Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-23
''OLD SEEDS. /"
ONE OF THE EARLY-DAY CHARACTERS
OF WHISKY DIGGINS.
His Experience at the Hands of a Heart
less Mob-Dropped Into Hor-
nets Nest.


less Mob-Dropped Into a Hor-
nets Nest.
There are some joyous Thursdays when
the skies are bright and the heavens blue,
when Providence, bending over us in bless
ing, seems to gladden. the heart almost to
madness, but there are also many dismal
Fridays, when the smoke of torment be-
clouds the mind and imaginary sorrows
gnaw upon the heart like rayenous wolves
upon the walls of soma abandoned charnel-
house in the wilderness.
There are days when the bosom swells
with love for nature and the soul pictures
in the distance one long-drawn eternal
future-when difficulties seem like pas
times, and obstacles melt before the vision
like ice before the sun; but alas there
are also days when hatred takes the place
of love, and the everlasting future becomes
spectacle of worms-when disappoint-
ment struggles with fate, and we seem al
most suffocated by some unseen octopus
striving with tenacious efforts to drag US
beneath the foul waters of despair.
But, saith the preacher, "Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity except holiness to
God" In truth, however, many of us
would go without bread if it were not for
vanity; many of us really do, but not
for long at a stretch; still, some of us
wouldn't lack so much if we had more,
and vice versa.
Ergo, the writer holds forth at Whisky
Diggins, on Stony creek. | don't know
who called it Stony creek, but as the man
who named it evidently knew what he
was about, Stony creek will answer first
rate. There is certainly no dearth Of
stones and gravel along the creek; in fact,
it would be difficult to find anything else
within half mile on either side of it.
Stony creek empties into Doty's ravine,
Doty's ravine empties into Coon creek,
Coon creek empties into the Feather river,
| the Feather river empties into the Sacra-
mento river, the Sacramento river empties
| into the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Ocean
| empties into Behring Sea, and Behring
Sea empties back into Stony creek, whence
it flows along quite lively until it reaches
Whisky Diggins, where it usually pauses
for refreshments, if it is a good day, and it
| generally is.
The inhabitants of Whisky Diggins are
| limited, both in number and quality, to a
woodchopper named Ratson, the writer,
several well-to-do billy and nanny goats,
two strained horses, three Spanish COWS,
six lazy ducks, eleven troublesome geese,
twenty.eight hoodooed chickens, three
Lonesome turkeys, FIVE noisy guinea fowls,
| two itenerant peacocks, tame fox, a
young coyote and four polygamous tom
cats, with their respective camping outfits
all of which hold forth in the Immediate
vicinity of the fortified with spirits cas-
tie occupied by myself and Mr.. Ratson,
whom / mention after myself because, to
tell the truth, his name goes against him.
| In this "castle' once flourished the dis
| trict school, where one afternoon about
twenty-five years ago over sixty pupils sat
giggling because the master, nicknamed
"Old Seeds" had just few moments be-
fore sat suddenly down upon the business
end of a twice-bent pin and as suddenly,
if not more SO, risen, thinking, no doubt,
that he had been bitten by one of the nu-
D
neighborhood.
1t was within these unhallowed walls
| that the writer received his early educa-
ton, nd many are the tales that he
might tell in connection Herewith, but
patience will forbid but few.
The leading figure in the background Of
the official administration of the Whisky
Diggins school was Old Seeds. He had
probably been so named on account of a
generally seedy appearance of his wearing
apparel. | remember him principally by
the No. II canvas CATERS which he always
wore, though incidentally can recollect
his open conference.-the having evil
| IDENTIFY lost control of the muscles of his
lower jaw, which gave him the appearance
of an alligator lying in wait for insects
lizards, cotton tails, polecats, and other
small fry.
Otherwise, Old Seeds distinguishing
characteristics were Unborn laziness, ca
tarrh, false teeth, stubby side whiskers
dyspepsia, absent chin whiskers and mus
tache slow speech, slow motions, and uni
versal ignorance. l thus allude to Old
that his pupils did 'just about as they
pleased" and that, in consequence, he held
| the school longer than any of his twenty
seven predecessors.
Old Seeds got so lazy after the first term,
however, that We came to the conclusion
| that if something wasn't done soon to en-
liven him, the probabilities were that some
| day he would go off in a trance, be buried
alive and stop the school, which, seeing
the royal times we were having, was a con-
summation we most devoutly wished to
avoid.
Our school house was romantically stu
ated in dense grove of live oak trees near
the edge of the ''Digger Mine" belt, at the
base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and
there being an old mining shaft, about
thirty feet deep, half filled with logs and
brush, snakes, lizards and yellow jackets
without number, located about $50 yards
from the house, we had about that time
been amusing ourselves in an unprece-
dented manner, as follows:
The word having been passed around
that certain one of the boys was to be
made victim, he was seized upon by a
bowling mob, hurried off to the shaft ard
pushed into it, regardless of his demoni-
acal yells of rage and chagrin. Falling
upon the Dlusu, Vi COURSE tle ficllm WAS
never injured except by the yellow jackets,
which would swarm up when disturbed by
thousands, but the amount of pain expert
enced by him was regulated by the time
which he consumed in climbing out; this
was, on an average, not over ten seconds.
1t was rarely, indeed, that the perpe-
traitors of the outrage ever escaped being
stung, but the victim having been pushed
into the shaft, the next thing in order was
to retreat on the double-quick to the shell
ter afforded by thick clump of live oak
bushes about fifty yards distant, where the
crowd would divert itself in hilarious
laughter at the expense Of those who had
got stung, the victims screams and curses,
etc.
Accordingly we determined that, as
something had to be done, we might just
as we'll drop old Seeds into the shaft as to
waste time in studying up some other
scheme, which might not prove nearly so
effectual ; and as several of the larger boys
were physically Seeds superior, we were
thoroughly able to carry out the :.nder-