The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-07-01
BAKERS CAT.
IN MARK TWAIN.

Speaking Of sagacity, reminds me Of
Dick Baker, pocket miner OF Dead
horse Gulch. Whenever he was out Of
luck and a little down-hearted he fell
to mourning over the loss of wonder
full cat he used to own (for where wo-
men and children are not, men of kind
ly impulses take up with pets, for they
must love somcthing). And he always
spoke of the strange sagacity Of that
cat with the air Of man who believed
in his secret heart that there was some
thing human about it-maybe, even
supernatural.
I heard him talking about this ami
NAL once. He said: Gentlemen, l
used to have Il cat here by the name of
Tom Quartz, which you'd u took an
interest in, reckon-most anybody
would. 1 had him here eight year
and he was the remarkablest cat 1 ever
see. He was large gray one, of the
Tom specie, aud he had moro hard,
nat'ral sense than any man in this
camp-and power of dignity-he
wouldn't let the Gov'nor Of California
be familiar With him. He never ketch-
cd a rat in his life-'peared to be above
it. He never cared for nothing but
mining. He knowed more about min
ing, that cat did, than any man ever
yet see. You couldn't tell him nothing
about placer diggings-and as for pock-
ct mining, why he was just born for it.
off
Jim when we went over the hills pros
pecting, and he would trot along be-
hind us for as much as five miles, if
we went so far. And he had tho best
judgment about mining ground-why
you never see anything like it. When
around, and if he didn't think much
of the indications he would give a
look, as much AS to say: We'll, I'll
have to get you to excuse me;' and
without another word he'd hyste his
nose into the air and shove for home.
But if the ground suited him he would
lay low and keep dark till tho first pan
was washed, and then he would side
up and take look, and If there was
about six or seven grains Of gold he
was satisfied-he didn't want no better
prospect m that-and then he would
lay down on our coats aud snore like
steamboat till we'd struck the pocket,
and then get up and superintend.
"WelI, by and by up comes this
quartz excitement. Everybody was
into it; everybody was picking and
blasting, instead of shovcling dirt on
down shaft, instead of scraping the
surface. Nothing would do Jim but
we must tackle the lodges too, and so
we did. We commenced putting down
q shaft, and Tom Quartz began to won
der what in the dickens it was all
about. He hadn't ever seen any min
ing like that before, and he was all up
set, as you may say. lie couldn't come
to right understanding of tit was
too many for him. lie was down on
it, too, you bet-he was down ON it
powerfui-and always appeared to con-
slider it the cussedest foolishness out.
"But that cat, you know-he was
always ngin new tangled arrangements
somehow he never could abide 'cm.
| You know how it is with old habits.
But by and by Tom Quartz began to
| get sort of reconciled Il little, though
he never could altogether understand
that eternal sinking Of a shaft and nov
err panning out anything. At last he
got to coming down in the shaft him
self, to try to CIPHER it out. And when
he'd get the blues, and feel kind O.
scurvy, aggravated and disgusted-
knowing, as he did, that the bills were
running up all the time and we wern't
making Il cent--he would curl up on a
gunny sack in the corner and go to
sleep. Well, one day when the shaft
was down about eight feet, the rock got
80 hard that we had to put in Il blast
the first blasting we'd ever done
since Tom Quartz was born.
"And then we lit the fcu5 and clumb
out and got Off about fifty yartls-and
| for got and left Ton Quartz sound asleep
on the gunny sack. In about minute