Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-03-29
The ProdigaI Son.

Tue superin endent Of a Sunday
| school out in the Black Hills tap.
pen9d 10 be visiting some friends il
Brooklyn, and, on invitation, attended
the school service Of one u the popu-
lar Methodist churches. Invited tC
address the children, he declined at
first, but finally consented, aud to il
lustrate the welcome OF the sinner tC
repentance related the following anec-
dote:
II reckon most o you young ones
have hearn about thet old Teller in
Egypt. which was we'll fixed fer kids.
The old man Was heeled clear 10 the
| neck and thar wasn't a dip nor a spur
he WASH / onto, and you bet he had
his squar dose o sheers in every pay
dirt claim on the divide. He was a
good old man, straight as a rife bar'l,
and without knot, rot, or Woodpecker-
hole from root to crows nest. For a
long time he had been full owner Q, an
eighty stamp mill. and travellers in
them parts seen the smoke rising from
the chimney pretty steady, aud they
knowed quartz was grinding and dust
was good. Thar wasn't no funny bust
ness about the old man. He knowed
prime wash from salt by the color, and
it warn't long afQrs the boys quit steal
ing his mules and set right down to the
levels and picked for trade. They
knowed he'd straddle any blind, but
he dealt fair and they respected him.
Well, children, the old man banked a
heap . agartz. He had a big ranch,
and the sheep on it was as thick as
miners tents. Thar vas antelope and
prairie chickens, and jack rabbits, end
black tail deer till you couldn't rest.
And thar was lots of wheat and a big
shack, built O. logs, with a parlOF in
one end. Now, / tell you, that thar
old man was fixed up to the trap, and
don't you forget nothing. But one O.
his sons was kind O. restless. He
wanted foF 20 prospect for himself.
The old man give him the racket
straight from the hip told him not to
make a dog-gone fool Of himself stay
where he was. Thar was more money
in a stamp mill than there was in
mines. and he advised the kid to 10
cate right thar. Why, children, tibet
thar old man knew FROM the first sour
tibet the short didn't have Nv sSoy,
even for tailings. and what's tailings,
even il he played to win, to a squar
divide on the regulgr wash?
but the kid wanted long grass,
and so the old man started him, and
gave him his blessing, and told him
for to always deal level with the table
and never let a man get his elbow be-
hiId his kidney on him, and so the
boy got away. Fixed straight to his
hair. All the dlst he wanted. Best
advice a boy ever got. What do you
thipk he did, He went broke. ]
never kpeY whether he got into a
game whar thSy played straights, or
whether some fellow hsld over him on
a square deal, but he went 10 the
Bottom O. his sock and struck bed
rock. Clean up dead gone. The
yield didn't pas 2 cent a ton. Gulch
dried up. Dips crossed bis angles.
Blind leads fetched the only vein he
had, except0ns. but that he did1t
know Of HeWas digging for yellow
in black rock and couldn't see the
glory hal was waiting for him "a
assay and coin. Yes, you bet. Thar
tibet poor boy. without money enough
TO buy 2 box o matches, was driving
whar thar waspt even pyrite, while
al the sky was pouring PIT the best
eoloF eyer PANIED, and he couldn't Gel
onto IT, Wall thar was only one thing
to do. Prospecting vas Do use. Sc
be went down on a ranch e4d told the
ranchmen he'd keep the coyotes of lie
pigs. You know what an ornory
deyned thing a pig is. You've got to
kill hiEi apd smoke him and throw
him away before you can eat him,
and yet that thar Young nsn hived
FiEhk down with Them pigs ssd
drawed whep il vas his turn, and ifhe
got 4 fair hand o shucks he
was goose on his luck. B. neby the
racket got too stiff for him, and lac
kicked. He made up his mind that
he would fQck back to the mill and
strike the old man for agotber stake.
bid the old man 90 back on hi1i
Well, not for coinl Did he say b
wasn't hiring any neg bands, but tho
kid might get onto work at Hamilton
Hollow | reckon not. Says be
Put it hare. pard.' and he just fel
clean over him. Thet's style. Thet'l
trade from the origin. Tibet amt all
Thet thar old man fetched out a buak
skin trogssrs, and an antelope shirt