The Delta independent., 1891-05-21
A Tale OF Life.

| That is pitiful story that comes down
| from Helena of the old man in Strawberry
gulch who had made for himself rude
coffin, dug his own grave, then wrote note
asking that no one be troubled, but that he
be buried in the coffin that he had made and
the grave he had dug and then shot him.
self through the heart and died. He had
been miner in California, Idaho, Nevada
and Montana tor twenty years. There is II"
end OF the visions that might be conjured up
regar ling that old man. What hopes he
had at first; what struggles he made; what
despair came when youth and hope died,
aud he felt that there was nothing more to
do except to fashion his own coffin, to hollow
out his own grave, and then put an end to
his life. Cases like this are not at oil scarce
The graves of just such men dot all this
desert region, between the rockies and the
Sierra Nevadas; yes, clear down to the blue
Pacific. Could that man have spoken all
his thoughts iuto a photograph from the
time he left his home TO the time that he
went to WORK on his own coffin. and could
that instrument be set in motion the words
it would speak would be enough to break
any heart. no matter how hardened. First,
there woald only be joy notes, only re-
Aection of the splendnrs which youth and
he.e give to human life. And that strain
would run On perhaps AS the instrument took
off the record, for years, and then the sadder
notes would begin to come, notes of doubt
and anxiety and apprehension lest the early
dreams might not be realized. lest the good
that he meant to do might never be done,
lest the joy he meant tn make in their hearts
could never be made, lest all his efforts
would only be crowned with that sinister
thing we call failure. And 50. sadder and
sadder would the strain grow, until finally
they would end in utter despair and the
silence which follows when the cotiiu has
been made aud the grave has been scooped
out of the earth,
And the lesson it all teaches is that what
ever else q nation ought to do, it ought to be
sure that every youth in the nation is SO
started out in life that so long as brain and
hands are spared the toiler, his work will be
wanted by the more fortunate men of the
world. Human lives do not amount to very
much; they last but d little time at best; but
still between the cradle and the grave of the
ordinary lite there are suffsrings e .ough to
pay for long eternity of peace, and the best
way to put aside that suffering, or rather the
best way to prevent it, is to make it possible,
for the person himself to start out independ-
ent and to remain Independent so long as
his health is spared. This old man who died
In the lonely gulch in Montana was not dis
cipIined to anything in his childhood which
made him capable of DOING mans work.
So he drifled on. So his life wore away,
until every joy was ground out of it, until at
last he began to losk forward to the grave as
place SO welcome that he anticipated fate
and stopped his life while yet it was in full
career. Our civilization is not perfect. 1t
is not nearly perfect. We may teach men
how to do great things. We may be proud
Of the general intelligence of our people. but
thare is no school yet established in our
country which the graduation papers are II
certificate that the man is able of taking care
of fhimself.-Sdh Lake Tribune.