The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-03-23
THE GOLD THAT GREW BY SHASTA
TOWN.

From Shasta town to Redding town
The ground is torn by miners dead:
The mnnzlnita, rank and red.
Drops dusty nerries up and down
Their graSs-grown trails. Their silent mines
Are wrapped in chapparel ard vines;
Vel one gray miner still sits down
'rwlXt Redding and sweet Shasta town.
The quail pipes pleasantly. The hare
Laps careless o'cr the golden oat
J hat grows below tie water mOat:
The lizard baSks in sunlight there.
The brown hawk Swims the periumed air
Unfrightened through the lifelong day:
Aud now and then curious bear
Comes shuiiliLg dewn the ditch by night,
And leaves some wide. long tracks in clay
80 hnman-like, so Stealthy light,
Where one lone cabin still StoopS down
'TwiXt Redding and sweet Shasta town.
That great graveyard of hopes. OF men
Who sought for hidden veins of gold;
Ol young men suddenly grown old
OF old men dead, despairing when
The gold was Just within their hold.
That Storied land whereon the light
Oi other days CLEANS family still;
SUmclike the halo Ut a hill
That lifts above the falling night;
That warm. red, rich, and human land,
That iieSh-red soil. that warm red sand
Where one gray miner still sets down.
'Iwixt Redding and sweet Shasta town,
Il know the vein is hcre!'' he said;
For twenty years, for thirty years
While far away Tell tears on tears
From wife and babe who mourned him dead.
No gold no gold! And he grew old
Aud crept to toll with Dended head,
Amid graveyard OF his dead
Stii seeking Tor that vein of gold.
Then 10! came laughing down the years
a sweet grandchild. Between his tears
He laughed. He set her by the door
The while he tOied his days toll DER,
He held her chubby checks between
His hard palms laughed ana laughing cried
y GU should have seen, have heard and seen
HIS hoyishJoy. his stout old pride,
When toll was done and he sat down
AT night, below sweet Shasta town.
At last his strength was gone. No more!
mine no more. plant me now
A vine and iig-tree; worn and old.
/ seek no more my vein OF gold.
But, oh. sigh to give it DER:
These thirty years Of toll, somehow
1t seems so hard but now, no more
And so the old man sat him down
To plant by pleasant Shasta town.
And it was pleasant pped the quail
The full year through. The chipmunk stole,
His whiskered nose aid tossy tail
Full buried in the Sugar-bowl.
And purple grapes and grapes of gold
Swung sweet as milk. White orange trees
Grew brown with laden honey-bees.
Oh it was pleasant up and down
That yiue-Set hill of Shasta town,
And then that clOud-burst came! All, me,
That torn ditch there. The mellow land
Rolled seaward like rope OF sand,
Nor LETT one leaty vine or tree
Ol that Eden nesting down
Below that moat by Shasta town.
The old man sat his cabins sill.
His gray head bowed upon his knee.
The child went forth. sang pleasantly,
Where burst the ditch the day before,
And picked some pebbles from the hill,
The old man moaned, moaned o 'er and DER;
My babe is dowe"leSS, and
Must fold my helpless hands and die.
All, me what curse comes ever down
On me and miUe at Shasta town.
Good Grandpa, see!'' the glad child said,
And 50 leaned softly to his side,
Laid her gold head to his gray head,
And merry-yOiced and CHEEKY cried:
Good Grandpa, do not weep, but see.
I've found a peck OF orange seeds.
! searched the hill for vine or tree;
Not one NOT even oats or weeds;
But oh. such heaps OF orange seeds!
Come good Grandpa. Now, once you said
That God Is good. 50 this may teach
That we must plant each seed. aud each
May grow to he an orange-tree.
And please come plant the seeds with me-"
And prattling thus, or like to this.
The child thrust her iull hands in his.
He sprang. sprang upright as OF old.
'''.I is gold t Is gold my hidden vein,
I is gold for you, sweet babe. I is gold
Yea God is good: We plant again.
So one old miner still sits down
BY pleasant, sun-lit Shasta town.
-Joaquin Miller IN ST. Nicholas.