Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1884-02-01

tho pile of mineral specimens on the
rude shelf beside the door sparkled in
tho sunshine; the dog basted upon the
chips; the burros rubbed their necks to-
gether nt the watering place; the fire
was swapping in the rude forge, and a
miner was heating and pounding his
drills and picks. Other men were sit
ting on the shafting timbers which were
piled around, smoking their pipes and
talking of the sick boy who lay within.
Little John had already made his way
to these strangers hearts.
He was not delirious now. But he was
pale, and wore u hopeless look that was
pitiful. No one of them thought he had
yet come out from the dark shadow,
and there was u sadness in their faces
and hush in their voices.
After few hours Bill came. The
miners proposed to go t, the railroad
station for n physician and such deli
cacies as mining camps do not af-
ford. Bill accepted the proposition in
regard to the delicacies, but insisted
that he himself would be nurse and
physician.
Under his rough but gentle care the
boy rapidly improved, and at the end of
the week Bill called the two Half-Moon
men out for n little talk.
Hev yer got any plans bout this
kidp"
Both answered that they had not
They left everything to him.
Well, then, l hev; an I'm goin' to
say to you two what I've never said to
any man for more'n thirty year. When
they wuz all goin' to Calforny, in '49,
l wanted to 60, too. wuz a kid, then,
younger than this un. lived in York
State. There wuz on'y one o. me.
Mother wuz q widow. She didn't want
me to skip out, but l stole seventy dol
lars--all the money she had--an' lit
out. wuz goin' to go back in a year
or two, with thousands y dollars, an
make the old lady comfortable for the
balance o her life. But somehow /
didn't git back. Bimeby word come she
died NV broken heart.
''Ther' amt been many nights since,
pards, when wuz sober, that l amt
seen her; an pards, so help me God!
that night on Red Mountain, she went
with me from the cabin at timbcr-line,
an all the while, back'artls and for
'ords, she Daiked beside me, an helped
me pack that ther' trail, until ye came.
Then she went away. could never
done it alone, pards-never!
well, this kid wuz clear,headed at
the cabin on tother side, an him an
me talked an talked. We've talked
here. An, you see, he was clerk or
somcthin' in bank, back in Ohio an
there was money stole! They took him
up for stealin' it; but somehow they
couldn't prove it on him, an had to
turn him loose. But many people. said
he stole it all the same. an he couldn't
bear the disgrace, an so come to the
mountains. His mothers poor. What
he got in the burned bank wuz all both
on 'em had Since he come to P'eblo
he's foun' out who did steal that money.
But he hain't got sinner to go back
with an set himself right. That's how
he's here.
Now, pards, I've got nineteen
thousand odd in the Leadville Bank,
paid in on my Belden sale | hahn
got pesky relation in the world, an if
| git my hands on that money I'll likely
blow it in. So I'm goin' to send that
kid home, an give ten thousan' to his
mother. The balance is a big enough
stake fur me; an then, ye see, if do a
good thing for his mother may be it'll
count agin the internal meanness | did
mine! So we II take him down to Hay
den's, an one o. you can stay with him
an tother go up with me to Leadville
an get some money an draft-T ve
got her name an whar she lives-an'
then We'll come back an send him
home, an send the draft to his mother
Dye seep'
Three days afterwards they put Little
John in a sleeping-car, with ticket
and fifty dollars in his pocket, and on
the same day draft for ten thousand
dollars was mailed to his mother in a
letter of remittance signed: "AN UN.
KNOWN FRIEND
Two hours afterwards Bill Lewis in,
suited n respectable stranger and pro-
voked fight at the railroad station,
and before morning was arrested fol
cutting a man in gambling house.
William B. Parsons, in The Carrent
(Chtcago).