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

ava S~HAA~~AO"c III M " AOVCACu
tial one but, considering the charac~
ter OF its dwellers, it was an exceed
ingly fitting n for the locality that
bore it. Ask months residence there
convinced me 80 thoroughly Of this
fact that I could not conscientiously
have changed a letter of the name,
even had I possessed the power to do
sc Not that it sav0red of sulphurous
odors not that the roaring OF it's APP
parent patron saint were ever heard
echoing among the canons that enccm:
passed it but Tor sinfulness, and
w~ickedDess, and riotous debauchery, it
was peerless among all the mining
camps I had ever visited in California.
1 was sent there in the summer of
1858 by a San Francisco firm, to close
out a business that was drifting into
involuntary bankruptcy, and q long
dusty ride found me there early in
July of that year. A view of the camp
from the mountain had not impressed
me f%avorably, and a nearer acquain
lance only confirmed that first i'm
preston; but, like a half-reluctant
bridegroom, I had resolved to take it
for 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'? Preachers don't
stand much show in these digg,ns.
yon amt wanted; better git!"
This was my greeting. l had just
alighted from my mule, tired and out
of humor, and felt ha%if-inclined to re-
sent the brusqne, unmannerly saluta.
ton, but did not. 1t was not 4 con-
sciousnesss Of the truth that qnieted
me, for my appearance was certainly
slightly clerical. True, I had a per-
feet right to differ in opinion with the
speaker, for of a verify this was just
the place where preachers were wanted,
and just the place they should stay ;
but, making no professions of godli-
ness, I held my tongue Tor a moment.
l looked up a brawny and powerful
figure confronted me, and 1 prudently
held my temper. I replied blandly
that 1 expected to remain there awhile,
and suggested, with all meekness, that
appearances were sometimes deceitfuI.
Soon the Bar was agog with curiosity,
and a crowd gathered. And such a
crowd! Great broad shouldered fell
lows, dirty and unshaved, deeply
marked with chronic dissipation, whose
every second word was an oath strip
lings, whose tongues were volubly i'm.
pudent and early trained to bias.
phemy in imitation of their elders.
gathered round, while ! 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 re-
garded as an imposter. I had " store
clothes" OIL, and this fact alone was
too much for the fixed conventional
ism of the Bar. Buckskin and gray
flannel assumed a dignity in early
times among the "honest miners"
more u%nylelding, more exacting, than
purple and fine linen. My "boiled
Shirt was considered an infraction.
and therefore the Bar was afronted.
"Deacon " was echoed from mouth to
mouth. Bets were offered aud freely
taken that l was a Psalm singer ; a
gambler, with a "dead thing" or
" waxed keerds ;" a lawyer !; a doctor;
anything but a horse-jockey or a gen
tleman. Although nettle,l with the
uncourteous reception, ] could not af-
ford to fall out with my new neigh
bors. Beating my dusty hat against
my knee with a well-assumed swagger.
I turned quietly and asked if the Bar
waf dry. And the Bar .Uus dry.
With a whoop, the crowd adjourned
to the saloon-a rickety, clap-board
institution, furnished with q few stools
and rough tables-and the Bar drank
first 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 a triumphant air.
"Boys," he said, 81 take it all back,
This is my old skipper; came out with
him IN '49. He amt no prcacher-hc
spends his money like q man, and
don't whine Any n that don't like
him can call on Bill Thorp. That's
me, boys! Let's take suthin'!"
Finding that things had taken I'm
unexpected turn, J. Immediately took
advantage OF the new situation. Thorp
stood sponsor for me, and his cmphut.
~ o'oli"uce VI my unpft:lcncf-lIke
character and proper disregard Of the
value of money put the Bur in good
humor; SO I explained my business.
and hoped to deserve we'll of the bows.
And / won the friendship Of these PEG
ple-not 10y panderipg to their tastes
or by falling into their practices. but
by minding my own business. While
abstaining from rubbing against their
prejudices, and scrupulously avoiding
all interference with their pleasures. /
sympathized with them in their little
troubles and they respected me. The
Bar. by day, did not seem to be a very
bad or boisterous place in working
hours it INDUCED in a kind of feverish
rest. But it was by night that it
shone i'll 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 on the
earnings Of the .iay, and the bar ran
riot 1t was then that great strong
! fellows, who we're wearing out their