The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-05-20
An Episode of BidwolI's Bar.

I think it is Emerson who saws
"When you pay for your ticket, anC
get into the car, You have to CUES,
what good company you shall find there
You buy much that is not rendered il
the bill. have found this remark emf
nently true on several occasions, particu
larly when my lifelong friend Rutl
bears me company.
Ruth is the most unconventional OF
women. She travels, as she does every
thing else, with whole-souled earnest
ness, and finds bread where most people
could gather only stones. Thus, re.
Gently being in the rear car of the long
train, she preferred standing upon the
platform and drinking in at one draught
that magnificent valley through which
we seemed flying, than by tantalizing
sips, as one has to do from behind a
narrow car window.
followed her. l always do. And,
holding on to the narrow railing, we
felt somewhat like two lost comets
whirling through space, Soon the door
behind us banged, and a gentleman in
the midsummer of life, with face as
classically beautiful as Edwin Booths,
and waist of Falstaiian dimensions,
joined us. He beamed on us almost
literally. From the dimple in his fair,
soft chin to the ring of brown, silky
hair which lay upon his broad, smooth
forehead, the expression scintillatod
with intelligent good nature. Withal,
there was such a retrospective back
ground to the sunny brightness, that,
after few commonplaces, Ruth, tie
daring, honest, impudent creature, said,
looking up meanwhile into his face with
smile so honest and kindly that he
would have been q Berserker not to
have reflected it:
"Sir, permit me to remark that you are
physical incongruity."
"Not so bad as that, madam, hope.
am merely conductor, as by this
time you have discovered, and pretty
well-balanced one, independent of my
avoirdupois."
"But your thoughtful face, sir, that
is what perplexes me. 1t should belong
to body but one-third the weight OF
yours" suggested Ruth, the wise disci.
pie of Lavater.
"My face is all right" he replied,
stroking his cheeks and chin with an air
of marvellous self-complacency. at
stopped growing ten years ago, but it is
here, here, touching the region of his
diaphragm with the tip of his front fore
finger, "that contentment and my rare
good luck shows itself. Once 1 was as
thin as Peter Schemmeps shadow, and
he paused, looking into Ruth's clear
gray eyes as if he would sound her souls
depths-"I am strongly tempted to
tell you my bit of romance, for there is
a long stretch ahead, and you look like
one of the kind to enjoy a touch Of
nature. Isn't it so?"
The conductor had struck the very
keynote of our needs. We were piping
for veritable Californian story, told in
an unconventional way, outside the well.
read romances of Bret Harte and the
Argondmj to be told, too, under such
peculiar circumstances would be an
added spice, and thus we besought him
to Immediately yield to temptation.
~ am an old stager," he said, cat
least as far back as the spring of 80.
With blanket strapped upon my back,
fifty cents in my pants-pocket and the
biggest stock of hope and untried energy
that ever made lads heart rs light as
balloon, I tramped along here in my
search for the gold diggings.' My am.
bition was higher than those buttes
yonder by thousands of feet, and the
top was to be capped with solid gold"
pointing as he spoke to the three sin
gular and isolated peaks we were Just
then passing, known as the Marysville
Buttes, whose volcanic heights looked
as inaccessible to us as their peaks
seemed brown and barren.
at appears to me- said Ruth, meas.
uring the almost PERCEPTIONS sides of
those lofty and mysterious hills, "that
when man aspires to touch the sky he
would want q higher guerdon than mere