The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1878-04-12

your GlauK eplcurean soul, ye Corned up
your nose on the ole woman, and went back
on the pies, and on her She that handled
ye when ye WOE baby,--a little baby
!. Mebbee ye went back ON her, and shook
her. and played off on her., and gave her
away-dead away! And now, mebbee,
young mani would't hurt ye for the world
but mebbee, afore ye leave this var table,
Yell EAT THAT PIE ~ --.-s.-f.- -7.-
The stranger rose to his feet, but the
muzzle of dragoon revolver in the un-
steady hands of Whisky Dick, caused him
to sit down again. He ate the pie, and lost
his case likewise, before Rough-and-
Ready jury.
Indeed. far from exhibiting the cynical
doubts and distrusts of age, Daddy Downey
received always with ehild-like delight the
progress Of modern improvement and en-
twenties, it took us nigh a week-a week.
boys-to get up barn. and All the young
ones-I was one then-for miles round at
the raisin'; and yer's you boys -rascals We
are, too-runs up this yer shanty for Mann
my and me 'twixt sun-up and dark /! Eh,
eh, you're teachln' the old folks new tricks,
are ye? Alb, get along, you!' and in play
ful stimulation of anger he would shake his
white hair and hickory staff at the "ras-
GALS" The only indication of the conser-
vative tendencies Of age was visible in his
continual protest against the extravaganza
of the boys. Why" he would say, ga
family, a hull family,-leavin alone me and
the Old woman, might be supported on
what you young rascals throw away in
single spree. Ah, you young dogs, didn't
hear about your scattering half-dollars ON
the stage the other night when that Eyetal-
| goes out of Ameriky-ivry cent p
There was little doubt that the old couple
We're saving, if not avaricious. But when
it was known, through the indiscreet volu-
bility of Nanny Downey, that Pappy
| Downey sent the bulk of their savings, gra-
tuties, and gifts to a dissipated and prodi-
| gal son in the East,-whose photograph the
old man always carried with him,-it rath-
er 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 COM
pliments, and tell him, if he can spend
money faster than I can, call him Tell
him, ef he wants frst-class jamboree, to
KEN out here, and me and the boys will
show him what square drunk is p In
vain would the old man continue to protest
against the spirit of the gift; the miner
generally returned with his pockets that
much lighter, and it is not improbable |
little less intoxicated than he otherwise |
might have been. 1t may be promised that |
Daddy Downey 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 purposes of liniment.
Next to suake-oll, my son." he would |
say, ''and dillberry- juice, and ye don't
seem to pro duce 'em hereabouts, whisky |
is good fol rubbin' onto old bones to make
k,o,.
and bright in it's liquid hight and, SO to
speak, re1ectin' of Gods own linyments on
its surfiss, is the best, onless, like poor OF
Nanny and me, ye'gits the dumb-agar
from over-use."
The fame of the DowneY couple was not
confined to the foot-hill. The Rev. Henry
Gushington, D. D., of Boston, making a
bronchial tauE 4f EaifaiSe;sss hi ess,a.,n- -,
of his visit to them, placed Daddy Down
ey's age at 1922 and attributed the recent
in Rough-and- Ready to their
influence That gifted literary Hessian,
Bill Smith, travelling in the interests of va
rious capitalists, and the trustworthy cor
respondent of four "only independent I
American journals" quoted him as an evi-
dence of the longevity superinduced by the F,
climate, offered him as an example OF the
security Of helpless life and property in the s
used him as an advertisement i
Of the Union Ditch. and, it is said, in some
vague way cited him as proving the collat- =
sral facts of a timber and ore producing re- \
yion existing in the foothills worthy the a
attention of Eastern capitalists. i
Praised thus by the lips of distinguished I
report, fostered by the care and sustained '
oy the pecaniary offerings of their fellow a
the Saints led for tive years '
peaceful life of gentle absorption. To re- a
ieve them from the embarrassing appear g
ance of eleemosynary receipts-an embar- {
felt more by the giyers than by S
he recipients-the postmastership of a
Ready was procured for Daddy,
Ind the duty of receiving and delivering il
he United States mails performed by HIM, t
With the advice and assistance of the boys. S
If few letters went astray at this time, it 8
was easily attributed to this undiscplined
lid, and the boys themselves were always e
'eady to make up the value of a missing
nonev-letter. and 9 keep the old mans O
square, To these functions e
presently were added the treasurerships of v
he Masons' and Odd Fellows charitable t.
unds-the old man being far advanced in o
heir respective degrees-and even the po n
tion of almoner of their bounties was s.
uperadded Here, unfortunately, Daddy's Il
labits of economy and avaricions propen- "
ity came near masking him unpopular, e
md very often needy brothers were forced il
o object to the quantity and quality of
he help extended. They always met with Il
more generous relief from the private "
lands Of the brothers themselves, and the
emark that Z" the OF man was trying to set il
m example-that he meant WE'LL, and 90
hat they would yet be thankful for his
ealous care and economy. A few, |
hink, suffered in noble silence, rather fl
han bring the old mans infrmity to the o.
,ublic notice.
And so with this honor of Daddy and
the days of the miners were long b
nd profitable in the land of the foothills. b
The mines yielded their abundance, the
winters were singularly open, and yet there D
vas no drouth, and peace and plenty smiled Il
N the Serran foot hills, from their highest al
unny upland to the trailing JazdG of wild
'ats and poppies. Ii a certain superstition VI
,ot abroad among the other camps, con-
ecting the fortunes of Rough-and-R Ready IL
nth Daddy and Nanny, it was a gentle,
armless fancy, and was not, think, alto ii
ether rejected by the old people. A GER a,
ain large, patriarchal, bountiful manner. v
f late visible in Daddy, and the increase |
4 much white hair and beard, kept up the I
'oetic illusion, while Nanny, day by day, d,
rev more and more like somebody's fairy ht
.odmother. An attempt was made by fo
ival camp to emulate these paying virtues OF
f reverence, and an aged mariner was pro- h,
ured from the Sailors Snug Harbor, in al
Ian Francisco, on trial. BUT the unfortu- te
ate seaman was more or less diseased, al
vas not always presentable, through a z
for ardent spirits, and finally, to -
se the powerful idiom of one of his disap-
pointed foster children, Sup and died in a r
veek, without singing airy blessin'."
But vicissitude reaches young and old bs
like. Youthful Rough-and-Re aud th
he Saints had climbed their meridian to- CO
ether, and it seemed fit that they should XII
ogether decline. The first shadow fell with b,
he immigration to Rough-and- Ready of Xxi
econd aged pair. The landlady of the In i
epence Hotel had not abated her opposi- W
ion toward the saints, and had imported pe