The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-11-20

leecn-
well. well. William, if you've been
there, of course I'll not insist: but if We
live to come back this WY. III ride up
and see the boys"
..All right: I'm on it if you ara in airn-
est about .v:ntin' to go now, said Bill,
riding forward to turn tie pack mule.
mo. no; never mind. Come back
Bill. Let the mule go ahead as he is"
said /.
"Wel," said Bill, dropping into line
again, list as you like. I'm none of
your GROWERS that wants it all his own
way. and can't humor pard's curiosity.
That's not me. can give and take, and
allus do-on trip like this,
Hereupon William proceeded to tell
Inc. as we rode along, of the various
prospective trips he had been on in the
sage-brush; interiecting his narrative
with estimates of human character
worked up from quiet observation of
men in what he called ''close, hard
games, and tight places" from which
a man had to fall back upon his lore
in reserve" and just dig out" or die;
all of which he concluded with this bit
of wisdom. Said he:
"A man may live in a civ Iilized coun-
try, and be as 1oweTy, sud mossy, !
and sweet to look at and, he with as
a butter-cup dell on a seashore noun |
tain, while all his life long he's slippin' |
on the bedrock, but you bring that man |
| in this dry country, where all the posies |
! die and the leaves burn up, he is soon |
stripped so that, if he amt got the clean |
| grit in him, you can pan him down till |
! he peters on the bed rock in a week"
.'Well, William, my boy, you have the |
advantage of me, L think. You have |
had much experience in panning-both |
mines and meanwhile | never yet han
! died pan"
That's it, is it." said Bill, chuckling.
II was talking hyperbowl-but you'll
see. Eff you don't have a higher or
| lower opinion of me, and Inc of you,
| when this trips over, then don't know
the road to breakfast. Frills'l do at
social and makeup faces will pass in
church, but out in these mountains you
come right down TO mammy's boy, good
or bad. What you are, you are; and
you amt no more, nor can't be-"
William Wilson's conversation is not
very interesting without Williams man
ner, especially without his. peculiar into
nation; which latter, though making no
disagreeably perceptible suggestion of
halting, still has that inteTrogative-
responsive ejaculatory style, not exactly
EmersOnian, Yet bearing such a liker ess
thereto as to require similar habit of
elocution in reducing it to reading. For
instance, like many Paciiicslopers, he
had at least six ways of saying yes
three ways of asserting with the word,
two of doubt, and one which is neither
assent nor doubt. In this last yes"
there is assent, dissent, doubt, admira-
ton and wonder.
said To Bill, after we had ridden some
time in silence, broken only by the ring
ing jingle of the great Spanish spurs on
our heels, as they tangled among the
tops of the brush, or by the voice of
Bill. urging Sancho, the pack mule:
''BiIl, think its our luck to find
staving mine on this trip"
Bill looked at me from under his hat
rim, as he swung rapidly round in cir
Gle the knotted end of his picket rope
and said, ''Y-y- -ese-us
''What do you mean by that kind ofa
yesI'
well, | mean-I mean"-looking
straight over his horses cars, past the
cuils of the flying rope-''git ae-up,
Sanch!-I mean, as near as l can make
out, sort o yes, sort o no, and mebbe so
Pm wilIin'."
II don't like that kipd of a yes, Bill.
1t hasn't Snuch.faith init --.-- =.
Then B;Il said, ''No-6-uh, F" with pc
culiar cooling, rising infection
Your no is as queer as your yes,
Then Bill said, ''Y-y-e-e-us;" and
laughed at the sound of his own words,
''Do yOu think you used your words
that way before you came TO Califor-
niaI'
Il dun know. Don't reckon did,
though l think that kind of use in the
words comes from feller talkin' when
he is busy. If I'm in a drift, pickin' and
gaddin', and lookin' out for rocks over
head, and you are wheelin' out, and you
tell me something that l don't know
about, one way or t'other, can't agree in
full, nor yet go back on it,-and amt
got much tIMe to talk, anyway, throw
all the answer into one word"
That's a new style of elocution, Bill,
Don't know, never elocuted any my
self; but it fills the bill as well as a Ser
mon could"
those high toned uns who got into fits
over bunch of green rock moss with
dew drop in the middle of it; which l
heard one woman, with long, bony, white
hands, and gold spectacles, once, on the
Sierra, call it the king of dimenta, with
the emerald in his dream Is that what
you're goin' for!'
mo, William, truly admire what We
now behold around us"
You dol Well, don't I'd as soon
look at Quaker meetin' when their spir-
it was of on particular business. See
nery's something that | don't saver. /
always thought it meant somethin' green
a. stardin out of doors in the worst place
- d. 4. 49, 81, |
spring, and we may as well put up for
the night" And Bill dismounted.
Putting up for the night on a pros
pecting trip, may be rendered lying out
for the night; but there is a pure-uired
satisfaction in bustiing about the i'm
promptu location, with the ever present
thought of what next!n that drives
away ell WEAKNESS, to be replaced by a
zesty keenness of appetite as the prelude
to simple supper, "A solacing pipe, and
sound slumber
After we had dore all that a sage
brush camp requires, in the way of un-
packing, unsaddling, hobbling, picket
ing, hobbling, making fire, cooking, eat
ing, unrolling blankets into bed shape,
and were laid down for the night, with
our faces upturned TO the bright. star
Lit sky. l observed to William:
This is grandr'
'.WotY" said-Bill
''rhis night of calm repose in the gor-
geous bridal chamber of our first par
ents'
There you go agini LoOney as a new
convert at a caInp-meetin-'
''No, William, not loony. 1t is
beautiful thought, that Adam and Eve.
in the incompatible purity of the first
new love that blessed the world, should
have rested thus upon the young earth,
under the royal drapery of all the
night"
''Yes. A-shiverin' in the wind, with
out mission blankets, and no shirts on,
like two Shoshones III a wickiupl You :
can't come that over me. had pard
that read every night out of book he
called Milton"
who was Miltonl Do you know,
WilliamT'
''Yesln-without variety of accent
''He was Ioony old psalm singer, and
said that the Devil invented silver and
gold mining in the back territory of hell
and erebust, wherever that Is.
DO you remember the Lines, VIII
iamF'
No. 1 don't. Something about the
devil and his crew working three shifts
day into hill"
recited:
by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
4 I.