Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1875-10-17
MY ST "
ar. Experiences OF Life in CALI
fornia by . Female Pioneer Of
1850.
BY CYNTHIA ANN.

to complain of, and the lovely
moonlight nights, with their re-
freshing breezes, made compensa-
tion for the heat of the day.
The stay at Mazatlan gave the
passengers time to study a little
the ways of Mexican settlement,
and Hetty's wonder at everything
gave Mr.. Parton some amusement,
still he was detected, and seemed
to have lost a good deal of the
cheerfulness which had character
lied his conduct previous to the
conversation with Hetty on ways
and means of life, to be i'll Califor-
mia. Still hope seemed sometimes
to be with him, and Hetty having
become more and more an object
of attention, as the distance be-
tween themselves and white civil
ization increased, he felt too proud
of his possession to be other than
agreeable towards it. Still he was
piqned sometimes, as she seemed
to prefer some other to himself,
and went about trying to make
himself agreeable. even to Mrs.
Blandford. who had asked to be
friends with him, and had explain
ed the conversation overheard by
Hetty. more to her own advantage
than his wife had represented it.
For some reason or other Mrs.
Blandford evidently wished to be
on good terms with him, and Mr..
Parton, annoyed at the independ-
ence of Hetty's manner, when
business was spoken Of, seemed
willing to meet her. but Mrs. Par
ton was not to be reconciled, and
accepted all overtures on the part
OF the Blsndfords with very bad
grace.
Mr.. Blandford was evidently an
noyed at his wife's persistent efforts
to make friends with her. and said:
Il must confess, Mrs. Blandford,
You make great efforts to conciliate
an enemy. / cannot understand
your anxiety to do so. / am dis
gusted with you"
"My desire is to have some sort
Of . female friend when we arrive
in California" replied the wife.
1t will be very disagresable to have
none of my own sex about me-"
"There will be enough to suit
me-" said Mr.. Blandford. II don't
want women gadding around, put
ting notions into my wife's head,
and making us all uncomfortable"
"You need not be afraid OF
that" replied Mrs. Blandford. II
am not easily notioned, and If l
we're, it would be better than hav-
ing some man. putting the notion
into my head that had better run
away with him, which l certainly
might do if left too much to my
self and my own meditations. But
what is Parton, any way? You
seem certainly to know something
about him."
"A first-class barber. Fe did a
good thing for himself in the shaving
line and returned to get q little
money somebody had left him. l
heard about him in Panama, and /
meant to give him fits for taking in
Hetty, but she has behaved 30
shabbily, l am going to let her flnt
out about him before l venture to
say anything. He was married for a
while to a servant girl in San Fran
cisco and they made good thing Of
it, but somebody turned up whom she
thought had died in the diggings,
and who said he was her husband !;
so Parton had to give her up and a
part of the profits along with her.
He is a decent sort Of fellow if he
would not lie SO confoundedly, and
might get an honest living. But
Hetty has not been in the market so
long, to sell herself to man of that
order, and devil of row there will
be when she hears all about him."
"He seems to be we'll educated"
"He was servant to an English
gentleman in Canada fer a number of
years before coming to California; i;
that is the secret of all the education
he has. It would take man a life
time to find out all the swindling
propensities of some of these fel-
lows, and this Jack Parton has way
about him that would cheat the devil
himself. / am sorry for Hetty; she
might have married'to advantage in
California, where wives are wanted
and not plenay; but to have put her
foot in it in this manner, il too bad
altogether"