The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1881-08-12

Mith blanket strapped upon my back,
nity cents in my pants p6csst and the
biggest stock of hope and unused ener-
gy that ever made lads heart as light
as balloon, tramped along here in my
search for the gold diggings. My
ambition was higher than those buttes
yonder by thousands of feet, and the top
was to he capped by solid gold, point
ing as he spoke to the three singular and
isolated peaks we were Just then passing,
known as the Marysyilie Buttes, whose
volcanic heights looked as inaccessible to
us as their peaks seemed brown and bar
rem.
1T appears to me, said Ruth, meas.
urlng tile most precipitous sides OF those
lofty and mysterious hills, "that when
man aspires to touch the sky he would
want higher guerdon than mere gold,
not, however, that l hold the metal in
contempt,
u had, madame, and that was the
whole matter ] was desperately In
lose-that was a solemn fact, expressed
IN as few words as possible-and | be-
Heye that she loved me, but the top of
Mt. Shasta was not more unattainable
to me than Jennie Her father. an old
Philadelphia druggist, had monty, and
had none, He Was as proud as Incl
Ter, and as ambitious for his daughter as
ne was proud. I felt that | could move
mountain, il | could find mountain
to move; 80 Jennie and / said goodbye
one afternoon Under an old oak in Fair
mount lark, and in the very depths Of
my heart ! believed that she would
be true to me. It was not d Sc
we're seven days ride in palace car
from New York 10 San Francisco in
those days, and thetall, slendef, hungry
penniless lad who ttamped along here
twenty-nine years ago, seeking his for
tune like another Dick Wilmington,
was n weary and homesick one as we'll.
"By here, which you have twice
used, do you mean this vefitable Valley
Of the Sacramento?e said Ruth
'Ihe very same. Ny objective point
was place now famous ii The annals of
that period, called 'Bidwell's Bar on
account Of rich bar in the Feather
discovered by General Bidwell. The
place was many miles from me: the
country was thinly settled / did not
know a soul (for even tramps were scarce
in those early days., and so my courage
and my legs gave out together, Pulling
off my boots about . o'clock one sultry
day, I barred my blistered feet to the
cool evening breeze, and, creeping into
a clump Of young ma.lzanitas, fell
asleep, hoping that would never awake
again this side Of the stars. did, how
ever, conscious that my toes were being
licked in a gentle fashion, and discovered
that it was being done by brown setter
dog, about as hungry-looking d.gener-
ally dilapidated as | was myself.
"Where he came from never knew,
but, looking into his half-human eyes,
we speedily entered into sort Of dumb
compact to trudge on together. / found
that the poor fellow q never could call
him brute) had sore knee, inAamed
md bleeding. tore strip off from my
last handkerchief to bind it up, and, IN
place Of the Good Samaritan's oil and
vine, gave him my last scrap Of cold
bacon. 1t is strange, but forlorn as /
was in those days, recall them with
tender pleasure almost unaccountable.
II had been raised Brahmin ] would
have believed that some immortal spirit
Of unfajing cheerfulness and unending
resources was imprisoned in that dogs
body. Did you ever read the fairy le-
gend of the White Cat, who, after
she had persuaded the young
Prince, her lover, to cut off her
head and tail and throw them in the fire,
suddenly stood before him woman, as
fair as Aurora. Fritz, for that was the
name by which / called the dog, looked
at me with Jennies brown eyes,
half roguish, half thoughtful, and to-
gether we resumed our journey. Nor
would I have followed in the wake Of the
young Prince, even had | known the re-
suit would have been similar, for Fritz,
the dog, was invaluable just as he was.
All lonesomeness was gone now that he
rarely left my side, and, although our
shadows had grown less by the time we
reached the bar, our immaterial entities
were in prime order for everything IN the
shape of adventure Have never seen
any gold dug. Then I'll not at this late
day spoil yorr first impressions of a min
ers camp by describing mine as ] APP
preached Bidwell's Bar. | may say,
though, that one might have supposed
an earthquake or tornado had been there,
tearing up the hundreds OF thousands OF
cubic feet that had been moved and re-
moved by mortal hands in their frantic
and persistent search for gold.
'The bar was q world in miniature.
Almost every nationality was there repre-
scented, and almost every feature of hui
man kind but humanity. Armed with o
pick pan and shoYel, 1, like hundreds Of
others, began to dig and burrow and
wash dirt. But my labor and its results
would not balance, for somehow my lit
tie leather bag Of gold dust got nc
heavier, toll as 1 would. Wages being
good, L stopped digging and hired my
self as a camp-scullion. / did every kind
Of iobbing within the range of miners
wants. Washing dirty flannel shirts anC
cottons overalls, patching leather trou
sers and cooking fapjacks is not th'
most dignified and flower r-strewn path t.
| fortune, you must know; and to bo.
whose ideas of chivalry, independence
and deeds Of knightly valor we're purel,
and intensely Byronic, such fate yo1
rnnst acknowledge, was a sort of poetl