The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-07-12

=" had reached the climax of renun-
citation and wretchedness-or rather my
expression of it-when he suddenly rose
and went out. soon heard him paw
ing and scratching and tearing the earth
about six feet from me, as though he
was under contract to dig tunnel to
China before daylight. Thinking he
had found the burrow of wolf or fox,
called him Off but he was as deaf rs
rock to my voice. Selling the candle
hurried to the spot, around which lay
halfbushel of gravel, which he had
loosened, when my eye caught the
gleam of a dull read streak that stained
a quartz about the size of an egg, lying
among the fresh earth. Would syou
believe 1t? That streak was worth fifty
dollars, for it was virgin gold Nor was
1T the only one upon the hillside. Fritz
had found a lode thanks to gopher,
and l, thereby, had found fortune. AS
soon as possible had the gold of that
first precious stone wrought into u ring
of my own designing all of it, at least
the contents of but one blunt corner,
which, in native roughness, 1 mounted
as a simple brooch. Sending these to
Jennie L"
San act of great generosity, sir, L
Think interrupted Ruth, with laugh
ing CLINT in her eye. lone would have
thought you'd have preserved such
piece of rare good fortune as a memorial
stone.'
" You anticipated me, madam. 1t
was as memorial that L sent my first
bit of treasure, but i expected to get it
back at the end of two years, and the
girl with it"
"And did your"
" No; nor even received line of
acknowledgment that my offer had been
accepted. Nothing finds gold quicker
than gold when a man has once got a
fair share of it, and in two years / had,
in various ways, secured twenty thou
sand dollars. Investing it, as thought,
safely, / returned to Philadelphia in all
the pride of conquering hero. My
story ought to end here wind up with
the chime of wedding bells and "a beau
tiful Rachel as my reward for faithful
serving, but 1 had scarcely arrived
when heard accidentally that Jennie
had gone with her father to Europe.
nor left one sign that she had ever
remembered me.'
" You certainly did not let that fact
dampen the ardor of your pursuit."
queried Ruth; 'you followed her, of
course 2"
"Of course l did no such thing,
madam. L returned to San Francisco
and plunged into the excitement of gold
hunting with u recklessness that a
woman cannot understand. Six months
after had lost every dollar, but, by
that time, / had learned that experience
is worth nothing as solid capital until
it has been dearly bought. / whistled
my rhyme:
Loss and gain, pleasure and pain
Balance the see-saw of life.
in the sensitive ears of my faithful
Fritz, Rugged his brown head close to
my shoulder-don't laugh, that dog was
my friend-rolled up my sleeves and
again went to work with u vigor that 1
knew meant success if the vein held
out. 1t did, and five years afterwards
had bank account which ran largely
into the thousands. l invested it in
land. Hard knocks and my big disap-
pointment had shaken all the romance
out of me, and when again went East
it was on business connected with the
construction of this railroad"
"And you had quite lived out your
boyish fancy, as your heart began to
lose its youth asked Ruth, with the
least bit of cynicism in her tone.
" L think Fritz knew" said the con-
ductor quietly. 81 had become almost
a misanthrope for his sake. If l left
him to so into society-such as we had
for few hours, he either whined like
a sick child or kept up such an incessant
barking and baying that, to save him
from being shot as nuisance, went to
no place where it was impossible for
him to accompany me. The old fellow
went with me even TO New York, and
on the journey l often found myself
cogltating as to how he--born in a
wilderness of wild mustard, and as fond
of camp-life as an Indian-would take
to the constraints of an old city. Well,
had not been in New York a week
before there was strong tugging at my
heart to run down to PhiladelphiaA. Not
that it was home for me, for my parents
hnd lil,d LIE. L l.. 4 o.. L