Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1884-09-12
miscellaneous.
THE LONG PACK.

High up among the hills, on the wag-
on road that runs through the Cascita
pass in California, is small tavern,
much frequented by commercial travel
ers, and which bears the odd title Of
"The Long Pack"
'Does that mean u long pack Of
cards :" inquired u traveller, glancing at
the swinging signboard, which also rep
resented the wcather-worn picture of
something resembling soldiers over
grown knapsack.
mo, replied the gray-haired land
lord. ut means u peddler's pack
Nowadays they call them sample cases
! believe" pointing to the baggage Of
several commercial drummers that stood
in corner. "You see | have good
deal of that sort Of custom. try TO
make the road boys as comfortable as
possible, for | was little hard on their
fraternity once"
'How was thatY
"Well," said the mountain Boniface,
who had waited until his daughter, a
buxom matron, had left the room, at
amt very pleasant story, but like to
tell it sometimes, just to remind myself
that the worst thing man can have in
this world is hot, obstinate temper. -
You see, came to this coast soon after
the gold fever broke out. and settled
down in the Santa Barbara valley, be-
low here, ranching. was a widower
even then, and had brought with me
from the States my only child--a daugh-
ter, past seventeen. She was u pretty
girl, if l do say it, and being as good
as pretty, you can imagine was quite
wrapt up in her. OF course, was anx-
ious to keep her with me, and il not
that, at least looked for her to do some
thing better than fall in love with ped
der"
And did she ?"
Eyes, you sec, in those days, the
country was full Of young fellows, who
had struck out for themselves and were
trying to get start by carrying knick-
knacks around from one mining camp to
another. Some Of them we're lively
chaps enough and well educated, but |
was fresh from the States with all the
prejudices, and it almost drove me wild
when Nellie told me she wanted 10 marry
young fellow who had brought his
pack through our district good deal
oftan.. .L.,, Az t,nJa ,aor. al ~ ,anu;,a
] was hot-tempered fool in those days.
so ! stormed, threatened, locked Nellie
up for week, and sent word 10 her
lover that I had loaded my gun for wild.
cats aud pcddlers."
"What did Nellie do 7"
"You might have guessed it, stran-
ger. One day when | came back from
a cattle sale she was missing. | chased
her a couple Of days, but they had taken
to the tall timber and it was no use.
After u while | got letter from Frisco,
and | wrote back saying that | disowned
her, and that he had better keep out Of
the range of my deer rifle"
What did you do then p
Suffered, mister--just suffered I
knew | was wrong, but I'd have died
rather than give in. For four years |
lived like toad in rock, hating tho
whole world All the pleasure | had
was in watching for poddlers. The
number chased off the ranch during
that time would astonish you. One even
ing, after terrible rainstorm, one Of
the tribe camo to my house and asked
for shelter for the night. lie was thin,
weak-looking fellow, with his face COW
cred by huge, ragged board. He car
ried on his back an enormously long and
heavy pack, and seemed so exhausted
with bis tramp through the mirc that |
hadn't the heart to d9f more than order
him of the place"
"That was pretty gard," said the lis
tener.
"Well, | suppose ii was. The peddler
seemed all broke up when he found |
wouldn't even gif > him bunch Of straw
in the stable, an no other house within
twelve miles nstcad of complaining,
however, he wcrely begged that l would
let him loavaJ his pack, which he said
contained goyds Of value, under shelter
from the fin finally consented to
this. SO, rs had sworn one Of his
trade shof II never cross my threshold, |
carried Us pack inside, while its owner