The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-03-07
JIMMY"
by BRET IIARTE.

BY BRET HARTE.
| think that the few who were per
mited TO know and love the object O
this sketch, spent the rest Of their day,
not only in an attitude of apology fol-
having at first failed to recognize hen
higher nature, but of remorSe That they
should have ever lent credulous ear Il
Gp'io1i tradition concerning her family
characteristics. She had not escaped
that calumny which she shared with the
rest of her sex, for those youthful follies.
levities and indiscretiOns which belong
to immaturity. 1t is very probable that
the firmness that distinguished her ma
turer will in youth might have been taken
for obstinacy, that her nice discrimina-
ton might at the same period have been
taken for adolescent caprice, and that
the positive expression of her quick in
tellect might have been thought youth
full impertincnce before Ter years had
won respect for her Judgment.
She was fOaled at Indian Greek, and
one month later, when she was brought
over to Sawyer's Bar, was considered
the smallest donkey ever seen in the
Foot Hills. The legend that she was
brought over in one of I" Dan, the Quartz
Crusher's," boots required cOrrobora-
ton from that gentleman; but his denial
being evidently based upon q masculine
vanity regarding the size of his foot
rather than desire to be historically ac-
curate, it went for nothing. 1t is
certain that for the next two months
she occupied the cabin of Dan, until,
perhaps, incensod at this and other
scandals, she one night made her way
out. - hadn't the least idee wot.woz
COMM" said Dan, " but about mid
night / seemed to hear hail onto the
roof, and shower of rocks and stones
like to blast started in the canyon
When l got up and struck a light, thar
was suthIn' like onto cord o kindlin'
wood and splinters whar she'd stood
asleep, and a hole in the side o. the
shanty, and-no jimmy! Lookin' at
them hoofs o. hern-and mighty porty
they is to look at, tOo-you would al
low she could do it," / fear that this
performance laid the foundation of her
later infelicitous reputation, and per-
haps awakened in her youthful breast a
misplaced ambition, and an emulation
which might at that time have been di-
verted into a nobler channel. For the
fame of this juvenile performance-and
its possible promise in the future
brought at once upon her the dangerous
flattery and attention of the whole camp
Under intelligently directed provocation
she would repeat her misguided exercise
until most of the scanty furniture Of the
cabin was reduced to a hopeless wreck,
and sprains and callosites were devel-
oped upon the limbs of her admirers
Yet even at this early stage of her his
tory, that penetrating intellect which
was in after years her dominant quality
was evident to all. She could not be
made to kick at quartz tailings, at a
barrel of Boston crackers, or at the head
or shin of " Niger Pete" An artistic
discrimination economical her surplus
energy. "Ef you'll notis," said Dan,
with large parental softness, "she
never lets herself out to Onct like them
mules or any jackass ez I've heerd of,
but kinder holds herself in, and, so to
speak, takes her bearings-sorter feels
round gently with that off foot, takes
her distance and her rest, and then with
that ar foot hoverin' round in the air
softly, like an angels wing, and gen
tie, dreamy kind o. look in them eyes,
she lites out! Don'tye, jimmy? Thar!
list ez told ye," continued Dan, with
an artists noble forgetfulness of self,
rs he slowly crawled from the splintered
ruin of the barrel on which he had been
sitting. Thar! did We ever see the
likel Did We dream that all the while l
was talkin' she was a meditatin' that?n
The same artistic perception and no.
BILE reticence distinguished her bray. 1t
was one of which a less sagacious ami
NAL would have been foolishlv vain or
ostentatiously prodigal. 1t was con-
tralto of great compass and profundity
reaching from low G. TO high C-per-
haps a tride stronger in the lower regis
ter, and not altogether free from a ma
sal falSetto in the upper. Daring and
brilliant as it was in the middle notes,
it was perhaps more unsteady remark
able for its great sustaining power
The element of surprise always entered
into the hearers enjoyment; long after
any ordinary strain of human origin
would have ceased, faint echoes of jim
ny's last note were perpetually recur-
ring. But IL was rs an intellectual and
moral expression that ner bray was per-
feet. As far beyond her size were her
aspirations, It was free and running
commentary of scorn at all created
things extant, with ironical and sardon-
ic additions, that were terrible. 1t re-
viled all human endeavor, it quenched
all sentiment, it suspended frivolity, il
scattered reverie, it paralyzed action
1t was omnipOtent. More wonderful
and characteristic than all, the very ex,
istence of this tremendous organ was un
known TO the camp for six months after
the arrival of its modest owner, and on
" revealed TO them under circumstance
that seemed to point more conclusively
than ever to her rare discretion.
Ii was the beginning of a warm night
and the middle of heated political dis
cussion. Sawyer'S Bar had gathered in
force at the Crossing, and by the Ggh'
of fiarine pine torches, eheered and APP.
plauded the rival speakers who, from 8
rude platform, addressed tie excited
multitude Partisan spirit at that time
ran high in the Foot Hills; elimination
and recrimination, challenge, reply, &C
cusation, and retort had already in
famed the meeting, and Col. Bung
starter, after a whitening review of hi
opponents policy, eliminated with I
personal attack upon the career anC
private character of the eloquent ant
chivalrous Col. Culpepper Starbottle o
Siskyou. That eloquent and chivalrou
gentleman was known to be present; i
was rumored that the attack was expect