Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-03-20
MISS GREY OF SANDY GULCH.

MISS GREY, OF SANDY GULCH.
f..
| '"Sandy Gulchsl You as don't stop here
git breakfast. We had determined to
stop here, and had Kept this spot i'll view as
an objective point during!several hundred
miles of stage journey. Tliere is some
thing wearisome in six days continual
stage riding 1t becomes slightly monoto-
nous in twenty-four hours; cramped up in
corner, unable to lie down OF gAt a good
stretch, is trial to the patience Of the or
binary American.
We cannot present an actiye-looking
picture of our fellow travellers to your mind
they were all too stiff and sore, and we
might say out of humor. The man who
could rest his head anywhere and sleep
was an object of envy and distrust, and a
general desire was felt by CHI wakeful one
to pinch the man driving you mad with his
llelicious snores. Twas at a time when our
nerves, detached and shaken up, and our
very brains sloshing around, we heard the
welcome sound .sSandy Gulch !"
NOU IL U6dUUiEdl llcti!lC, llOl otS W. PCACO
our heads out Of the coach window, did it
look to be particularly charming Two
hundred or more miners cabins that SEEM
ed to have started from the stage station
and got lost in all sorts of pla ces along the
gulch; odd little boxes of houses perched
up on the very top Of an immense rock, or
nesting close to it's messy sides, down
| by the roaring mountain stream, OF far up
on the mountain side, as. the airy fancy Of
the rough owner in fee simple dictated.
The ssmain honse'' of the gulch was at
the s'bar,'' and the bar was at the main
house.
| The broad stretch of golden sands,
washed by the heavy rains from the moun-
tains and deposited near the mouth OF the
| Gulch, gave. theN place its name.s The
isOverland" always stopped at the main
house, we suppose on account of the bar.
The coming Of Skaggs, Jim Jones, and Boss
| Myers was something to Sandy Gulch.-
They were heavy operators, and the owners
of the ponderous machines that were up
the Gulch battering away at the silver ore.
4
and said "What, is it Skaggsy ?" But we
were unnoticed. We, who had come to
edit The Miners Friend, found none-no,
not one to do us honor. However, having
visited strange towns and edited several
short-lived dailies before, we were prepared
to meet any fate like philosophers.
| There was one passenger we pitied in
his loneliness-not more than four and
twenty; slender, delicate, whose face and
form indicated the intellectual man strip
ped Of his proper attributes who shrank
| from the rude oaths and boisterous merri-
ment of his fellow travellers, and who seem
ed as untitled for their society as would an
4 angel. We say we feltsorry for him-such
sorrow as we sometimes feel for inexperi-
enced fellow travellers, on life's journey
| It was whispered about that he was a mis-
sionary. This opinion became fixed when
it was found, after repeated trials, that he
would net drink, nor had he been known
to swear during the entire trip-sometling
truly wonderful. His place in the coach
had been so far removed from Skaggs,
Jones 6 Co., that, much as we desired to
make his acquaintance, no opportunity
was offered.
He, too, got out at Sandy Gulch, and the
greasy register bore the name of Rev. Mil
| ton May.
| We learned that he had but just gradual
! ted from one of our leading theological
colleges, and had come to look after the
spiritual welfare of the 'sGulch.''
The "Gulchers,'' big and little, were to
be brought under the sound of Mr.. Mays
voiae-that is, if they wanted to. On the
! first Sabbath ten of them did. But Mr..
May, being an enthusiast and an earnest
Christian, determined to increase this
number and during the second week
climbed sluice-boxes, jumped bitches, wad-
ed the creek again and again, in pursuit OF
+! little working parties of miners. Nor did
he stop with the workers. The lonely.
weary man, lying on his bunk, his frame
Tracked with pain. and signing in feverish
agony for the approach of dear wife OF
mother, was soothed by the pale-faced
man.
The gaudy room behind the bar was not
! free from him, for he entered and invited
,,sSlick Dick,n who was dealing faro, te
come to the services at the log cabin
Strange as it may seem, he came, and the
room was full Of those whose ears had not
heard one word of these tidings in many
many years. All what may not the infu
ence of one man have on a community P
Of course the latter thought was entirely
in connection with ourselves.
The Miners Friend was succeeding we
| were able to live and pay off such of oul
liabilities as were pressing. We were be
ginning to feel something Of the delights
of independent journalism. The terrific
rial printing was ours, and we fondly look
ed forward to the post-mastership of Sandy
Gulch. But there was always more or less
jealousy on our part for the Rev. Milton
Nav. He seemed to have made himself
immensely popular, and we felt that the
J quiet. pale-faced man could have beaten u
for the legislature any time.
We had respect for him almost amount
ing to awe. One night, coming from gu
Office, we were nearly opposite Jack BOW
mans, who was lying crushed and dying =
The door was ajar, and light from q tal