The Republican journal., 1885-09-24

youth retired to add the last touches to
the decorations of the dinner table.
Yes, dinner The cloth was of cotton,
and the viands were only bread, and
mutton, and peaches, set off by such
masses of oleander and azalea that the
dishes were nearly hidden. But it was
dinner, and in their own home. And 50
they began housekeeping on the Stanis-
laus.
The valley was not wholly uninhabit-
ed. Here and there were few families,
drawing scanty subsistence from the
soil, too poor or too lazy to get away A
mile beyond was store and post office
nearer was a cluster of huts where few
Cinnamon sifted the soil and the beds of
the streams for the few grains of gold left
by the first miners. 1t was here that
John found All Gee. This boy had wan
dered hlther from San Jose, where he had
lived as house servant to a family that
had returned East. Disconsolate at the
loss Of these friends, and frightened by
the increasing prosecutions of his race,
he had fled TO these foot hills, with few
OF his countrylnen, to sift the up-turned
gravel for the bright dust that each night
rewarded his toll. If he got fifty cents
he was content if seventy-tive, he was
happy.
1t was not difficult for John to induce
him to exchange his heavy work for the
more congenal tasks of a house servant
and man of all-Work. And so they be-
gan their new life with that greatest of
domestic blessings-a faithful servant.
John found himself the undisputed
owner of several hundred acres of land,
some of it capable of cultivation, and all
of grazing, Of a mining ditch three miles
in extent, and a large tract of lumber
that lay about its source. Aided by IN
Gle Moses's suggestions, and by his own
knowledge of his craft he at once laid
his plans.
"First Of ALL Margaret, must get this
ditch into good shape; and guess can
afford to pay these Cinnamon more to
help me than they can get out of the
gravel, especially if | let them have the
spare water for washing over the dirt
then sawmill just above the house, with
a siX-foot dam just below that natural
reservoir; float the lighter logs down the
ditch and bring the heavier ones down
on teams, and then raft the lumber down
to Stockton"
And 50 he went TO work with that Y an
kee wit that makes its possessor the
quickest OF all men on earth to grasp pos
slbllltles, and that indOmitable energy
that turns his ventures into certainties.
In few weeks a full stream of pure
mountain water was singing past the
door of the little cottage.
'Nell, Margaret, now if could only
hear the buzz of a circular saw, it would
be music, indeed"
The whole valley speedily changed
under the touch of Johns intelligent
hand. The ditch furnished water for
lrrlgation and green fields and a gar
den were seen, where before all had been
arid and barren. The Cinnamon doubled
their gains by using the water supplied
by John, and even attained to some use
OF the hydraulic method Every Sunday
Margaret gathered them before her door,
and taught them to read, while John in
vlIed the few whites to assemble in one
OF the larger of the unused houses, where
he read to them from the Bible, and with
practical comments designed to raise
their standard of civilization.
Before the rains began to fall the dam
had been built, the frame of sawmill
erected, wheel put in position, and not
a few logs had been tloated down and
We're lying in the backWater.
But more important event, even
than these, had occurred and baby S
cry was heard mingling, not discorClant-
lv, with the music Of the brook. And
so, while waiting for the saw which
Uncle Moses was selecting with due de-
llberatlon, John, in n0Wise impatient
gave himself up TO the delightful task of
nursing wife and infant, though All Gee
greatly relieved him Of the latter service,
and, it must be confessed, showed more
aptitude IN the matters of bathing and
dressing, and putting it to sleep. And
50 John betook himself to the easier task
OF making a cradle. Whether it was that
he lost his mechanical eye in his admira-
ton of the baby, and so failed to take in
its small proportions, or whether he was
swayed by his early impression of the one
III which he himself had been rocked, it
issued from his hands suitable in ts al
m@ns0ns for a child OF SIN years
Margaret laughed while she praised it,
and John was not convinced of its dis
proportion to its use until Ah Gee placed
the infant In one conner and dettly filled
the unused space with sunury pillows
and blankets. But the child thrlycd and
Slept well in the long, Slow sweep Of its
motion. And while it slept, John anl
Margaret discussed that question which
will never fail Of discussion until the
Spencerian philosophy reaches its prac-
tlcal conclusion in this matter, and The
children are named numerically, in order
more definitely to mark their co-ordina-
tlon and heterOgenelty. But until this
prophetic day daWns, the naming Of Z
child will be a matter of taste, and 50 OF
preference. 1t might, however, be justly
urged, by the advocates Of this numer.
lcal method, that it would abolish the
custom now prevalent, of designating
adult women in church records, anC
school reports. and marriage notices
and other public and general mention
by dimnutives ending in it,
''M bat snail We name the baby, John 2
"Name him Reuben, for your father
said John, firmly.
eyes, John, it would please father
and please me, too. But ought we no1
to think of Uncle Moses, and all that ht
has done for us? He sent US out here
and gave US this pleasant home, and i:
doing something for us all the time"
YES; but your father gave you to me
and that's more than any home And
like to pay my heaviest debts first"
Margaret found it difficult to carry
this argument enforced by lover-likt
kiss But when did wife ever yield tt
her husband in respect to the name o
their first baby
"Id like to crafty you, John; but
Moses is good Scripture name, anC
Reuben in the Bible was not gooC
man. | wouldn't like to have this little
one bring down bis fathers hairs to the
grave in sorrow. No, John; | couldn't
bear to look at baby and think he NIGH
bring these brown locks of yours to grief
as Reuben did"
John had nothing to say, and betook
himself to tossing the baby who haC
awaked, and was equally pleased witt
Moses or Reuben, provided the tossing
was not intermitted. Still no agreement
was reached. 1t was period of swee
uncertainty. The last thing a baby
needs is a name; "baby" is enough ST
long as babyhood lasts; and how long
that may be, who shall tell +? But the
Disbursement wac o1)Iy continuous