Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1885-04-21
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Long Pack.

. S%S'Ns
High up among the hills, on the
wagon road that runs through the
Cascita pass in California, is small
tavern, much frequented by CONNER
cial travellers, and which bears the odd
title of "The Long Pack
"Does that mean long pack of
cards!" inquired traveller, g!ancing
at the swinging signboard, which also
represented the weather-worn picture
of something resembling a soldiers S
overgrown knapsack.
No. replied the gray-haired
landlord. F" It means a peddler's S
pack. Nowadays they call them
sample cases, 1 believe" pointing to
the baggage of several commercial
drummers that stood in corner.
+" You see have a good deal of that
sort of custom. I try to make the
road boys as comfortable rs possible,
for | was little hard on their frater-
nifty once"
How was that?''
Well," said the mountain Boni-
face, who had waited until his daugh-
ter, q buxom matron, had left the
room, &C it amt very pleasant story,
but l like to tell it sometimes, just to
remind myself that the worst thing q
man can have in this world is hot,
obstinate temper. You see. I came
to this coast soon after the gold fever
broke out, and settled down in the
Santa Barbara valley, below here,
ranching. Twas a widower even then,
and had brought with me from the
states my only child-a daughter,
past seventeen. She was a pretty
girl, if do say it, and being as good
as pretty, you can imagine was quite
wrapt up in her. OF course, 1 was
anxious to keep her with me, and if
not that, at least 1 looked for her to
do something better than fall in love
with a peddler."
q And did she?''
Yes; you see, in those days, the
country was full of young fellows,
who had struck out for themselves,
and were trying to get start by car
rying knick-knacks around from one
mining camp to another. Some of
them were lively chaps enough and
we'll educated, but 1 was fresh from
the states with all the eastern prediu-
dices, and it almost drove me wild
when Nellie told me she wanted to
marry q young fellow who brought his
pack through our district good deal
oftcner than the trade seemed to re-
quire. 1 was hot-tempered fool in
those days, so stormed, threatened,
locked Nellie up for week, and sent
word to her lover that 1 had loaded
my gun for wildcats and peddlers. /"
' What did Nellie do?''
f" You might have guessed it, stran-
ger. One day when 1 came back
from a cattle sale she was missing.
| chased her couple of days, but
they had taken to the tall timber and
it was no use. After a while 1 got a
letter from Frisco, and 1 wrote hack
saying that disowned her, and that
he had better keep out Of the range
of my deer rifle"
What did you do then?''
Suffered, mister-just suffered.
1 knew 1 was wrong, but I'd have
died rather than give in. For four
years 1 lived like toad in rock ha-
ting the whole world. All the pleas
ure 1 had was in watching for ped
dlers. The number 1 chased off the
ranch during that time would astonish
yOu.-One evening, after a terrible
rainstorm, one of the tribe came to
my house and asked for, a shelter for
the night. He was thin, weak-Iook-
ing fellow, with his face covered by
a huge, ragged beard. He carried
on his back an enormously long and
Heavy pack, and seemed so exhausted
with his tramp through the mire that
l hadn't the heart to do more that or
der him off the place."
''That was pretty hard," said the
listener.
'I suppose it was. The peddler
seemed all broke up when he found 1
wouldn't even give him bunch of
straw in the stable, and no other
house within twelve miles. Instead
of complaining, however, he merely
begged that I would let him leave his
pack, which he said contained goods
of value, under shelter from the rain.
I finally consented to this. So, as I
had sworn one of his trade should
never cross my threshold, I carried
his pack inside. while its owner
limped off to crawl under some bush
or other" 30
Didn't you feel mean?"
Z" Yes; mean and bitter at the same
time, for something about the man