The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-02-27
An Unknown Friend.

Half-Moon was a new mining camp in a
deep canon at the head waters of the Gun
nison. One of that adventurous class
known as prospectors had, in the fall
of 1881, wandered through that country,
following burro which bore upon its
back all his worldly wealth, and had
brought into winter quarters in the val
ley of Arkansas such promising specimens
of brittle and ruby silver that many, see-
ing them, were induced to 60 in the
spring to spy out the land. And 50 it
happened, on March night in 1882, that
a doz an camp-fres we're brightly burning,
q dozen tents were dimly outlined in the
shadows and openings of the stunted
pines, and forty or fifty men, in groups of
from three to six, were gathered around
the fires, smoking their evening pipes and
relating their wonderful finds of the year
before.
Among fifty men brought together from
every part of the world, in wild country,
by purpose born, to some extent at least,
of selfshness and greed, some are likely to
be found in whom brutishness FREEDOM
mates. There were several such in the
camp at Half-Moon.
The poets say that communion with ma
ture refnes and elevates the soul, and leads
men onward and upward toward natures
God. The poets are somewhat wrong.
The kindly spirit born and reared amid the
best influences of city home, where all
the surroundings are of a refining char
acter, will become kindlier and better as
the years 60 on while the dull man will
become duller, and the mean man meaner,
in the very presence and hush of nature.
At least it is sometimes SO, and it was so
with Bill Lewis.
He had seen nature in all her maj ssty,
moods, and aspects for more than thirty
years; had traversed the country from the
Missouri to the Pacific shore; lunched
on the highest SUBMITS, and camped in
the deepest gorges. Aud yet his deprav.
ity was immense He had been con
victed of dozen crimes, and committed
hundred others without conviction
Each succeeding fall had found him worse
in every way than the preceding spring
and those who knew him best frequently
remarked upon the new and ever-increas
ing capabilities for sin which he was con
stantly unfolding.
But he was not wholly bad. Perhaps
no man ever was. There was a rumol
among the miners, credited by few, thai
once or twice during his career his rough
voice had become gentler, and the light
in his fierce eye softer, when he had beer
surprised into speaking of his mother
Where he had come from, what made
him leave" where his mother lived, Of
whether she lived at all, no one knew Of
had the hardwood to ask.
There was another manor rather boy
in that camp; but he could not b.
seen that evening around any of the fires
He had come into the gulch in crowd O.
seven who had been on the trail som'
twenty days together, and Bill Lewis wa,
another of the seven. His name wa
catch or comprehend his first name, ant
he had come to be called Little john
He would have been remarked any
where in a mining region as one who'll,
out of place. He was light, delicate, ant
fragile-though seemingly in good health
before coming to the gulch-and was i'll,
fitted to meet the vicissitudes of a noun
tain life. He might have been born TO
an artist or poet, or both he certainly
was never intended for miner. Every
body except Bill Lewis liked and pitiet
him. Bill, apparently, did not hate him
but he despised him for his soft, tende
nature was in the habit of calling hin
feminine diminutives, and never let pas
an opportunity to humiliate and wount
his feelings.
In coming into the gulch the party hat
an unusually serious trip. The trail wa
lilly defined the snow was deep and soft
they had been compelled to unpack thei
animals score of times, and to sleep il
wet clothes and wet snow. For all this
however, most of them cared but little
They were not invalid tourists, and the
had crossed the range too many times il
bad weather to be much troubled by on
trip more.
But with Little John the case was dill
ferent. He had never before been thu
exposed, and was evidently not sustaine
to any considerable extent by hopefu
spirit, and he had succumbed He lay in hi
tent in his rough blanket bed, sick, prot
trated, exhausted. There was no phys
clan there, although most of those me
knew something of sickness, and in dis
cussing his case, while none could ga
that he had this or that disease, all agree
that he was "clean gone an likely
croak."
They had been talking of him aroun
the fire when some one, coming from
tent in grove near by, said
" think little John'll 60 up tonight
He's crazy now, an thinks he's in Ohio
an keeps talkin' of his mother"
Bill Lewis, before silent and suller
started up at once. "I'll go and see tn
kid" he said.
He went, and all followed in wonder
The bed was warm enough, and sol
enough. But it and its surroundings wer
terribly rough for one like him, in his cor
dition. The pale face amid the shagg
blankets, lit up by tallow candle burr
ing in can the saddles, ropes, kettle.
and tools scattered around among tn
bushes upon the earth hoor-all togethe
formed a scene weird and impressive.
As the man had said, Little John wa
delrious and talking of his home and a
sociates away back in Ohio, but most c
all his mother, piteously begging her