The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1884-01-31

great iron handle or lever OF the brak
on his first wagon, his team will grad
ually stop. Now he steps out int
the sage brush in front of you, set
the point Of his whip stock CAREFUL.
in the fork of bush, builds his arm
one on top of the other upon the but
of the stock, shoyes his hat to th
back of his head, and says:
"We-e-ll. the roads nuther gooc
nur bad. Hits about from tollabl
to middlin'. Seen wuss an seen bet
ter"
"How's the alkali fat?''
"Well, yer know thar's two alkal
flats tween yer'n Austin. The frs
ones a little waxy, an t'other'n s
little waxy, too"
"Will our horses sink down in th'
flats so as to impede-that is, so tina
we cannot get out?"
30, hi, no. Only hard pullin' an
slow, hot work-sockin through tht
stiff mud. | he'd to uncouple an drol
all my trail wagons, an pull an hol
ler an punch round at both O. then
flats fer two days, till my cattle looks
like the devil; but you kin go right
along, only slow, though-very slow
The rest O. the roads all right-nt
trouble"
"Thank you"
you're welcome. But, [ say, tel
me-I'm out now about two weeks
what's the news? Hev they caught
them stage robbers?"
''No; they were not caught wher
we left Hamilton" l."
"D-n 'em! Hev ye any newspa,
pers? I'd like to hev somethin' to
read when I'm campin' out on the
road-a feller gets mons'ous lone
some"
By this time you have hunted out
of your traps all the newspapers and
parts Of newspapers and passed them
over to him.
THANK ye. Git up, Brigham! Gee,
Beecher!" The loosened lever of the
brake clanks back in its ratchet, the
oxen slowly strain to the yokes, the
great wagons groan to the Tightening
chains.
"Good-by."
"So-'long."
And the slow dust-cloud moves on
ward, musical with the strong voice
encouraging "Beecher" and BRIG
ham," on the lead, to stifen their
necks under the yoke, as bright eX-
ample to the entire train.
You, passing on your way, say to
yourself, or companion; what a
fine face and head that rough fellow
has; with what relish that full, wide
forehead must take in a good story,
or survey a good dinner; what love
for the sublime and the ridiculous
there must be in the broad high crown
Of that skull which Is so full at the
base! Why, the fellow has a head
like Shakespeare, and a front like
Jove! What pity to waste so grand
man in Ignorance among rocks and
oxenw All of which may be a good
and true regret; but you must not for
get that nature knows how to sum-
mer-fallow her own rare products.
You will please to understand that
Mr.. Small is his own master, as we'll
as master and owner Of that long
string Of wagons and oxen; and that
train, which slowly passes you, is la
den with perhaps every conceivable
variety Of valuable articles, worth in
the aggregate thousands Of dollars,
for the safe conveyance thereof, over
a road hundreds of miles long, the
owners have no security but a receipt
signed John Small" It is safe to
say that nothing but the "act of God
or the public enemy" will prevent the
sure delivery of the entire cargo-a
little slowly, but surely.
I do not think you will get just
idea of Big Jack Small and the men
of his profession, who are very nume-
rous in Nevada, without I tell you
that the sage brush ox-teamster sell
dom sleeps in house-does not often
sleep near house-but under his great
wagon, wherever it may halt, near the
valley spring or the mountain stream
His team is simply unyoked, and left
to feed itself, until gathered up again
to move on, the average journey being
eight miles per day-some days more
than that, some less.
Twice a day the teamster cooks for
himself, and eats by himself, in the
shadow cast by the box of his wagon
Each evening he climbs the side of
his high wagon-very high it some
times is-heaves his roll of dusty bed
ding to the earth, tumbles it under the
wagon, unbinds it, unrolls it, crawls
around over it on his hands and knees
to find the uneven places and punch
them little with his knuokles or
boot-heel, and-and-well, his room
is ready and his bed is aired. If it is
not yet dark when all this is done, he
gets an old newspaper or ancient
and, lighting his pipe, lies
upon his back, with feet up, and la
boriously ahsorhs its meaning. Per-
haps he may have one or more
teams in company. In that case, the
leisure time is spent smoking around
the fire and talking OK, or in playing
with greasy cards game for fun. But |
generally the ox-teamster is alone, or
accompanied by Shoshonee Indian,
whose business it is to pull sage brush |
for fire where pine wood is scarce.
and drive up the cattle to be yoked.
In Jack Small's train there is usual
ly an Indian, though you may not al
ways see him, as sometimes, when the
team is in motion, he is off hunting
rats, or away up on top Of the wagon
asleep; but at meal time he is visible, |
sitting about the fire, OF standing with |
his legs crossed, leaning against a
wagon wheel.
The early training of Mr. John
Small, having been received while fol-
lowing the fortunes Of his father in
that unruly Western quest-the search
after cheap rich land, had been carried
forward under various common
as his parent moved from
SLa4a L. S4aLo oG o,,,. IIn:o,a Oh &c |