The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1881-05-12

IN wild prOfusion, 0ftimes strolled
to the gulches. when she would
shake hands with the miners, call
many Of them by name, and say bright and
cheering words which were valued far above
the sparkling sands they were gathering.
Often could she be seen wandering alone
among the grand old forests, or seated upon
the trunk of some fallen tree, making bou-
quets Of wild flowers, or dreaming hours
a"ay amid the balsamio odors that made
the air sweet with fragrance. Sometimes
sweet and clear as the meadow lark in the
morning, and as the notes vibrated through
the still air, the men at work far away would
stop to listen, and some of them raised
their hats in loving reverence until the song
ceased. The miners felt her presence as
benediction, and her artless confidence in
their protection and sympathy, made them
proud Of her, and added a new dignity to
their hospitality. Men whoknev and cared
nothing for the Bible, to whom the story of
Bethlehem was myth, the plan of saliva
ton an old fable, knew she prayed, that her
life was holy, that whatever she did was
sacred from criticism and must be respect
ed accordingly.
Three children were born to her, and af-
ter few years Of cloudless happiness she
was taken suddenly ill and the com munity
were startled with the news of her death.
Dead in the prime of her womanhood, and
the ripeness of her beauty. Dead in the
midst of her usefulness and loneliness.
Dead when her stricken family needed most
her gracious care and affection. Dead just
at the time when the world around her was
most attractive, and it's joys most dear.
Dead at the moment life was most precious.
Her loss nearly deprived her husband of
reason, and for years he could not hear her
his children in the care of their grandparents,
and returned, a lonely and broken hearted
man, to California.
Among his earliest acquaintances at the
mines, was huge, powerful man, known
as Goliath Jack. Nature had endowed him
with herculean strength, great power Of en-
durance, mighty frame, and head and
main that would have graced lion. Sim
pie hearted as child, guileless in dispo-
sition, never quarrelsome except when in
liquor, industrious by turns, and spend
thrift and debauchee in days of idleness,
devoted to gaming, a dead shot, brave to
recklessness, ignorant of books or moral
obligations, ugly when cross, tender and
generous when moved by tales of distress
or suffering, he was by turns the terror and
protector Of the camp. He boosted that he
always played fair, never took advantages,
did all things on the squire, stood no non
sense, knew when he was we'll treated,
could spot sneak on sight and allowed no
man to play off any airs on him. He loved
home where nature was grandest and only
the beasts and birds his companions. Yet
he had been known to carry lost child all
until he had bestowed it to its parents,
and bearing it's fretfulness and
impotence with the tenderness
of woman. In the early history of the
camp some adventurers, misled by his
quiet ways and inoffensive manners, tricked
and cheated him, but they paid the penalty,
either with their lives or sh altered limbs,
and experience had demonstrated that eco
Hath Jack" was an awkward man in a row,
and he was left to pursue his way unmo-
Tested. AS friend of the Alcade, he had
oeen introduced to his wife. and h ad she
been a white winged angel direct from
Paradise. she could not have been more of
a surprise and wonder. On one occasion
she shook hands with him and laid her lit
tie white hand confdentially in the heavy
paw of the giant. 1t seemed snow fake
lying for an instant on the black mountain.
But Jack trembled all over. After she had
gone, he was seen gazing thoughtfully at
his hand, and finally he put it slowly and
reverently to his lips. AS he did so he ex-
claimed, "Durn my skin if it don't smell
exactly like clover blossoms" When he
heard she was dead he simply remarked,
II allus allowed that woman had nc bust
ness here; she kinder looked as though she
was waitin' to light out for sudden. Natur
never had no grub good enough for her.
When Ned returned to the camp months
afterwards he went to visit the trunk of an
old tree which was a favorite resort of his
wife, and found it covered with trailing
vines and beautiful flowers, growing in rich
profusion. Nobody openly alluded to the
change, but it was quietl understood that
Jack had taken her old seat under his pr
lection, and any allusion made Of it would
not be received with favor by that GENTLE
man.
few years afterward our friend Ned re-
moved to New York, and babe final adieu
to his California life and comrades.
In 1856, business called him to Wash
ington, and while there he received a
strangely worded telegram calling him di-
rectly to a hotel at Baltimore, signed by
Goliath Jack. He at once obeyed the sum-
mons, and going to the room Of his old
friend, found him stretched at full length in
bed, suffering apparently from serious sick
ness. He evidently had not long been i'll,
for his giant frame was in the ripeness of
manly vigor, and no signs of decay could
be seen in his bearded face, or
muscular neck and shoulders. His
night shirt was unbuttoned at the
nock ar1 his huoo hroaSt fnrro6 like that
of a bison, was exposed to view. His great
hands were moving restlessly about, and
the whole air of the man indicated impa-