The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-04-20
MY FARTHER.
How SIocum Came to Assist Me in
Herding Turkeys.
His Quest for Peace and Solitude Was
Made a Hollow Mockery-The
Last Attempt.

of TO people who will eventually come to
the conclusion that they are only guess
ing at things themselves, and that it is
easier to buy it,, have been more and
more confident that we nre all not only
the creatures of circumstance, but that
we are failures when we are anything
else, which is more likely, inasmuch as
we have no means of readjusting calam-
ity, if it was, and moreover there isn't
any use, if it is.
remember me that 1 tried to impress
this theory upon Slocum, when we were
herding turkeys together over on Coyote
| Creek. until we failed on account of the
way the coyotes tlourisheG, and because
too much industry was necessary in the
enterprise
The turkeys We're never safe, except at
night, when they roasted as high as they
could get. and then the wind would blow
them down and the coyotes would eat them
up. Slocum finally mustered sufficient
energy 10 quit the job, and after awhile l
got out of 1t, too, as there were no more
turkeys and nothing but coyotes.
Slocum came from Vermont, or some
where east of Omaha, where he had mar
rled without mature and satisfactory de-
uDordllOll, anu he CAME 10 IDlS coast, as
this was as far away as he knew how to
get. He went into the pastoral business
OF herding turkeys more TO seclude him
self from work and society than from any
desire to amasS bank account.
After he married and concluded to
settle somewhere, as far from his wife as
he could get, Slocum's chief object in
life seemed to be that of avoiding indus
try and people, and he sought the farthest
frontier he knew of. He made his abode
wherever he could find a nice secluded
spot, hundred miles or SO from any,
body else, and whenever he was crowded
he moved.
He arrived in this State too late, how
ever, for it began to be settled rapidly,
ana about the time he got fairly located
where acornS and wild fruits were plen-
tiful, he heard of some one else coming.
and moved. He couldn't get on with
other people, at all, and whenever. by
accident he mot anyone else fight en-
sued, and SlOcum always got whipped
He kept moving around, however, and
was successful in life, so far as avoiding
work went, until unOccupied territory
began to give out, and he got fenced in TO
an area OF a few miles square.
When he found that he was hemmed
in on all sides, he withdrew to the side OF
a mountain and built sort OF balcony in
front of a cave, into which he retreated
and then put up a sign, NO Admittance."
and another, keep OF the Grass" in
his front yard.
Finally, however, some Supervisors,
who owned that part OF the country,
opened a road through Slocum's terri
tory, and every few days wagon would
go by so close to his cave that he could
hear ii.
At this juncture ne began to realize that
he was face TO face with work, and as he
I l. gNN NrNft, /
TO dig the cave deeper and get as far into
| the mountain as possible In this project
he was, singularly enough, industrious,
and he got so far underground that peo-
pie had begun to forget about him, and he
thought he was safe.
Some time slipped quietly away, and
was stacked up in the cleaning, when
one day prOspector found a quartz ledge
up on the mountain back of Slocum's,
and set to work digging a shaft. The
miner was fixing up his find to sell, so he
worked faithfully, regardless of the fact
that there wasn't any mine there. He
expected to dig the shaft so deep that he
could sell it anyhow, on the strength of
its development"
He figured that the wary capitalist
would know that no one would dig a deep
hole in a mountain, and keep ut it, un-
less there was Slime there, and he dug
away until he got down to Slocum's level.
The next morning the honest miner
bought supply OF dynamite, as he
wanted 20 get along faster, and beside, he
desired to blow some "salt' into the
mine, So he went down into the shaft,
tamped in a big dose of dynamite, and
then climbed out before it went oil. He
might have got out cheaper, but he
climed out.
| Well, Slocum was at home Just before
the dynamite went, but he didn't know
what was going on Tor rather Off, and
he stayed where lie was until it was too
late for him to pack his trunk. He didn't
have any trunk, anyhow. so he wouldn't
have had to pack it if he had wanted TO.
! And so, shortly after the miner had
climbed out Of the shaft, where the dyna-
mite was, and to which he had previously
attached a lighted fuse, the blast ex-
! ploded.
! 1t went off simultaneously, and without
hesitation, and blew the bottom out of
the shaft, and about ten tons of the
bowels OF the earth out through Slocum's
apartment. SlOcum, who was taken UNI
awares in his tancied security, went
along.
OF course the miner was surprised and
grieved when he Investigated the effects
of his blast and found that he had blown
the bottom out of his scheme, and he sub
sequeuty died-a number of years after
When Slocum realized the situation, he
naturally believed that he was the victim
of plot, and that the shaft was dug for
the sole purpose of blowing him out. He
thought, however, that there was too
much labor attached to seeking revenge,
and so he moved away-still farther from
the locality than he had been projected
and tried to find peace.
And thus it is, as l set out to assert, that
imam is most ignorant of what he's most
assured" and certainty is at times I'M
certain, regardless of the ultimate and
most profound philosophy at both ends.
SQUINK.