The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-04-12
BLOOMSBURY, PA, FRIDAY. April. l2. 1878.

be thankful for his Jealous care and econo-
my. A few, I think, suffered in noble si-
} lence rather tnan bring the old mans mfr
} nifty to 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 abundance, the
winters were singularly open, and yet there
was no drouth nor fack of water, and peace
and plenty smiled on the Sirrean foot hills,
from their highest sunny upland to the
trailing taldd of wild oats and poppies. Ifa
certain superstition got abroad among the
other camps, connecting the fortunes of
Rough and. Ready with Daddy and Nanny
it was a gentle, harmless fancy, and was not,
| think, altogether rejected by the old peo-
pie. A certain large, patrarchal, bountiiul
manner, of late visible in Daddy, and the
increase of much white hair and beard, kept
up the poetic illusion, while NANNY, day
: by day, grew more like somebody's fairy
, godmother. An attempt was made by ri
val camp to emulate these paying virtues of
reverence, and an aged mariner was procur-
ed from the Sailors Snug Harbor in San
Francisco, 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 power
- full idiom of one of his disappointed foster
4 children, cup and died in a week, without
;, sliuging ary blessin'."
t But the vicissitude reaches old and young
alike. Youthful Rough hand Ready and the
: Saints had climbed to their meridian to-
Y gether, and it seemed fit that they should
t together decline. The first shadow fell with
$ the immigration to Rough -and-Ready of a
second aged pair The landlady of the In
dependence Hotel had not abated her ma
j levolence toward the Saints, and had i'm
y ported at considerable expense her grand
e aunt and grand-uncle, who had been enjoy
= ing for some years a sequestered retirement
:, in the poor house of East Machias. They
o were indeed very old. By what miracle,
l even as anatomical specimens, they had been
=; preserved during their long journey was a
= mystery to the camp. In some respects they
e had superior mt mories and "reminiscences,
e The old man-Abner Trix-had shOudered
=? a musket in the war of 1912 his wife, Abi
/ gail, had seen Lady Washington. She could
Ir sing hymns; he knew every text between
'e "the leds" of Bible. There is little doub
l. that in many respects, to the superficial ant
j. giddy crowd of youthful spectators, the,
;. were the more interesting spectacle.
IL Whether it was jealousy, distrust or tim
l. ioity that overcame the Saints, was neve
lg known, but they studiously declined to NEE
h, the strangers. When directly approaches
t. upon the subject, Daddy Downey pleaded i'll
er ness, kept himself in close seclusion, and tn
g Sunday that the Trxes attended church i
~ the school-house on the hill, the triumph Q
the Trix party was mitigated by the fac
lie that the Downeys were not in their accus
1t toned pew. "You bet that Daddy sn
ty Nanny is lying.low jest to ketch them oil
ey mummies yet," explained Downeyite. Fo
no by this time schism and division had creE
he into the camp; the younger and later mem
Al bers adhering to the Trixes, while the olde
ed pioneers stood not only loyal to their oil
10 favorites, but even, in the true spirit of pa
, tisanship, began to seek for a principle III
ci. derlying their personal feelings. 81 tell y
ell what, boys" observed Sweetwater Jc
"if this yer camp is goin' to be run b
; greenhorns, and old pioneers like Dadd
hd and the rest of u.s. must take back seats, it
time we emigrated and showed out, and tu
'ia Daddy with u.s. Why, they're talkin of r
OF tation in offs and of putting that skeletC
lth that Ma'am Decker sets up at the table
not take her boarders appetite away Il
he postoflice in place O. Daddy" And, indee
be there were some fears of such a conclusion
,tly the newer men of Roupb-and- Ready were
TO the majority, and welded more than equ
was influence of wealth and outside enterpri
h's' Frisco, as Downeyite bitterly remark'
!. ALREADY owned half the town. The {
u!d friends that rallied around Daddy and Ma
TO my were, like most loyal friends in adv'
Tor sity, in bad case themselves and were
Der. ginning to look and act it was observed, l
ght unlike their old favorites.
'e At this juncture Nanny died.
SUI The sudden blow for few days seemed
''l reuuite disssvered Rough and Ready. Be
'o'' factions hastened to the bereaved Dad
with condoements, and offers of aid a
not assistance. But the old man received tn,
nry sternly. A change had come over the we
s aud yielding octogenarian. Those who t
tue pected to find him maudlin, helpless, disco
oi solate, shrank from the cold hard eyes a
ey truculent voice that bade them 'begol
YER and leave him with his dead. Even
Illu- old friends failed to make him respond
biil their sympathy, and were fain to contt
lous themselves with his cold intimation Il
'oh- both the wishes of his dead wife and
can own instincts were against sny display,
Vhe the reception of any favor from the cal
) o. that might tend to keep up the diyisir
oil they had innocently created. The refusal
'lhs' Daddy to accept any service offered was
non unlike him as to have but one dread
way meaning The sudden shock had turr
oil a his brain Yet so impressed were they W
2 IN his resolution that they permitted him
Las perform the last sad office himself, and o.
select few of his nearer neighbors assis
shed him in carrying the plain deal coffin FIR
ined his lonely cabin in the woods to the S
low lonelier cemetery on the hilltop. WI
ace. the shallow grave was filled, he dsmis
eye even these curtly, shut himself up in
,e of cabin and for days remained unseen. 1t
nent evident that he was no longer in his ri
ents, mind.
was His harmless alteration was accepted
'e.s' treated with degree of intelligent delic
laiiS hardly to be believed of so rough COM
d as nifty. Daring his wife's sudden and Sc,
went illness, the safe containing the funds
u'ed trusted to his care by the various benevo
iem- societies was broken into and robbed,
'he although the act was clearly attributabl
keep bis carelessness and pre.occupstion an a