Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1889-04-13

erbont it, an beg me not ter 90; but she
didn't do nothin NV Their sort.
BE you:" sad she eZ cool 81 er gu
cumber.
yes" sal 1. "Ha;nt Yer sorry I'm
goin:"
"Oh, l Dunno" said she. II hope
You'll hev good luck.
"Mercy," said |, feclin' hurt at her
GOODNESS, II love yer Don't YER care
anything erbout me? Won't yer marry
me when I come back"
Wal, I dunno-ves, | reckon | will,
if yer come back rich, said she, ez cool
ez tho she was selectin' er piece NV
kalcrker.
An then 1 bid her good-hy, an hur
ned away 10 Join M party.
| wont try ter describe Their over
land Journey, nor what we suffered.
Others hev done so. time an ergin, an
our experience waru't much different
from theirn. All I've got ter say crbout
it is that it's lucky that any NV us ever
reached our destination crlivc.
l did we'll. In three years / had
made er fortune, ur what in them DAYS
wuz considered one; but [ hated ter
go home then, when l WIZ maxim
money SO fast, an so [ concluded
ter stay ernother year. Mercy had
allus been er poor CORE Spondent, an ]
hadn't heard from her in most cr year;
IN | begun ter think that | didn't care
so much fur her ez | had thought ]
did, an that she warn't Jest Their sort
NV er gal that | wanted fur er wife
| WIZ only 20 wear old VIII Il | asked
her ter marry me, an couldn't be eX-
pected ter know my own mind at that
age.
Ernother year went by. an, - | Tuz
maxim money Eastern ever, | WIZ more
loath ter go home than had been Their
year before. ] hadn't heard CT word
from Mercy in all that time, an tho l
knew ! didn't love her, an never had,
l intended ter go home some time an
fulfil my engagement with her I'm
only a." | thought, ",n' tha~'s plenty
nv time.
Six months .a'er i:4ar wuz ~ new
arrival ut our camp. He wuz or sickIy
lookin, mid tle-agad man named How
ard. He br1ugh' his daught II. cr
pretty, blue-eyod. golden Ia red little
gal NV sixteen, with him; IN he must
heY been ignorant Nv what er rough
place Californy wu> then, III he
wouldn't hev brought her thar. But
Their boys III our camp warnt er bad
lot. an most OF em almost wOrsLiDpcd
Nora Howard: an i would hey heen "a
much eH one's !ifc Nuz worth ter hey
insulted her.
EZ i,lr me, knew TIA: Nora How
ard wuz Their only gal that | had ever
loved ur that | ever could love; but |
conldn't ask her ter be my wife nor
tel! her how | loved her, when | wul
promised ter somebody else. | wuz
sure that she cared fur me. Love may
re blind but it knows. without being
told. when it s returned.
Wal, nv fifth year Mt Their mines
passed. III still l didn't go home fur |
couldn't tear myself erway from Nora.
Their climate didn't seem ter agree with
Eer father, al jest er year arter he
come ter Their mine ) W. buried him
n thar pine grove near his cabin.
When Nora let us heY his gold ter dis
pose nv fur her, we found that it WIZ
only Ell few hundred dollars-not sutii-
cient ter support her two wears. So
Their boys all Clipped in aud made her
up e. nice little fortune, an she never
knew hut what it wuz her fathers
earnins that we paid over ter her. Nv
course Their camp WIZ no place fur her
ter stay in when her father warn't thar !;
so | an one NV ther other miners. er
old, gray-ha'red Teller escorted her ter
Frisco an found her er suitable board
in-place,