The Springdale news., 1888-12-21

| hopin' you would consent to stay at the | 1 camp. We're d roug set O men, ma'am, but you can feel jest as safe weth us as eff | yer own mother was a rockin' ye. Ef ary man says word O sass to ye we'll run him out O camp at the pint of shot l gun"
 But what can I do for support" fal- tered the widow. She had been tenderly brought up. and the idea of spending the l winter with these rough men was appall- 1 ing, deprived of the protecting presence of l her husband.
 We've wrastled it all out for ye," re- 1 piled Sam Collins. "Ye see. we'd all on us calkylated pile on hevin' Brad's l woman an kids among us, an we're all sort O rattled like at beln disappointed, an' we're willin' to do the square thing 1 by ye
 "Brads claim aint a pannin' outno great, 1 but it's enough to make ye comfortable, an we'll all chip in and do our share toward workin' it, and pay over the proceeds to ye 1 jest as regular as if he war here Danll give up his shanty, an we want ter make ye jest ez happy an comfortable as we can, for We sot heap O store by Brad"
 The widows lip quivered; the kindness of these strangers touched her deeply, and she replied ill a trembling voice: And what am going to do to repay you gentle. men for all this unexpected kindness!' She used the word adv sably, for in her estimation they were gentlemen of the truest Tt
 That's all right Don't you worrt about payin' ma am. We're sorter rough set an We need woman around to kinder pare Us down, an ef you'll sing us song onct in awhile-Brad said you was mas. ter hand to 5ing-an' let US hey the kids ter love and cuddle little we'll call it squar We've all us had homes an it comes rough on us, this kind Q life year in an year out, an if you'll live among us an make home fur us ter kinder look at as 'twere, we shell feel we'll paid. J
 She couldn't refuse such request com ing as it did from those who had been 1 her husbands friends and companions for the two years past and so 1t was settled, and the few things she had brought with her Were moved into Dan Voorhees, shanty, end with her womans skill she made such d homelilSe place of it that Bradley would have thought it an earthly paradise could he have livel to see it.
 The children took to the kindly miners wonderfully, and Willie and golden haired Katie were as cOntented as kittens when 1 Sam Collins or Dick Gowdy entertained | them with stories or yarns, ,' as they called them, of their earlier days. or whit | tied out the curious wooden toys which they were experts in fashioning
 Baby Neifs preference was for Black 1 Wash, and it was no uncommon sight to see her little pink hood peeping up over 1 his battered old hat. as she perched on | his shoulder, her chubby arms clingng close around his neck as he went to the spring for water or out to the timber for faggots for his culinary operations
 RHrf MapOfn bpf. had an iaI n had seen its best days, and he often brought 1t over to the widows cabin. and as he <, was quite creditable performer, many an l evening which would otherwise have been 1 spent ill drinking and dice playing was 1 whiled away in listening to the squeaky | fiddle and the widows really fine voice, IS | she sang church music and the Gospel 1 hymns winch had been sung in her Illinois home until they were old and threadbare, but which were entirely Lew in the mount aims.
 II tell you, boys that air tears me all ter l pieces, , said Dick G0wdy. as Mr> Newell l sang The Ninety and Ninen to her audi i ence; " ther haint no shepherd goin ter do very much huntin fer us ef we don't 1 take better keer of ourselyes,n n and it was noticeable that he left off swearing for nearly a week, and in many ways the pres ence of the little faslly, so helpless in
 
 enng influence.
 "Sho, now, fellahs, Christmas am comin' in about fo' weeks said Wash Jackson, as he was lighting the evening lamps. ! tFd clean done fo'got till dat ar little 1 Katie war tellin' whatter fine Christmas tree dey had las yeah Tell gou it mus be mighty dull fo' dem ehilIens up heah, ! Wd nottin' but us grown folkSas ter 'mu ,e 1 en-
 That's so' and Dick Gowdy drummed 1 on the table thoughtfullY "Taut one Wom- an in a thousand that'd come up here an be as pleased an chipper as thtt little 1 widder is with her trouble to bear, an 1 move that" and the speakers voice was l lowered, and a consultation followed which was strictly confidential.
 There were none of these men who did not have a memory of innocent pleasures at Christmas time in their childhood, yet l the sweetest and best of holidays had been spent the year previous in unusual ! conviviality, which had ended i'll the nearest approach t. a rough and tumble 1 fight that the camp had ever known. 1 There was something in the presence of | the widow, the touch of the innocent childish hands winch had met theirs with confiding trust, which made such d cee- brat on of the day repugnant to them. and Sam Coll ns brought his fist down on the table with a whack as he said: "I tell you, boys, moneys no objic, an of the | things did at all it's got to be did up brown, an them little kids an tner ma | shell hey Christmas worth hevin eff they air up in the mountngsh slapping fifty dollars worth of gold dust upon the table he spoke.
 stingy miner is an anomaly seldom seen, and the pile rapidly increased as l each added his cOntrIb button.