zen,
tleman. Although nettlei with the
uncourteous reception, could not af-
ford to fall out with my new neigh
bors. Beating my dusty hat against
my knee with well-assumed swaeper.
l turned quietly and asked if the Bar
waf dry. And the Bar .vas dry.
With whoop, the crowd adjourned
to the salO0n-a rickety, clap-board
institution, furnished with few stools
and rough tables-and the Bar drank
-tirst with myself; then with the bluff
individual who had first accosted me-
Pressing through the crowd, he held
out his big, rough hand, and, taking
mine, he led me forward with some,
thing of triumphant air.
"BOys," he said, 81 take it all baek
This is my old skipper; came out with
him IN '49. He amt no preacher-he
spends his money like q man, and
don't whine Any one that don't like
him can call on Bill Thorp. That's
me, boys! Let's take suthin'!"
Finding that things had taken IN
unexpected turn, / Immediately took
of the new situation. Thorn
stood sponsor for me, and his empbat.
ic assurance OF my unpr.acher-l like
and proper disregard of the
value OF money put the Bar in good
humor; so l explained my business.
and hoped to deserve we'll of the bows
And 1 won the friendship Of these peo-
ple-not by pandering to their tastes
or by falling into their practices, but
by minding my own business. While
abstaining from rubbing against their
preiadices, and scrupulously avoiding
all interference with their pleasures, I
sympathized with them in their little
troubles and they respected me. The
Bar, by day, did not seem to be very
bad or boisterous place in working
hours it induIged in kind of feverisR
rest. But it was by night that It
rhone in the full glory of its ap
propriate name. Then it was that
the vampires that smoked the
blood of honest labor came forth.
Short-card men, poker sharps, monte
dealers, faro dealers and others of the
fraternity sneukcd out to prey OH the
earnings of the .iay, and the bar ran
riot 1t was then that great strong
fellows, who were wearinr ont tha;r