The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-04-18
VOLUME XI.

AAAN anu NAlAAAA NAlA'AA AhtfAN
tiiul smile, like yours, dear boy, as l
handed HIM minoe OF lcmmlng turn.
over. Dear, dear, how l DO run ON
and those days is past ! hut | seems 20
live in YOU again l' The wife oi the
hotel-kceper, actuated by low ieal.
ouSy, had suggested that she seemed
10 live pr' them, but as that person tried
10 demonstrate the truth OF her state,
mcnt hy reference 20 the cost OF the raw
material used hy the old lady, il Was
considered 10y the camp AS too practical
aud economical for consideration. A." Be-
sides, added Cy Perkins, " el old Nam
my wants % turn an honest penny in
her old age, let her do Il, How would
you like your old mother 10 make pies
on grub wages, eh g. A suggestion that
50 affected his hearer twho had no moth
cry that he bought three on the spot.
The quality OF these pies had never been
discussed but once. IL is related that a
young lawyer from San Francisco,
dining at the Palmetto restaurant,
pushed away one Of Nanny Downey' 5
pies with every expression OF disgust
and dissatisfaction. Al this juncture,
Whisky Dick, considerably affected by
his favorite stimulant, approached the
strangers table, and, drawing up chair,
sat uninvited before him.
Mebbee, young man, he began
grayely, "ye don't like Nanny Dow
ney's pies ?"
The stranger replied curtly, and in
some astonishment, that he did not as a
rule, " eat pie.
"loung man." continued Dick with
drunken gravity, "mebbee you're ac-
customed TO Charlotte rusks and blue
mango; mebbee We can't eat unless your
grub is got up by one o them French
cooks? Yet tce-us boys var in this
camp-ealls that pie-a good com-pe-
teHt pie !"
The stranger again disclaimed any
thing but = general dislike Of that form
Of pastry.
Young man, continued Dick, utter
" unheeding the explanation, -" young
man, mebbee you onct had al ole-a
very ole mother, who, tottering down
the vale o years. made pies. Mebbee,
and it's like your blank epicurean soul,
We turned up your nose on the ole wo-
man, and went back on the pies, and on
her She that handled We when We woz
a baby,-a little baby Mebbee We went
back on her, and shook her, and played
off on her, and gave her away-dead
away! And now, mebbee, young man
i wouldn't hurt We for the world, but
mebbee, afore We leave this var table,
YELL Eat THAT PIE -
The stranger rose 10 his feet, but the
muzzle of a 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 a
Rough-and- Ready jury.
Indeed, far from exhibiting the Gym
ical doubts and distrusts of age, Daddy
Downey received always with child-like-
delight the progress Of modern improve
ment and energy. "ln my day, long
back in the twenties. il took us nigh a
week "A week, boys-to get up barn,
and all the young ones-l was one then
for miles round at the raisin' and
yer's you boys-rascals We are, too
runs mp this yer shanty for Nanny and
me 'twixt sun-up and dark En-, eh,
you're teachin' the old folks new tricks,
are We? All, get along, you - and in
playful stimulation of anger he would
shake his white hair and his hickory
staff at the rascals." The only indica-
ton of the conservative tendencies OF
age was visible in his continual protest
against the extravaganza Of the boys.
Why" he would say, "a family, a
hull family-leavin' alone me and the
old woman,-might be supported or
what you young rascals throw away III
single spree.
There was little doubt that the old
couple were saving, If not avaricious.
But when il was known, through the IN
discreet volubility Of Nanny Downey,
that Pappy Downey sent the bulk of
their savings, gratuities, and gifts 10 a
dissipated and prodigal son in the East
whose photograph the old man always
carried with hint rather elevated him
in their regard. when We write 10
that gay and festive son o. ypurn,
Daddy, said Joe Robinson, "send him
this yer specimen. Give him my com
pliments, and tell him, il he kin spend
money faster than / can, ] call him
In vain would the old man continue to
protest against the spirit of the gift /;
the miner generally returned with his
pockets that much the lighter, and it is
not improbable q little less intoxicated
than he otherwise might have been. II
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 fire.
queut donations of whisky 10 be used
for the purposes Of liniment.
Next to snake-oiI, my son, he would
say, "and dilberry- juice-and We don't
seem 10 produce 'em hcreabouts-whis-
Ky is good for rubbin' onto old bones to
make 'em timber. But pure cold water,
sparklin' and bright in its liquid light,
and, 80 TO speak, reflect a of Gods own
linyments on its surfss, is the best,
onless, like poor oil Nanny and me,
We gifts the dumb-agur from over-use."
Praised by the lips of distinguished
report, fostered by the care and sus-
tanned by the pecuniary offerings OF
their fellow citizens, the Saints led for
two years a peaceful life OF gentle alb
sorption. To relieve them from the
embarrassing appearance Of eleemosy-
nary receipts-an embarrassment felt
more by the givers than the recipients
the postmastership OF Rough-and-
Ready was procured for Daddy, and the
duty Of receiving and delivering the
United States mails performed by him,
with the advice and assistance Of the
boys. II n few letters went astrny at
this time, II was easily attributed 10 this
undisciplined aid, and the boys them
selves were always ready to make up the
value of a missing money-letter and
keep the old mans accounts square. :"
To these functions presently were added
the treasureships Of the Masons' and
Odd Fellows charitable funds-the old
man being far advanced in their re-
spective degrees-and even the posi-
ton OF almoner OF their bounties
was superadded. Here, unfortu-
nately, Daddys habits of economy
and avaricious propensity came near
making him unpopular, and very often
needy brothers we're forced TO object TO
the quantity and quality OF the help
extended. They always met with more
generous relief from the private hands
of the brothers themselves, and the re-
mark "that the Of man was trying 10
set an example-that he meant well, -
and that they would yet be thankful fol
his Jealous care and economy. A few, ]
think, suffered in noble silence, rather
than bring the old mans infrmity TO the
public notice.
And so with this honor of Daddy and
Nanny, the days Of the miners were long
and profitable in the land Of the foot
hills. The mines yielded their abun