Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-10-03

n the habit of1ounging IN at Stunpy's Il
d. see show The Luck goson" seemed t,
1T appreciate the change, and, in self
k. defence, the rival establishment o
Ie "Tuttle's grocery" bestirred itself, ans
$, imported carpet and mirrors. Th'
e reflections of the latter on the appear
,f ance of Roaring Camp tended to pro
a duce stricter habits OF personal clean
e illness. Again, Stumpy imposed i
z. kind OF quarantine upon those who
{ aspired to the honor and privilege o.
|. holding aThe Luck" 1t was cruel
e modification to Kentuck-who, in the
: carelesspess of large nature and the
g habits of frontier life, had began to re-
gard all garments as a second cuticule
, which, like snakes only sloughed off
g through decay-to be debarred this
r privilege from certain prudential reas-
. ons. Yet such was the subtle infiu-
, ence of innovation that he thereafter
} appeared regularly every afternoon
! shining from his abiutions. Nor
were moral and social sanitary laws
neglected. Tommy who was sup
] posed to spend his whole existence in
persistent attempt to repose, must
not be disturbed by noise. The shout
ing and yelling which had gained the
camp its infelicitous title were not
permitted within hearing distance of
Stumpys. The men conversed in
whispers, or smoked with Indian
gravity. Profanity was tacitly given
up in these sacred precincts, and
throughout the camp popular form
of expletive, known as "D-n the
| luck!" was abandoned, as having
new personal bearing. Vocal music
was not interdicted, being supposed to
have soothing, tranqullizing quality,
and one song sung by "Man o'-War
] jack" an English sailor, from her
Majesty's Australian colonies, was
quite popular as a lullaby. 1t was
lugubrious recital OF the exploits OF @the
/ Arethusa, Seventy-four," in muff1ed
minor, ending with prolonged
dying fall at the burden of each verse,
"On b-o-o-o-ard of the Arethusa" 1t
WAS a fine sight to see Jack holding
The Luck, rocking from side to side |
as if with the motion of ship, and |
grooming forth this naval ditty. Either |
| through the peculiar rocking OF Jack |
or the length of his song,-it contained |
ninety stanzas, and was continued with |
| conscientious deliberation to the Bit |
ter end,-the lullaby generally had the /
desired effect. At such times the men
would lie at full length, under the
trees, in the soft summer twilight,
smoking their pipes and drinking in
the melodious ulterances An indis-
tinct idea that this was pastoral happi-
ness pervaded the camp. "This ere
kind o. thing" said Cockney Simmons,
meditatively reclining on his elbow,
ais 'evingly." Il reminded him of
Greenwich.
On the long summer days The Luck
was usually carried to the gulch, from
whence the golden store of Roaring
Camp was taken. There, on blanket
spread over pine-boughs, he would lie
while the men were working in the
bitches below. Latterly, there was a
rude attempt to decorate this bower
with flowers and sweet-smelling
shrubs, and generally some one would
bring him Il cluster OF wild honey /
suckles, azaleas, or the painted bloss
oms OF Las Mariposas. The men had
suddenly awakened to the fact that
there were beauty and significance in
these trifes, which they had so long I
trodden carelessly beneath their feet !
A fake of glittering mica, fragment &
of yariegated quartz, a bright pebble
from the bed OF the creek, became !,
beautiful TO eyes thus cleared and {
strengthened, and were Invariably put
aside for @The Luck" # was won- i
derful how many treasures the woods
and hillsides yielded that "would do {
for Tommy" Surrounded by play
things such as never child out of iairy f,
land had before, it is to be hoped that
Tommy was content. He appeared
to be securely happy albeit there WAS '
an infantine gravity about him, a con
light in his round gray t
eyes that sometimes worried Stumpy. &
He was always tract.ble and quiet, i
and it is recorded that once, having q
crept beyond his corral "a hedge of
tessellated pine boughs, which sur L
rounded his bed-he dropped over the il
bank on his head in the soft earth, and Il
with his mottled legs in the t
air in that position for at least five II
with uniiinchlng gravity. lie
was extricated without murmur. | O
hesitate 10 record the many other in 4
stances of his slgacity, which rest, un- Il
upon the statements OF /,
friends. Some OF them Il
were not without a tingle OF supersti- I,
ton. 81 crep' up the bank just now" Il
said Kentuck one day. i'll II breathless "
state CT excitement, "and dern my skin ii
if he wasn't talking to IA jay-bird as
was sittin' on his lap. There they a
was, just as free and sociable as any v
hing you please, jawin' at each other {,
lust Ii Ike two cherry-bums." Howbelt, ;,
whether creeping over the pine boughs il
DR. living lazily on his back blinking at u
he leaves above him, to him the birds il
'ang, the squirrels chartered, and the d
lowers bIoomed. Nature was the
lis nurse and playfellow. For hIm {,
he would let slip between the leaves W
golden shafts of sunlight that fell with st
n his grasp she would send wander d
ng breezes to visit him with the balm o,
# bay and resinous gums to him the m
leepily, the bumble-bees buzzed, and t
he rocks cawed slumbrous accompa- ci
liment b,
Such was the Golden summer Of
2oaring Camp. They were "hush
mes,"-and the Luck was with them. CT
The claims had yielded enormously. a
'he camp was jealous OF its privileges OF
nd looked suspiciously on strangers. nj
70 encouragement was given to inn
and, to make their seclu-
ion more perfect, the land on either
ide of the mountain wall that sur III
ounded the camp they duly pre-
mpted This, and reputation for +.
ingular proficiency with the revolver,
ept the reserve of Roaring Camp in
iolate. The expressman-their only III
link with the surrounding ~
told wonderful sto te
les of the camp. He would say, Ia
They've street up there in Roar or .
ng' that would lay over any street i'll IN
led Dog. They've got vines and a.
overs round their houses, and they th
ash themselves twice day. But 10
ley're mighty rough on strangers, ~ III
nd they worship an Injin baby" IA
With the prosperity of the camp AT
anne desire for further improve We
rent 1t was proposed to build II w'
otel in the following spring, and to ce
lvite one or two decent families to GU
eside there for the sake OF "The Luck" OF
who might perhaps profit by female IN
fhe sacrifice that mi
his concession to the sex cost these I'M