Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-09
THE CARE-FREE ARIzoNIAN.
Generally as He Best when He Has No
Money 1t All


Money ut All
Correspondence Of the New York Post.
But the town life has little Of novelty or in.
terest compared with country life. Here YOU
find the true American pioneers. These are
made up of oil sorts and conditions Of men.
Besides the regular settlers there are army off,
GERS. court martialed for intemperance; old
mining spectators, who have found it but a
step from . California broker to an Arizona
prospector; outlawed rogues hailing from un-
known quarters, and one-lunged wanderers of
every cast and complexion. This motley crowd
is divided, according to occupation, into three
classes, supporting themselves BY mining.
farming or cattle raising. Farming is .on-
fined to the southern parts Of the terri
tory, and differs little from farming in the
central states, with the exception Of irrisa-
ton. The miners are much the same as in
California, although Arizona has probably
larger number of placer miners since the
restrictions laid upon them in Califor-
mia have driven most of them out of the state
The ranchers or cowboys the peculiar product
OF the high plains Of the west, scarcely need to
be mentioned Yet il is the cowboy and miner
especially 20 whcr we are indebted that Ari-
iona life is what it is. They give il the spice
of reckless independence for which 1t is
proverbiai. They love their freedom too well
to endure even the sht restrictions of town
life. There is an intangible something in the
air that makes worry wholly absurd. OF what
over else an AriZonian may DO guilty he is
never guilty OF taking thought for tho morrow.
he Will give away his last cent and be rs care
free as though he had millions in reserve.
Christmas serves as an index of this. In the
west it is a crime to be misorly, therefore
trlfling rememhrarces a: Christmas time are
desplcable. One must needs spend all he has
ana more, too. to give even y few ordinary
presents to ones nearest friend. A ranchman
sends IN SIS or $50 by the stage driver to buy
nice doll. A Chinese cook presents his en-
ployer with SIS sleeve buttons. A dry goods
clerk spends $500 or $500 in diamonds for his
wife so as not to be outdone in giving. Yet
this is perhaps only eastern extravaganza writ
large.
10 see an Arizonian at his best you mus. see
MIN when he has no money at all. An eastern
Spectator who had invested $50 600 to SAC, 900
In mine and lost it is downright certain that
life is not worth living. But take an Arizona
miner who has invested his all in mine. He
Will put in labor rs well capital He will
sink his own shaft and do his own blasting aad
work the whole year through on his hands and
knees In hot, sitting drift, with the water
trucking down upon him from the surrounding
walls When the mine fails, as it SO often does.
and all the years work is lost. the Arizonian
does not stop long to bcnoan his fate. He first
removes his mind by swearing, then hastens to
dispose OF his belongings, only reserviag for
himself burro. a pair of blankets canteen and
gold pen. Now he Is q prospector equipped for
work. ready to search out new mines tor him.
self or to prospect on shares for any one who
VIII 'Grub-stske" him. And should you meet
nm week later you would not be able to tell
whether be had lost a mine or found one.
Mbole-souled generosity when times are
Hush and easy good nature when times are hard
are characteristics typical of the country. One
cannot live here long without being convinced
that, II surroundings alone do not make the
Arizonian, they surely have most to DO III mold
ing him. Nature round about us does every
thing on mammoth scale. The mountains she
heaves up are too many to count and too rug
ged to climb; the breezcs when they come are
young whirlwinds; the rain she sends is sure to
DC torrent or water spout, and she Is more
than prodigal In the way she scatters her huge
powders all over the land. Is il strange, then,
that some of these freaks of nature are seen
reflected in the people who live SO close TO her?
If man drinks he drinks to excess; if he
mas money he fairy throws it away.
The cowboys are reckless of life and limb.
the miners are incredibly daring, and
the stories they tell OF their marvellous exploits
are more phenomenal than any of natures
wonders. The light-heartedness Of nature
Is contagious. One meets a Micawber at every
cross road, expectantly waiting for something
to turn up. If not rich today they will be to-
morrow; and this hopefulness they carry with
them even down into their graves. Truly. q
land like this teeming with perennial cheerful
ness, must have been expressly created as a
home for the penniless tramp. and magnif-
cent home it makes for him, where he can en-
joy, the fathomless depths of poverty undis-
turbed.
1t is all the more surprising to learn how few
OF the Arizonlans intend to remain here per-
menently. Notwithstanding the attractions OF
tins 'nsr l+fe. Persons who have lived in the
territory fifteen or twenty years never speak of
A. d. .Ae.r home. They all intend TO make
some money and then go east. And many Of
them do this but in less than six months they
are back again with the explanations: II Just
couldn't breathe in that little town down east,
SO I've come back. Besides, it seemed kind O.
gloomy to me, too; they had SO many shade
trees you couldn't see out"