The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-24
ARGoNAUr SANS STORY.
BY REV. J. D. GILLIAN.
CWrltten for The Herald.l

written for The Herald.)
Il banned him out over and over again,
But found nary sign of a color"
Said Argonaut Sam, one evening, when,
AS sitting astride OF a box. to some men
/ He was spinning an old California yarn,
And then,
With arms set akimbo, he Strengthened
his back,
And said: Twas one night in the SOS.
There KEN up the trail from the guleh
just below
A youngish-like Teller, but steppin' so
slow,
heartily pitied him, even before
L saw his pale brow and heard the short
OF his troublesome cough, and plain
enoug lack
OF more'n enough power to bring to my
door
That tremblin' young body.
He had a small pack,
A blanket and buckslSin, but that want
In them days when notions and fashions
wuZ slack;
When all a man needed besides pick and
/ pan,
Was a wallet of leather to hoard uD his
Or place to git grub staked chat means
to get trust
Till he found a good prospeck)
And then he'd put in
His very best ticks: fur in them days it
wuz sin
For a man strong o Dody, o Wind anu
T. hang around loaiin' all day-twas too
thin.
We'll, this puny Teller he'd grindstun-
like grit,
But wuz clean tuckered out when my
cabin he hit,
N fell down a-faintin' jest inside my
door
His eye set n CLASSY; he seemed done-for,
So l Strengthened him out-couldn't do
any more
Than to put back his hair, and damped
his brow
N to feel for his pulse-joyI found it
slow
N fiickery tho, stoppin' and startin'-
n now
Gone again; then it revived, but so faint,
don't you know
That fer full twenty minutes l couldn
heV Sed
Whether the Teller wuz Twin or dead.
III.
"All that night I watched him n long
lords light
1 made up my mind tibet d save that
young life
If it took me all summer. I'd fight
With grim Death to finish fer him.
Nd so L begun. L quit workin' my claim
| Whar I'd git on an average Cpon my good
name)
But then, in them days we thought nuth-
in you see,
O. iayin' by stuff for rainy day. We s
He'd plenty; the diggin's were rich n
were thick
Scattered over the kentry; most every
crick
He'd plenty of gold in nugget and dust
Nd the man thet wuz stingy he'd ort to
be cuSSed-
So I shouldered my task
1t WuZ wonderful how
The new life appeared to come back to
my boy,
Ger that's what called him. my boyD
n the joy
OF pervidin' fer suthin' beside my lone
self
Made me happy You see tn Experience
wuz new,
Fer I'd lived all alone ever since 40.
When back in Ohio I'd buried my wife
And baby; since then I'd looked upon life
AS a weary. unfriendly, detestable load;
So that's why lived by myself-don I
you see?
1 didn't love nothin', and nothin' loved me.
".
But now of young Josh-his name wuz
Josh Clark
He'd come from old York state-could
He wuz finely brought up, N that mother
of his.
A sister he told me- N girl he called Liz.
Would give the hull earth if they only
If he wuz alive: but so hard-hearted. he
Could never be grateful to them nor to
me.
Tho I he'd no claim on him; yet it would
After all 1 he'd done fer him, surely some
CLEAN
OF gratitude somewhere might some time
Besides spendin' my all, 1 he'd broken
down too,
Wuz a shattered old man, tho but then
fifty-two,
Having given my health and tiny strength
to pull thro
MY boy-fer 1 loved him if ever men do.
But no, it appeared that he had no more
heart
Than the fabulous Charon, whose prin-
cipal part
In human affairs wuz to tear far apart
The tend rest of ties, and with his foul
breath
Blow them across styx-the dark river
of Death.
Not once did he thank me, N never asked
I nussed him to life std O. Iettin him die
His wants were demands N his wishes
commands
N once in the dusk as we sat on the
sands
Of the stream tibet run by. he reached
with his hands
So quickly, an so unexpectedly too.
Grabbed me by my hair, an out with q
knife
An demanded my gold. 1 thot fer my
life
He wuz jesting-but 10. When 1 seen that
fierce look
OF murder and pillageI knew what I'd
done
I'd thawed out a viper upon my hearth
stone
Nd now wuz becomin its prey.
V.
But I'd none
I'd spent all the surplus 1 he'd to save
him.
I'd missed all the summer m fall to
nurse him.
Who now like tiger demanded my life
Hold on, my dear Josh-but wait my dear
boy
No further I got fer his hands clutched
my throat
wrenched myself loose-but, graphing
my coat
He throwed me agin', now mailman
indeed
His poinard wuz raised; said: DO your
best,
I've give you now everything possessed
But life; take it now if you like
And he struck.
VI.
How long I remained on the ground
don't know,
But when l come to 1 wuz lynn in bed
, NJ the DeODle WIZ Wal<in' n SDea kim so