The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-07-10

I
home there was Joy in the heart of MANY
a Rrayheaded man who knew right we'll il
wOnld never be said of him that he had
made his pile and that he was "going
home" And when Fred Adams quietly
slipped out Of camp down to a friends
house and stayed all night and weighed his
gold dust there on the butchers scales
before starting at daybreak the next morn
ing. and when the news came back to town
that the dust weighed well nigh TO a hun
dred pounds, l tell you there were tears OF
delight IN many an old mans eyes at
thought Of Fred'S good fortune, We called
him Fred" Adams up there; but his name
IS Judge Adams by tile and right; and he
5 now one OF the rich big lawyers OF San
Francisco.
The first going home" I ever saw was on
Humbug Greek, Northern California, in the
winter Of 1854 | tell you il took men If
grit to get there The towards had never
started there and the weak died on tie way,
so they were a powerful aud select lot of
men, and Ii took nerve, time and dust, too.
10 get away from there Think of il. Ten
miles on foot over a mountain Of snow To
1reka, then hundreds of miles through the
ssvages by mule 10 Portland, then a sailing
vessel to San Francisco, then the steamer,
Panama. New Orleans. up tie Mississippi.
and So on.
had been blown into this CANYON at the
forks OF the Humbug, as bird. by the win
ter storms aud had to bridge over mighty
hard month or two | can tell you. | first
got place as cook for my board. But the
provisions gave out pretty soon and | had
10 go. Then Frank Campbell, brother of
The late BARLEY Campbell. dramatist and
member Of the Idaho Legislature when las t
heard from, got me place to sit up with a
miner who had been hurt in slide. | got
10 wages, but as | had to sit up at night
and so dldTt need a bed, and as the
man was 100 badly hurt to eat the
meals sent him from the hotel l did not
suffer, but soon made friends with the poor
man by reading 10 him Lots of miners
used TO drop In after night and smoke and
listen. The book was Harrison Ausworth's
novels ali bound up together, "Dick Tur-
pin, :" Jack Shepherd" and so on. Never
had man or boy such listeners. And when
L, 30 years later told dear old Ainsworth in
London how he had been read and listened
20 IN the heart of the Sierras, he nearly
crushed my hand in his two hands But
this is scattering birdshot; let US get for
ward.
Ii Is mavelous how ignorant those men
were. They were from what was then the
BORDER largely Missourans, and | doubt
if one half Of them could write their names,
L know. right well what / say, for l wrote
many letters for them. OF course there
were other men there from other countries.
Fat FiannlgaD, Tor instance, who kept the
store. From France, do you say? No, he
was white Irishman with very black
beard. and Is now the rich and influential
president of tire Coos Bay Bank. He
was very popular then, as he is still, /
reckon, and seeing the dismal ignorance of
he miners be and Frank Campbell set a
cnmmittee TO work to get up public
library" And this is one Of its methods
The secretary tackled up the following no.
tice Oh the door of the saloon known a.
1.-The H0wln' Wilderness"
Know all men thai annv hnnk IL, thfo
ere camp belongs to The pubick library
except the holy blbel and emmy man found
CITY OF taking emmy book except said bibel
Will be hung for horse stealing 50 help me
god. (Sighned) The librarion of bored OF
directors and secretary OF said library"
The result was, a preacher who went
away as provisions got short left behind a
copy of Josephus. This made three books
In the library now, and Pat Flanagan en-
ployed me at 81 80 day, or rather an hour.
Tor tile man could not stand more. to
90 mp The creek 800 read Josephus to n
sick miner there. ~ GU see, he has got the
scuryy, and rheumatism, and consumption
I'm afraid he's pretty sick" said Pat pa.
lheilcaily. as we approached the low little
cabin under the dark fir trees on the hill
side.
as Josephus the short for joseph ?''
asked The long, elm and bony man, who
tay there with his big bent and knotty fee,
sticking FAR ont from under the blankets
and over the pole that served for a foot.
board.
'Yis, yis, sorr; Joserhus is the sborrut
forr joseph, Zeke, moi bow"
is It? Well, 10y gum! Say, know all
about that ere book, SORT o. religious like
list suit you. see nov; and I'd like to hear
II again: Jist suit you. see now" and ht
looked long and meditatively at his qpeer
twisted toes, that were all trying to cllml
up on top of one another away down yon
der beyond the other end of the narrow
little bed of fir bOugbs and blankets in thu
dark corner OF the cabin; then for the thirC
time he said, talking in a whisper to those
curious and multitudin9us toes, "Jist sui
you, see now"
And so | read and read from Josephus
and the next day i wrote letter for him Il
his little sister at home to Savannah Land.
ing, Mo, and signed Ezekial Wells; 70,
although he had two brothers with him
young brothers. who were busy cleaning
up" in the claim, and faithful, loving broth
trs they were, too, not one of them knew
even so much OF books as the alphabet.
Let 1t be noted as we go along that nearly
all these men were sterDfy honest and they
all had more or less knowledge of tn
Bible; MANY OF them, 90 per cent more thar
now, had b bic names. 1T is very curious
thing worth noting. else | would no
bother 10 set 1t down, but / reckon they
must have brought these names and thi
tradition OF Holy Writ ell the way, through
generations, from Virginia and the Caro-.
lInas.
In about week the two younger brother,
got all cleaned up in the claim down in tht
gorge under the cabin, and their frienC
Flanagan weighed and brought them bacl
their dust. cleaned of black sand and stra,
bits Of clinglng quartz and pyrites OF iron
nearly $1,000. Not much, it is true, for thre
men. But the long. slim creature In tn
corner, who by this time wasApretty wei
doubled up, all EXCEPT the persistent ait
ever-moving feet, stopped coughing Ion!
enough. as they set the dust in the gold pai
by his bedside, to say. boys, divide up an,
20 home"
And here was the example of another ira