The Red Cloud chief., 1880-12-16

or camps ara
route from Car
.famento. and thou
3nnd army stopped and
loetunes there. In the
10 tie County of FL Dorado
egycater population than
pctoo04 or Sacramento. nine
IL being engaged at placer
Fas no organized civil Govern
he American plan till the 18th
D<ember, 1919. when Peter II.
nett was elected Governor and John
PcDougall Northumberland
Among the Argonauts chivalrous re-
spect for woman was carried TO the ut
most extremity, and often to the lndi-
crous; as q single instance viii explain
In the spring and summer of 1850 some
two hundred miners. nearly all Ameri-
cans, were working on n OF the many
'.dry creeks in the foothills, forty
five to fifty miles to the eastward OF the
Sacramento valley. They were do
ing we'll" that is, those who orked
faithfully ten or eleven hours a day
were making from $l6 TO $50. out OF
which they had TO pay exp~enses--say
three TO four dollars a day-for veal
and tear OF tools, clothes. board, medi-
cines, ETC.. every miner in those times
washing his own shirts and undercloth-
ing, which were Of gray. blue or red
flannel. They lived in cabins by groups
Of twos, threes, tours and iives. One
day a cart, to which a single old cow
was harnessed, drove up 10 the trading
post in the neighborhood. A s~louchy-
looking Pike" was the driver. In the
curious craft sat a very plain-looklng
and sadly-dejected woman, holding in
her lap an infant child. In less than
fifteen minutes a crowd OF fifty or sixty
young men collected about the cart.
Most of them had not seen a woman
for six months. Eager inquiries were
showered upon the strangers: What
are you going to do?" "Where are
you FROM" Twill you not stop here?
If you will we will build you a house,
furnish it, set you up with a supply
of grub, and all come and board
at your house." The offer was
gladly accepted, with such rude
thanks as honest ignorance Ear master.
In less than six months after this event
Pike" his wife and baby departed
from that camp on a stage and six, and
in fine style, with a purse of $4,000.
They returned to the Western States,
and were never again heard of by their
benefactors. The slightest insult to a
woman was resented on the spot with
out regard to her character, education
or condition. The nan who cheated a
woman in his board or wash bill was
treated as a thief and driven out of
camp as a pariah. There are unrecord-
ed deeds of mercy and charity done in
those early days, the simple truth OF
which would shame all dramatic effort.
Mr.. and Mrs. - were among the
early arrivals by the Panama route.
They had opportunities of doing well ut
San Francisco and Stockton; but the
husband had started for "the mines,n
and, like thousands of others. he could
not be satisfied short of seeing them.
He possessed the instincts, education
and manners of a gentleman. The
wife, a delicate, warm-hearted, Intelli-
gent and very mOtherly little New En-
gland woman, was in all respects fit to
be the friend and companion of such a
man. They brought their only child
a girl of five or six years, as beautiful
as a fawn. and the life Of the family
circle, which was soon enlarged by
bearders. MIR. - was physically un-
| able to work i'm the mines. Mrs. -
| cheerfully supported him in his illness
panama fever), hoping for his ulti-
mate recovery, which never came.
Within n month or six weeks after his
arrival he died. and the Argonauts
kindly and tenderly laid him away
in his eternal rest. The brave
hearted wife attended to her
duties as usual, until one morning lii
tie Elias flushed cheek and languid ex-
preston indicated that she, too, was
wanted on the other side of the river.
Night and day the mother hung over
the fading form of her darling, alter
nately hoping, fearing, despairing.
And night and day the Argonauts
gathered about to cheer, comfort, assist
and encourage. At last the supreme
hour came, and the sweet little flower
that had delighted and humanized the
rough natures of so many homeless,
childless and Wireless men closed its
leaves and faded away into a memory.
With little Elias death the light OF
life persisted from the eyes and heart of
the mother. Her utter loneliness and
melancholy was sadder than death itself.
She was left in destitute circumstances.
The miners OWNED asmuch, and in less
than a fortnight after the burial of the
child the widowed mother was started
on her way back to her New
England home with $1,000 and a
through ticket in her purse. This is
but one instance of thousands. The
demands upon benevolence were fire.
quent and always pressing, but the Ar
gonauts, though their avarice must be
conceded, albeit among the meanest OF
passions, brought hearts with them
which on occasion could glow with all
the warmth of a California summer
sun.
1t has gone abroad with the brand OF
popular Endorsement that there is for
literature in the annals and traditions
OF early life in this State nothing worth
contributing but humor of the broadest
and lowest type. This is a grave mis-
Judgment of the case; and no man IA
miliar with the inner life of those times
will assent to it. There was, to be
sure, a humorous and a ridiculous,
mocking side to it; but by comparison
with the serious, earnest, dramatic side,
it is as the laughing rill to the mighty
river. Every camp. bar, ravine, which
has materially helped to swell the vol
ume of gold produced here since JAN
uary 10, 1S4S, has been the scene of a
tragedy, and no considerable civilized
State has ever, in so short a time,
yielded as large a harvest of blighted
hopes, broken hearts, crushed ambi-
tons and family ties severed as this.
Our humor, like that of the Fool" in
King Lear, in the main derives its in
SEPARATION from calamity, and has a
touch of the grim mockcry of a grim
ming skeleton. The s.North American
Pie-Biter," who is the hero of Mark
Twain's inimitable sJumping Frog
story, if the truth be told of him, had a
history as sad as the cry of a wounded
curlew.-S1n EuHcisc0 Cali
Bright POst.Ofice Clerks.
The ingenuity of Post-ofice clerks in
-