The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-31


wealth and, outside enterprise. Frisco" %
owned haif the town. The old friends Chat
rallied around Daddy and Nanny were, Like
most loyal friends In adversely, In bad case
themseiv and were. beginning to look and
At this juncturs Nanny died.
The sudden blow for few days seemed TO
reunite discovered Rongh-and-Ready. Both
condolenents, and offers Of aid and assist
ance But the old man received them sternly.
A change had come over the weak and yield
ing octogenariah. Those who expected to
shrank from the cold, hard eye, aud trucu-
lent voice that bade .thom ..begone" and
'1eave him with his dead" Even his own
friends failed to make him respond to their
selves with his cold intination that both the
wishes OF his dead wife and hts own instincts
were against any display, Or the reception Of
any favor from the camp that might tend to
keep up the divisions they had SO innocently
service offered was 50 unlike him AZ to have
but one meaning. The sudden shock had
turned his brain. Yet 50 impressed were they
with his resolution that they permitted him
to perform the last sad offices himself, and
sisted him In carrying the plain deal coffin
from his lonely cabin In the woods to the still
lonlier cemetery on the hilltop. When the
shallow grave was filled he dismissed even
and for days remained unseen, II Was owl
dent that he was no longer 10 Ills right mind
| His harmless alteration was accepted and
treated with Il degree Of intelligent delicacy
hardly to be belleved,of SO. rough q commulf
ty. During his wifes sudden and severe i'll
ness, the safe containing the fund intrusted to
his care by tho various benevolent associa-
tions was broken into and robbed, and al
| though the act was clearly attributable to his
cnrelessness and .preoccupaticn, all ailusbn
we're at1liction. When he appeared again be-
! fore the camp and the circumstances were
| CONSIDERABLY explained to him with the re-
mark that "the boys had made it all right"
the vacant, hopeless. unintelligent eye that
| he turned upon the speaker showed too plain
| ly that he had forgotten all abeut it. "Don't
tro,1ble the old man. said Whisky Dick,
with a burst Of honest poetry. Don't ye
sec his memory's dead, and lying there In the
was nearer right Than he imagined. '''~'0'
Failing In religious consolation, they took
various means OF diverting his mind with
worldly amnsements, and one was u visit toa
travelling variety troupe, thon performing in
told by Whisky Dick. "Well, sir. we went In,
and I got the old man down IN front seat
and kinder propped him up with some other
OF the fellers round him, and There he sot MS
silent and awful eSthe grave. And then that
fancy dancer, Miss Grace Somerset, comes In,
and dorm my skin, il tho old man didn't git to
trembling and tigcting all over, as she cut
them pldgin wings. tell We what, boys, men
is men, way down to their boots whether
that I'm blamed il at last that gal herself
didn't notice him land she ups, suddenly,
and blows him a kiss--s6l with her fingers'
Whether this narration were exaggerated or
not. it is certain that old man Downey, every
Jirry ~ 1En
spectator. That he may have aspired to be
more than that was suggested day or two
later In the following incident: A number Of
the boys were sitting around the stove In the
Magnolia saloon. listening to the onset Of a
winter storm against the windows, when
Whisky Dick, tremulous, excited and bristling
with rain drops and information, broke in
t"Well, boys Two got inst the biggest thing
put. n ! hadB,t seed it myself, wouldn't
eft amt tibet ghost ag'in?" growled Robin
son, from the depths Of his armchair; "thct
ghosts about played"
"Wot ghost2 asked q ew-comer
"Why, ole Mammy's ghost, that every Teller
about yer secs when he's half full and out late
o ! nights, ..,s.l.. '"
Where? Why, where should ghost be?
Meairlerin' round her grave on the hill, yam
ats suthin bigger nor tibet, pard," said
Dick confidently; ''no ghost can rake down
the Pot ag'in II the keerds I've got here. This
"Well, go onv' said dozen excited voices. |
Dick paused y m oment, efficiently, with the
hesitation of an artistic raconteur
"WelI," he sale, with affected elaboration,
Gets seet It's nigh onto an hour ago ez was
down thar at the variety. show. When the
curtain was down betwixt tho ak, looks
round fer Daddy. No Daddy thar! | goes
out and asks some o the boys. Daddy was
there a mnnit ago they say; must hev
gone home Bein' kinder responsible for the
hall and sees passage leadin' behind the
SCENES Now the queer thing about this, |
boys, ez that suthin in my bones tells me the
old man is thar. Ipushes in, and, sure as a
gn!n beers Ms ;nS xoce; Kinder pathetic
"Love-makin'!" broke in the impatient |
Robinson. -.,.&" If. |
! you've hit It, pard-you've rung the bell |
every ti1ng !, But she says, i wants thet |
hear the rest. And then he kinder coaxes,
and he says, sorter sassy but letenir' all the |
time--Women like, We know, Eve and the sar-
she says, III see Tomorrow And |
he says, you won't blow on me? and | gets
burned ct didn't see -" te..l
'What?" yelled the crowd. -.
"Why, daddy on his knees to that there
Iancy dancer, Grace Somerset! Now, if
AA18Iuy SuOSC ID iOuDu, why
ats about time she left the cemetery and put
n an appearance In Jackson's Hall. Thet's
ELL" ~taf, -.y! e'T E..aT
"Look var boys" said Robinson, rising, 81
lon't know ez It's the square thing to Spite
Daddy's fun. don't object to it, provided
she amt takin' in the old man and givin' him
lead away. But ez we're bis guardeens, /
propose that we go down thar and see the
ady and find out ef her intentions is honora-
Die. If she means marry, and the old man
persists why, reckon we kin give the young
couple q send off tibet won't disgrace this yer
camp! Hey, boys?"
1t Is unnecessary to say that the PROPOSE
ion was received with reclamation, and that
he crowd at once departed on their discreet
mission. But the result was never known, for
,he next morning brought shock to Rough
md Ready before which all other interest
1aled to nothingness.
The grave of Nanny Downey was found
Jiolated and despoiied; the coffin opened, and
lalf filled with the papers and accounts of the