Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-04-05

LAhsou ny tno llIh OI ulStlnBu1Sneu
report, fostered by the care and sus-
tanned by the pecuniary offerings of
their fellow citizens, the Saints led for
two years peaceful life of gentle ab-
sorption. To relieve them from the
embarrassing appearance of eleemosy-
nary receipts-an embarrassment felt
more by the giveTs 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 a,S.fa S9f the
this time, it was easily attributed to this
undisciplined aid, and the boys them
selves were always ready to make up the
value of 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-
tion of almoner of their bounties
was superadded. Here, unfortu-
nately, 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 private hands
of the brothers themselves, and the re-
mark "that the OF man was trying to
set an example-that he meant well, y
and that they would yet be thankful for
his jealous care and economy. A few, I
| fnH fn of1o /,
than bring the old mans inirmity 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-
dance, the winters were singularly open,
and yet there was no drouth nor lack
of water, and peace and plenty smiled
on the Sierrean foothills, from their
highest sunny upland to the trailing
.faldG of wild oats and poppies. If a
certain superstition got abroad among
the other camps, connecting the fortunes
/ of Rough-and-R Ready with Daddy and
/ Nanny, it was q gentle, harmless
fancy, and was not, think, altogether
rejected by the old people. A certain
) large, patriarchal, bountiful manner,
t of late visible in Daddy, and the in
crease of much white hair and beard,
: kept up the poetic illusion, while
. Nanny, day by day, grew more and
more like somebody's fairy godmother.
An attempt was made by rival camp
/ to emulate these paying virtues of rever-
ence, and an aged mariner was procur-
ed from the Sailors Snug Harbor in
! San Francisco, on trial. But the unfort-
/ innate seaman was more or less diseased,
was not always presentable, through a
! weakness for ardent spirits, and finally,
: to use the powerful idiom of one of his
2 disappointed foster chi dren, cup and
r died in week, without singing airy
l blessin'."
s But vicissitude reaches young and old
alike. Youthful Rough-and- Ready and
the Saints had climbed to their meridian
together, and it seemed fit that they
4 should together decline. The first
shadow fell with the immigration tc
: Rough-and-R Ready of second aged pair
: The landlady of the Independence Hote
a had not abated her malevolence toward
/ the Saints, and had imported at consider
able expense her grand-aunt and grand
uncle, who had been enjoying for some
: years sequestered retirement in the
1 poor-house of East Machias. They
2 were indeed very old. By what miracle
t even as anatomical specimens, they mac
been preserved during their long jour.
/ ney was mystery to the camp. Ii
n some respects they had superior memo
t ries and "reminiscences. The old man
J, Abner Trix-had shouldered a musket
in the war of 1872, his wife, Abigail
, had seen Lady Washington.
= Whether it was jealousy, distrust OF
4 timidity that oI ercame the Saints, was
}, never known, but they studiously de.
q clined to meet the strangers. When di
rectly approached upon the subject
: Daddy Downey pleaded illness, KEEP
= himself in close seclusior, and the Sun
: day that the Trixes attended church il
!, the school-house on the hill, the triumph
6 of the Trix party was mitigated by the
q fact that the Downeys were not in theil
|, accustomed pew. "You bet that Daddy
n and Nanny is lying low jest to ketcl
d them old mummies yet," explained
= Downeyite. For by this time schisn
d and division had crept into the camp
|, the younger and later members of th,
!, settlement adhering to the Trixes, Will,
n the older pioneers stood not only loya
d to their own favorites, but even, in tn,
y true spirit of partisanship, began t.
+ seek for a principle underlying thei
# personal feeling. 81 tell ye what, boys,
It observed Sweetwater Joe, eff this yel
J.. camp is goin' to be run by greenhorns
a and old pioneers, like Daddy ant
g the rest of us, must take bacl
n seats, it's time we emigrated ant
a showed out, and TUX Daddy will
us. Why, they're talkin' of rotation il
d offiss and of putting that skeleton tina
j. Ma'am Decker sets up at the table tx
l. take her boarders' appetites away-intt
,, the post office in place O. Daddy" And
# indeed, there were some fears of such
o conclusion; the newer men of Rough
It andReady were in the majority, an(
8 welded more than equal influence O
n wealth and outside enterprise. "Fris
o co, as the Downeyite bitterly remarked
/, "already owned half the town." TIL,
n old friends that rallied around Dadd,
l. and Nanny were, like most loyal friends
d in adversely, in bad case themselves, anC
| were beginning to look and act, it wal
o observed, not unlike their old favorites
At this juncture Nanny died.
IS The sudden blow for flew days seemed
Is to reunite discovered Rough-and- Ready
d Both factions hastened to the bereave(
It Daddy with condolements, and offers o
y aid and assistance. But the old maj
y received them sternly. A change hat
Is come over the weak and yielding octo
= genarian. Those who expected to fine
4 1, -. i. l..