The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-10-13
GUPPY'S DAUGHTER.

L
"Thar goes old Guppy-Butcher Gnppy
Camps over yam in the gulch with his fam
lily. Live like dogs, the hull caboodle. Y
won't set eyes on q slouchier crowd be
Tween Redding Bar and Klamath"
Ny host, who was one Of the best.knowi
pioneers Of the pretty mining village o
Northern California to which trip TO
business and pleasure had called me
emptied his brier wood pipe on The ia
stone that Sc, ged ss doorstep 10 his cabin
and walked slowly down the path to thu
gate, which ssgged quite to the ground or
its leather hinges. 1 thrust handful O.
letters and papers into my pocket, and hnr
ried out from the pleasant shade Of the
grapevine arbor extending from the house
to the well. The loungers in front OF the
ealoon opposite took their hands out Of
their pockets, hitChed their tilted chairs back
TO more scientific angle, and turned hshy
EYES in the came direction. The black
smith suspended his task OF putting new
steel points on WORKOUT pick, and Stood
massiyely in the doorway, shading his face
with red aud hairy hand. Even the boys
picking apples In tine treetops, in the or
chard by the cleaning mountain river, saw
the nearing cloud OF dust, heard faint
sounds from beneath 1t, knocked of work
and began to speculate as to who or what
was approaching, for they could hardly see
through the bushes masses along the road.
Doubtless the children, droning over their
books in the brown school house standing
on the bedrock OF an exhausted gravel
mine, looked iutively out OF the windows,
and reported to their companions by look
and sign. Everybody at the Bar knew that
"0ld Guppy" was coming.
Down the sloping trail rode man and
boy, driving drove oil twenty-five or
thirty grunting aud contrary minded hogs.
The man with his high cheek bones, In.
dian expire. sion Of stolidity, long-grizzled
locks, cap OF fox skin, ar old shotgun laid
across his knee, aud the boy with bis tow
colored hair and prematurely old expires.
sion, seemed to belong to the traditional
backwoods Of hundred years ago. They
Kept their unruly charges well together,
and rode through the Town with averted
faces, hardly casting a glance to left or
right.
"Guppy, what's pork worth ?" shouted a
sandy. haired, bare.legged urchin, who sat
by the roadside dabbling with hands and
feet in the soft, brick-red dust.
The boy on horseback struck viclously
ct him with the long whip he carried, but
the urchin rolled down the'low bank and
under friendly bush Just in time to es-
cape the singing rawhide.tipped lash.
Neither father nor son spoke q word, but
they looked at the townspeople with I'M
disguised luminosity, and went on, soon
disappearing with their attendant cloud OF
dust over pine covered ridge toward the
west.
"Guppy's queerosity," said the chatty
pioneer. Buys his hogs an cattle en- the
coast. Drives them here an there, an
makes money every trip. Never spends
any. That's all right. Nobody's down on
him for not gamblin' nor settin' them up
for the boys, but look how he lives" Here
the usually good. :pioneer ngrew
excited. "You 20 matter Of fifteen miles
right north OF here, an you'll come on q
| little canyon, headin' outkinder circular. l,
| is the Freshest place you eyer cav. Bresh
| all acroPs the bottom an up the
mountain side, 90 you can walk on the top
Of the scrub oak an hazel bushes an man.
zanita, an stuff OF that sort. It's the all.
fred widest, forsaken section that lies out
doors. The only way up thar is along q
trail by the crick, an it's 80 high in winter
that unless you know Just how to take the
lord, whar to strike in an how to bear, an
whar ter cone out, down you go thirty mile
| into the klamath, like bowlder I'M fume.
An thar's whar Guppy keeps his family.
Been thar five or six years. Packs In his
grub, cuts wild hay on the fat, an the
crowd live In q tent-that boy an tive or
three grown up girls, an smaller smaller
children, an their mother. None Of them
ever wear shoes, an as little else as they
can help, an the women folks shoot deer
AM other game. Once the dogs trees q
California lion, an one Of the gtrls--Sal
thew cali her-tuck q ride an walked up
clost ter the tree an dropped him the fret
shot"
The old pioneer walked slowly back to
his cabin door, sat down and began filling
big pipe; s ,ho c,o,, family d.
not seem to be on very good terms" l said,
remembering how different the scene oil q
law minutes before IVES from the usual
lree.hearted, genial good will oil mining
campo. o,,,,
mo, guess not, yves the reply. "There'a
circumstances, sch ss misstn' calves an
hops-not that We accuse nobody. But my
wite's sorry for the girls. The biggest one,
Dosy, came over 10 our town an said she
" re- goin' ter school last summer, an had
found Q place ter stop at. Trustee Ryan
raised objections, but Jack Mason and me
voted them down. So the girl came. But
land. there couldn't no one do thi. 6 with
her. She didn't know but Just how to read
them Webster spellin' book stories, an she
syore like q trooper, an at recess one day
souared of with her fists to whip the girl
thst spelled her. down. She stayed two days,
andit couldn't be stood, no how. So
saw Mason, an we both dropped in on
RYAN, tellin' him we were not strenuous as
REGARDED the duppy question. An while
ne yas a,talkin' II over In B:lly's saloon
erops the way nchool let out, and down the
street comes Dcsy, with ten or q deg n
bows hootin' after her. She ketches up 8
fiye.pound rock. aungit right In among
them, grabs up another and scatters thu
crowd, an marches sasaly out oil sight
The next afternoon We went up to the
school an told her not TO come any more
All at once she sto.d up in erseat, an
eaid, very slow like:
adj hate you all. Ihate your inierna
town, I'll come back some night and burr
your old houses.' Then she caught up he
books, making 0 big racket, aud flung on
OF the door, Kicking over three or four 0
| the dinner pals In the entry. An sh'
went along the hillside 90 as not to q
through the town, an took the stra!gh