The Portland daily press., 1878-04-13

spree. An, you young uoSss uiuu AeaI
about YOUR scattering half dollars on the
stage the other night when that Eyetalian
Papist was singn'. And that money goes
out of Ameriky-ivry centW
There was little doubt that the old couple
were saving. if not avaricious. But when it
was known, through the indiscreet volubility
of Nanny Downey. that Pappy Downey
sent the bulk of his savings, gratuities and
gifts TO dissipated and prodgal son in the
East-whose photograph the old man always
carried with hint rather elevated him in
their regard. "When ye write to that gay
and festive son o. yourn, Daddy" said Joe
Robinson, "send him this yer specimen.
Give him my compliments, and tell him If he
kin spend money faster than can, call
him! Tell him, eff he wants tirst-cass jam
boree to KEN out here, and me and the boys
will show him what square drunk is" In
yaini would the old man continue to protest
against the spirit of the gift; the miner gen.
orally returned with his pockets that much
lighter, and it is not improbable little less
intoxicated than he otherwise might have
been. 1t may be presumed that Daddy
Dowuey was strictly temperate. The only
way he managed to avoid hurting the feelings
of the camp was by accepting the frequent
donations of whisky to be used for the pur-
poses of liniment
'sNext to snake oil, my son." he would say,
sand dilberry juice-and ye don't seem to pro-
duce 'em hereabouts-whisky is good for rub
bin onto old bones to make 'em Timber. But
pure cold water, sparklin and bright IN Its
liquid light" and, SO to speak, rehectin OF
Gods own linyments on its surflss, IS Inc
best, onless like poor ole Nanny and me,
you gifts the dumb agur from overuse.
The fame of the Downey couple was not
confined to the foothills. The Rev. Henry
GushiDgton, d. D., of Boston, making
bronchial tour of California, wrote to the
California Pathfinder an affecting account of
his visit to them, placed Daddy Downey's age
at 102, and attributed the recent conversions
in Rough-and Ready to their influence.
That gifted literary Hoosian, Bill Smith, tray
and the trustworthy correspondent of four
''enly independent American journals
quoted him as an evidence of the longevity
superinduced by the climate, offered him as
an example of the security of helpless life and
property in the mountains, used him as an
advertisement of the Union Ditch, and, it is
said, in some vague way cited him as proving
the collateral facts of timber and ore-pro
ducing region existing in the foothills worthy
the attention of eastern capitalists.
Praised thus by the lips of distinguished
report, fostered by the care and sustained by
the pecuniary offerings of their fellow citizens
the saints led for two years peaceful life of
gentle absorption, To relieve them from the
embarrassing appearance of eleemosynary re-
ceipts-an embarrassment felt more by the
gver than the recipients, the postmaster
ship of Rough-and- Ready was procured for
Dandy, and the duty of receiving and deliyer-
ing the United States mails performed by
him, with the advice and assistance of the
boys. If . few letters went astray at this
time, it was easily attributed to this undisc-
plined aid, and the boys themselves were
always ready to make up the value of a miss
ing money letter and "keep the old mans &C.
counts square," To these functions pres
emily were added the treasurships of the Ma
sons and Odd Fellows charitable funds-the
old man being far advanced in their respect
i've degrees-and even the position of almoner
of their bounties was superadded. Here, I'M
fortunately, Daddy's habits of economy and
avaricious propensity came near making him
unpopular, and very often needy brothers
were forced to object to the quantity and
quality of the help extended. They always
met with more generous relief from the pri-
vate hands of the brothers themselves, and
the remark "that the OF man was trying to
set an eXample-that he meant well, and
that they would yet be thankful for his zeal
GUS care and economy. A few. think, suf-
fered in noble silence, rather than bring the
old mans infrmity to the public notice.
And so with this honor of Daddy and NAM
my the days of the miners were long and
profitable in the land of the foothills. The
mines yielded their abundance. the winters
were singularly open and yet there was no
drought nor lack of water, and peace and
plenty smiled on the Sierrean foothills from
their highest sunny upland to the trailing
falda of wild oats and peoples. If a certain
superstition got abroad among the other
camps, connecting the fortunes ofRough-and-
Poodu NTH daddy ond Marnmy IT. mac opn.
tie, harmless fancy, and was not I think, al
together rejected by the old people. A certain
large, patriarchia, bountiful manner, of late
visible in Daddy, and the increase of much
white hair annd beard, kept up the poetic
illusion, while Nanny, day by day, grew
more and more like somebody's fairy god
mother. An attempt was made by rival
camp to emulate these paying virtues of
reverence, and an aged mariner was procured
fran the Sailors Snug Harbor in San Fran
cisco, on trial. But the unfortunate seaman
was more or less diseased, was not always
presentable, through weakness for ardent
spirits and finally to use the powerful idiom
of one of his disappointed foster-children, cup
and died in a week, without singing airy
bessin."
But vicissitudes reaches old and young
alike. Youthful Roogh-and Ready and the
saints had climbed to their meridian together
and it seemed fit that they should together
decline. The first shadow fell with the i'm
migration to Rough-and- Ready of second
aged pair The landIady of the Independence
Hotel had not abated her malevolence to-
ward the saints, and had imported at consid-
cradle expense her grand-aunt and grand
uncle, who had been enjoying for some years
a sequestered retirement in the poor-house of
East Machias. They were indeed very old.
By what miracle, even as anatomical speci-
mems, they had been preserved during their
long journey was mysterySto the camp. In
some respects they had superior memories
and "reminiscences. The old man-Abner
Trix-had shouldered musket in the war of
1872; his wife, Abigail, had seen Lady WASH
ingto. She could sing hymns; he knew every
text between the "leds" of Bible. There
is little doubt but that in many respects to
the superficial and giddy crowd of youthful
spectators, they were the more Interesting
spectacle.
Whether it was jealousy, distrust or timid-
ity that overcame the saints was never
known, but they studiously declined to meet
the strangers. When directly approached
upon the subject, Daddy Downey pleaded
illness, kept himself in close seclusion, and
the Sunday that the Trxies attended church
in the schoolhouse on the hill, the triumph of
the Trix party was mitigated by the fact that
the Downeys were not in their accustomed
pew. "You bet that Daddy and Nanny is
lyin low Jest to ketch them old mummes
yet" explained Downeyite. For by this
time schism and division had crept into the
camp: the younger and later members of the
settlement adhering to the Trixes, while the
older pioneers stood not only lay to their own
favortes, but even in the true spirit of par
tisanship, began to seek for principle under
lying their personal feelings. 81 tell ye
what boys" observed Sweetwater Joe, sit
this yer camp is goin' to be run by greenhorns
and old pioneers like Daddy and the rest of
us must take back seats, it's time we emf
grated and showed and TUX Daddy with us.
Why, they're talkin' of rotation in offs and
of putting that skeleton that Ma'am Decker
sets up at the table to take her boarder's ap-
petites away-into the postofis in place O.
Daddy" And indeed, there were some
fears of such conclusion; the newer men of
Rough and Ready were in the majority and
welded more than equal influence of wealth
and outside enterprise, 'Frisco' as Down
eyite bitterly remarked, ALREADY owned half
the town." The old friends that rallied
around Daddy and Nanny were, like most
loyal friends in adversely, in bad case them