St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-27

ual, generous to fault, and proverbi-
ally imprOvident. l know one of them,
an old man he is now, who, for years,
struggled through all manner of priva
tons, and finally struck lead that
showed up well. A year ago he sue
ceeded in closing sale that put about
SIS, 900 cash in his hands-enOugh for a
man of sixty and over who never knew
of luxury to live OH comfortably. Not
so with this gay old boy. No sooner did
he have the money than commenced a
round of pleasure. He had wife i'll
Maine whom he had not seen for years.
He paid her visit, then he returned to
the Hills. In less than six months his
wife in Maine died, and the old man
had TO borrow money from friends to
get back TO the funeral. That is the
way proSpector spends his money.
Sometimes he locates on a lead and
commences to develop. He lives alone
in his cabin, miles from the nearest
habitation, and days and weeks, and
often months, go by and he sees no one.
All this time he is delving, thinking
only of the time when he shall finally
make his ''clean-up." And thus his
whole life, mental and physi-
cal, falls into one narrow chan
mel to which there is only one
w llll CAtlClSt vi ulNclSlO
constantly pursuing one train of thought
and action, his whole existence becomes
so wrapped up in the work he has be-
fore him that at last, when resources
are gone and absolute failure StareS him
i'll the face, the mind weakened by lack
of use fails, and then another unfortu
nate
GOES To TIE ASYLUM.
The secluded life is the most natural
adjunct to insanity, as disappointment
is its most prolific cause.
The life is not without its pleasures.
was once a proSpectOr, and many a
happy, careless day have spent in the
mountains of Colorado, pursuing Dame
Fortune in the shape of galena, cal DO
mates, SulphuretS, fine gold, or any Of
the manifold forms taken 10y the tickle
goddess. | had partner. an imagi-
native cuss, many years my senior-I
was boy of twenty-three. Many a
night, as we lay under our blankets
gazing at the
SrAR-DECKED HEAVENS.
and breathing that freedom only in
hailed under the pines of the mountains.
did he fill my young mind full of the
wonderful projects we should accom-
plish after we had struck it, l was too
matter of fact to become an enthusiast.
Like WORDSWORTH hero, of whom he
wrote:
4 primrose by the rivers brim
yellow primrose was TO him
And il was nothing more
| refused to he carried away by the
prospect. | used to eXpatiate at great
length on the beauties of nature, while
he would tell me of the glories of riches.
His hobby was saddle elephant and
pack train OF camels. With these he in
tended to make a triumphal tour across
the continent. Well, we located. We
went broke. We both went to Denver
and stuck type until spring. l left for
the East. lie went to the mountains
again. The occasional letters that passed
between us told of saddle elephants, but
the realization of that dream is still far
OFF. That chum of mine is now pleas
antly located as private secretary to
GOV. Adams, of the Centennial state,
and amwie!ding an unwilling pen on
Western daily, wondering what paper |
will be on next. The fever did not af-
feet either Of us deeply.
But men Will chase the phantom so
long as UNEMPLOYED territory remains to
be prOSpected; they will still build
bright castles in the air oil the slender
foundation OF prospective strike. and
will still reap the reward of bitter dis
appointment for LIES labor. But
some Will get rich, while others go
crazy.