Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-08-24


| by the kitchen door to the swinging of the
garden gate, had its association. Why,
Frank, think even of my splendid flour.
box back there, and of the cunning little
| cupboard you made for me over the kitchen
sink" And the sad little woman turned
her eyes with the faraway homesick glance
of Priscilla back to the vine wreathed
home, the village streets and to the mother
| left behind.
"And, as for me-" the man returned, II
think of that dirty, smoky blacksmith
shop where I've hammered away for the
last ten years, and no prospect of change
until took my voyage across the Styx."
II think of that, too; but oh, Frank, l
remember the row of big naples outside
the door-their leaves must be turning by
now-and | can see you at your work, and
remember how used to think no one ever
could be so handsome as my blacksmith
singing over his anvil"
The man laughed then.
agnes, | verify believe this fever to go
back has put you cut of your head"
He drew step nearer and put strong
arm around her slender waist, and at the
same time singing. in rich baritone,
snatch of an old song:
"Some time I'll take you back, Kathleen,
To where your heart will feel no pain;
And when the fields are fresh and green
I'll take you to your home again."
She sighed and shook her head.
"Nothing can ever be fresh and green
up here among the rocks. The freshness
has even gone from Bessie's cheeks. o,
Frank, try not to be homesick but it will
always keep hurting me like my TOOTH"
She turned hurriedly away to her broom
to prevent a burst Of tears.
"Well, now Aggie, girl, do try and hold up
little longer, and when the Bessie mine
up there on the hill pans out to such de-
gree that-talk of green fields'-we'll just
naturally be in clover up to our ear-tops.
You'll go back to see the folks, with dia-
monds hanging all around you, like
Southeast island princess or the bell
weather of the Ute tribe"
Agnes Hale smiled patiently, for she
loved the enthusiastic miner, and really
meant to do her part in this new enter
prise. But the time was growing into the
second year now when the Bessie" had
promised these things, and still she kept
her treasures-whatever they might be-
Rugged close to the bosom of her Mother
Earth, only now and then dropping CLINT
of gold in the vein to urge on the toiling
miner.
More times than she could count, Mrs.
Hale called to mind her husbands Joy
over this color in the stone
"Aggie, Pve struck it at lastp he
would exclaim, joyfully, throwing down
his dinner pail, as he rushed excitedly in
the cabin. "There's the stuffw and he
would point with trembling fingers to the
safiron-colored streak.
Agnes would look through the magni-
flying glass at what, to her inexperienced
eyes, seemed more ordinary stone than
feel the tuggings of hope within her
hope that she disapproved of. Her sad
heart was like unto obstinate ears, that
wish not to hear, still cannot close them
selves against the sound of sweet music.
And now the weary woman felt that the
West was SO full of little graves of hopes
that, look which way she would, something
called for her tears.
They had sold the blacksmith shop and
the pretty little home in Maine, and their
price, together with some money saved,
had brought them West, and was support
ing them while Mr.. Hale dug in the hills
for gold to take its place.
He had "prospected" the hills over for
months after their arrival, leaving the
wife and the little three-year- old girl in
the rough mining camp among strangers.
Now, however, he had found his "mine" in
cliff on the mountain side not far above
the sheltered canyon. Below it, in grove
of unbending frs, he had built log cabin,
and there Agnes and baby Bess now dwelt,
hardly more lonely than in the strange
camp ten miles away.
The cabin contained one room, with a
dirt floor, fireplace in one corner, a bunk
bed in another, and table and two or three
chairs besides. A mountain creek ran
near the house, from which the family Sc
cured a supply of water but the country
about was bleak and bare of verdue, be-
yond cedars and mountain bushes. The
altitude was too high for the flowers and
garden things dear to a New England
heart. Sometimes Bess would climb up on
the rocks and gather big blue columbine
or cluster of delicate ferns, which graced
the most austere places, and the child's
heart was gladdened for hours. But when
the mother tried to transplant their roots
to the cabin door-yard they always died.
1t was now several weeks since she had
begun to be uneasy about Bessie. Not that
the child was really sick. She was out and
in at the cabin door like sunbeam; now
pattering over the stones to the creek
with her unsteady baby feet, now chatter
ing to the noddipg columbines in lam
guage all her own.
But day after day it grew oftener that
| she would sit down and rest her little face
in her hands or say, plaintively:
Mamma, Pm tired" and ask to be
held.
Agnes began to be haunted by terrible
! dread from the TACT that she was not so
heavy to lift as she had been and her
cheeks were less pink. But when the
child was at play again she would say to
| herself:
~ fear am growing fanciful. Perhaps
| Frank is right, and the homesickness is
gone to my head. If only had work to
! do, something to sew, something to read
To live entirely in ones self like this is to
wear out like an old house untenanted-
wear out heart and body"
She leaned her troubled face against the
doorpost and looked away up to the barren
rocks and the unbending fir trees that
sheltered the canyon. She seemed unable
any longer TO see, even with spiritual eyes,
further upward than these prison walls.
Her husband came down in the evening
more tired than usual. All day long he
had worked, with no encouragement be-
yond getting deeper in the side of the
mountain.
: s'Of course" he said, as he sat down at
the rough, uncovered table to the evening
meal always a late one on his account),
"these 'pay-streaks' don't lay out on the
open ground Every foot | go in is so
much gained, and any day may come
upon body of mineral which will set us
way up. So | am not discouraged SO long
as am following the vein."
Nevertheless, he was more silent than
usual after supper. He forgot even to take
Bessie on his knee, and sat by the ireside
and smoked in deep reflection.
BY and by his wife, thinking this
might be favorable time, said, plead