The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-07-31
SHORTY'S CONVERSION.
And the Good Effect 1t Had Upon
Some Pretty Tough Miners.

oval, you see thar wuz bout a dozen
of us fellers over thar workin' tho
mines, an bein' all men, we got ter be
blamed tough. We didn't have nothin'
to rad, an nothin' to do when we
warn't workin' but to play keerds an
drink WHISKY, an 80 we sorter slid down
hill into c~ussedness, and got to be bout
the hardest lot ever q Teller see.
"But one day long in spring, bout
four years ago, a Teller come long over
thar holdin' meetin's an Sunday schools.
When he fust struck Horsethief Pass we
didn't take much to i'm, an some O the
fellers talked right smart bout givin'
i'm o coat O. tar an feathers an ridin'
i'm outen the camp, an I reckon they'd
o done it but for q leetle circumstance
whut happened jest then.
you see old Shorty Brown wuz the
leader in the camp, an every Teller
swore by him through thick an thin.
Shorty wuz powerful wicked an could
out cuss q dozen common fellers, but he
had a heart in him bigger'n a punkin an
I'D do anything to help the boys out.
.'Wal, bout the time they wuz talkin'
O tarrin the preacher Shorty he got hurt
in tho mine, an fer a week wuz powerful
bad of. We got ter thinlin' he'd Preached
the end O. his Iced an hat he'd hev ter
cross over the range. Shorty'd been the
wust Teller in the camp agin the preacher
and it wuz him that proposed the tar and
feathers, SO when he got hurt the others
dropped the matter, an waited fer him to
git well if he wuz a goin' to.
ssWe wuz workin' like eve'thing then
to git a new mine opened, an we didn't
hev much chance to look after Shorty.
SO we had to leave i'm to git long by
hisself. That preacher, he see how it
wuz, an blame my skin If he didn't Jest
go right down to Shorty's cabin, an fling
off his coat an turn nuss. An he stayed
by Shorty jest like a mother, an waited
on i'm an give i'm medicine till he pulled
through all right an got well.
CATER that we all thought a good deal
more Of the preacher an as for Shorty
wal, I reckon he'd made short O. any
body who'd a said a word agin him.
Shorty wasn't a man to go back on a
friend, an he never forgot a favor. AS
soon as Shorty was able to git about he
comes down to the saloon whar we usu-
ally round O. nights, an he says:
"'Boys, the parsons a goin' to preach
down at my cabin tonight, an 7 want
ever last one O. ye to come
WANT none Of us hankerin' to go,
but we could tell by tie way Shorty
spoke that he wuz in dead earnest bout
it, an we knowed it wouldn't be extry
healthy to refuse, SO we agreed to come.
"'An' 7 want you to bar in min, says
Shorty, that the preachers my friend,
an that he's got to be treated white. I
| want you fellers to behave an act de-
| cent, an If any galoot disturbs the meet
In, blamed If don't put a hole through
i'm on the spot
"Shorty'd a done it, too, an we
knowed it, so you may jest bet yer last
dollar that w wuz q moughty well be-
haved congregation that night as we
squatted agin the wall O Shorty's cabin
an listened to the sarznont.
SAT fust I didn't take no special inter
est in what the preacher said, an reckon
none O the others didn't neither, but af.
ter he'd talked on a while he kinder
warmed up to business, an fer bout q
hour he talked powerful eloquent, shore,
an the way he ripped them old rascals
away back Their to Jerusalem wuz q
| caution. Before he'd gone very far we
| all got powerful interested, an could q
listened a heap longer if he'd a KEEP on.
"After that we tuck to goin' to meetin
regular, an afore many nights we got tc
lookin' forrard through the day, an
feelin' sorter anxious to hev night come
an with it another sarmont. Shorty
alters set up In front along O. the
preacher, an sometimes when I looked
up thar an see him 10 solemn like an
remembered how he ust to cuss it wuz
bout all1 could do to Keep from laughin
right out.
"Wal, the meetin's KEEP ON fer a week
an then n night the preacher said be
reckened we ort to hev a Sunday school,
Shorty said Certainly an the rest w
us agreed, because we thought it 'ut
save trouble. You see Shorty had goi
monty pious, but the way he fingered
them shootin' irons O. his'n made us {
leetle jubous Nv i'm, an we didn't know
but he would break out an shoot some
NV us fore he knowed what he wuz bout
80 the next Sunday we met a
Shorty's cabin to git up a Sunday school
Fust the preacher prayed an sung, an
then he read q chapter o scripture 'bou'
Judas betrayin' his master an all that
you know, an then he axed us to talk-tt
sorter give our notions Of it. After
waitin' awhile, an nobody else not get
tin up, Shorty rose an said:
"sFellers, this yere's q new lay to me