Litchfield enquirer., 1874-10-22

moment In few weeks the whole tn ine
 was forgotten. except as part of the nee e'sarF record of Hawkins's bl9ndera yhlc1i was already a pretty full one Again, same later follies conspired to ob llterate the past, until. year later, val.
 uabte lead was discovered in the ''Blaz ing Star tunnel, in the hill where he liv-
 Il, and large sum was offered him for $
 portion ef his land OF the hlil top. Ac
 custamed as Five Forks had become tc
 the exhibition Of his folly, it was with as
 tonlshment tt At they learned that he res
 olntely and decidedly refused the offer
 The reason that he gave was still more
 astounding. He was about to build
 !. To bullda house upon property availa-
 ble for mining purposes was preposter-
 ous; to build at all with a roof already
 covering him was an act of extravaganza;
 to build house of the style he proposed
 was simple madness!
 Yet here were facts. The plans were
 made and the lumber of the new building
 was already on the ground, while the
 shaft of the Blazing Star was being
 sunk below. The site was. in reality, q
 very picturesque one-the building itself
 of a style and quality hitherto unknown
 in Five Forks. The citizens, at first skep-
 tical, during their moments of recreation
 and idleness gathered doubtingly about
 the locality. Day by day, in that eli
 mate of rapid growths, the building pleas
 antly known in the slang of Five Forks as
 ''the Idiot Asylum, rose beside the green
 oaks and clustering frs of Hawkins hill.
 as If it were part of the natural phenome-
 ma. At last 1t was completed. Then Mir.
 Hawkins proceeded to furnish it with an
 responsiveness and extravaganza of outlay quite in keeping with his former idiocy. Carpets, sofas, mirrors, and, finally a pi- ane-the only one known.in the county, and brought at great expense from Sacra- mento-kept curiosity at fever heat. More than that, there were articles and orna- ments which a few married experts de- clared only fit for women. When the fur nishing of the house was complete-it had occupied two months of the specu- lalve and curious attention of the camp MT. Hawkins locked the front door, put the key in his pocket, and quietly retired to his more humble roof, lower on the hillside.
 Ihave not deemed 1t necessary to indicate to the intelligent reader all of the theories winch obtained in Five Forks during the erection of the building. Some of them may be readily imagined. That s'the Hag'' had by artful coyness and systema- tie reticence at the last completely subiu- gated the Fool, and that the new house was intended for the nuptial bower of the (Pn {Predestlned unhappy pair, was ot course ter reasonable time had elasped, and the house still remained untenanted, the  upon the general mind that the Fool had been for the third time imposed upon When two months had elasped and there seemed no prospect of mistress for the new house, think public indignation be- came so strong that, had ''the flag" arriv- ed. the marriage would have been public iy prevented. But no one appeared that seemed to answer to this idea of an avail
 asnep E t1 h hhpd a RaarY If qf bAIa6 Mf HaT house and not renting it or occupying it failed to elicit any further information. The reasons that he gave were felt to be vague, evasive and unsatisfactory. He was 1n no hurry to move, he said; when he acos ready, 1t surely was not strange that he should like to have his house all ready to receive him. He was often seen upon the veranda of summer evening. cigar. It IS reported that, one night the house was observed to be bril- l1antly lighted from garret to basement: that neighbor, observing this, crept to- ward the open parlor window, and, look ing in, espled the Fool accurately dress d ID evening costume, lounging upon Q sofa ID the drawing room. with the asy air of socially entertaining large party. Not this, the house was unmis- takably vacant. that evening, save for the presence Of the owner. as the witness a;- terward testified. When this story was first related, a few practical men suggest. ed the theory that Mir. Hawkins was simp- ly drilling himself in the elaborate duties of hospitality against a probable event in his history. A few ventured the belief that the house was haunted; the imagina- tive editor of the Five Forks Record evolved from the depths of his profession al consciousness story that Hawkins's sweetheart had died, aud that he regular ly entertained her spirit in this beautiful ly-furnished mausoleurh The occasion al spectacle of Hawkins's tall figure pacing in the veranda on moonlight nights lent some credence to this theory, until an un- looked for incident diverted all specula- ton into another channel.
 It was about this time that a certain wild, rude valley, in the neighborhood of Five Forks, had become famous as a pict- nresque resort. Travellers had visited it, and declared that there were more cubic yards of rough stone cliff and waterfall of greater night than any they had visit ed. Correspondents had written it up with exaltation; men and women who had never enjoyed sunset, a tree. or a flower who had never appreciated the gracious ness or meaning of the yellow sunlight that fecked their homely doorways, or the tenderness of a midsummer's night, to whose moonlight they barred their shirt sleeves or their t,tile dresses-came from thousands of miles away to calculate the night of this rock, to observe the depth of this chasm, to remark upon the enorm- ous size of this unsightly tree, and to be- heve with lneffable self-conplacency that theyreallY admired nature. And so it came pass that. in accordance with the tastes or weaknesses of the individual, the more prominent and salient points of the ''Lace Handkerchief Fall," and the ..Tears of Sympathy Cataract" and one distinguished orators 'tPeak" and several
 1AAOuAeo OA NdI1OuS AOtCu PcOplO, AtIuS or dead, and an Proclamation Point, and ''Valley of Silent Alteration. And in course of time empty soda-water bottles were found at the base of the cataract, and greasy newspapers and fragments of ham sandwiches lay at the dusty roots of giant trees. With this were frequent irruptious of ofclosely-shaven and tightly y-cravatedm men, and delicate, fower-faced women in the one long street of Five Forks, and a scampering of mules, and an occasional procession of dusty brown-linen cavalry.
 A year after ''Hawkins's Idiot Asylum was completed. one day there drifted into the valley riotous cavalcade of s.school- marms, teachers of the San Francisco public schools, out for holiday. Not severely Minervas and chastely- armed and mailed Pallases, but, fear for the security of Five Forks, very human. charming, and mischievous young women. At least, so the men thought, working in the ditches and tunneling on the hillside; and when, in the interests of Science and the mental advancement of Juvenile Post