The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1881-08-21
ny BRET HARTE

He was not at all remarkable. He
was neither handsome nor distinctiyely
ugly. He was poor. He was not
smart. He Was not educated. lie was
8 man Of no account.
There must be always some of the
rank and file. however. and the man of
no account is, generally speaking, a
good foil TO set off brilliant, witty.
dissipat.d fellow. and euable us to
fnlfll our manifest destiny. The man
Of no account had 9 great reverence for
us. and when Rather and talked over
our adventures and our sue esses ~iih
the fair, he always liste'.ei in evident
admiration. as he ought His name
was Fagg- David Fagg such namel
He came to California in so with us.
in the Skyscraper. / don't think he
did il in an adventurous way. He
probably had no other place to go TO.
When knot of us young fellows would
recite what splendid opportunities we
resigned to 90. and how sorry orr
friends were to have US tesve home,
and show daguerreotypes and locks OF
hair. and talk Of Mary and Susan. the
man OF no account used to sit by aud
listen with o panied, mortified express
sion on his plain face. and say nothing.
l think he had nothing to say. lie
had no associates kept when we
patronized him; and, in point of fact,
he was good deal of sport to US He
was always sea1sick whenever we had
capfull OF wind. He never got his
sea legs on either. And I never shall
forget how we laughed when Rather
took him the piece of pork on q string.
apd-but you know that time honored
joke. Aud then we had such splen
did lark with bim.
Miss Fanny Twinker couldn't bear
the sight Of him. and we used to make
Fagg think that she had taken fancy
to him, and sent him little delicacies
and books from the cabin. You ought
to have witnessed the rich scene that
took place when hS came up. ssammer-
ing and very sick. to thank her
Didn't she fiash up, grandly. beausi-
fully and scornfully. So like " Me
dora." Rather said-Rstiie- knew BY.
ron by heart--and wasn't Fagg awfully
cut up. But he got over it. and when
Rather fell sick At Valparaiso. old Fagg
used to nurse him. You see he was o
good sort Of fellow but he lacked man-
lness and spirit.
He had absolutely no idea of poetry
I've seen him sit stolidiy by. mending
his old clothes when Rather delivered
that stirring spostrophe Of Byrons to
the ocean. He asked Rather, one
day. In a serious tone. il he thought
Byron was ever sea. sick. don't re-
member Rattler's reply. but know we
all laughed very much, aud have no
doubt II wassomething. for Rattler was
smart.
When the Skyssaper arrived at San
Francisco. We had q grand feed"
We agreed TO meet every year aud
perpetuate the occasion. OF course we
didn't invite Fagg Fagg was a steer
age passenger, and il WIS necessary,
you see, now we were ashore, 20 exer.
else little discretion. But Old Fagg
AS we called him-he was only ahout
twenty Ave years old by the way-was
the source Of immense amusement to us
that dAv. II appeared tha. he had
conceived the idea that ha could walk
to Sacramento, and actually started of
sfoot We had a good time and shook
bands with one another all around. and
so parted. An. me only % pears
ago, and ye. soma OF those hands then
clasped in nmity have been clenched at
each other. or have dipped furtively in
one another's pockets. I know that we
didn't dine together the next year. be-
cause young Barker swore he wouldn't
put his feet under the same mahogany
With such contemptibla scoundrel as
that Mixer; aud Nibbles, who borrowed
money OF young Stubbs, didn't IKE to
meet such people. 3
When | bought number OF shares
in the Cayote Tunnel st Mugginsville
in 81, thought I'd take . run up
there and see it. stopped at the EN-
pire Hotel. aud after dinner i got q
horse and rode round the town and out
to the claim. 0ne Of those individuals
whom Newspaper correspondents call
"our Intelligent informant and to
whom, in al email communities, the
right of answering questions is tacitiy
yielded, vas quietly pointed out tom me.
Habit had eua&ied him 10 work and
talk at the same time, and he never
permitted either. lie gave me hiss
tory Of the claim. and added:
Yon see, stranger" lie addresses
the bank before him. gold 10 sure to
come out 'er thai theer claim lhe puts
in . comma with his pick but the old
pro>pri e-tor fhe wriggsss ont the uord
ana the point Of his pickl were not OF