The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1897-10-22

4
get no one to give anything above the
mortgage. Everybody knows 1t is mort
gagged and are waiting to buy 1t at sheriffs
sale. Rhoades knows this, too, and now
he says II will save us lots of trouble and
costs II we will give him quitclaim deed
and surrender peaceable possession.
begged him to walt awhile. but after he had
learned you had gone out to the mines he
said he would not walt a day; that you
were on wild goose chase. and, dear hus-
band, he even intimated that he believed
you were never coming back to us. That
made me angry and may have said things
to him that / should not. but could not
help It. Now dear husband l cannot
stay here after having sold the COW; there
Is nothing to do here, you know, except
washing and ironing and house cleaning.
and am not strong enough for that. Mrs.
Simmons will take Bessie and let her help
with the housework and 60 to school, and
! will sell the chickens, pigs and furniture
and take little Charlie and go to Cleveland
to try to get sewing or something. 1t will
be, oh, so hard. but 1t cannot be helped
Now, dear husband. do not worry; we will
get along some way. Remember the words
of the prophet: Once / was young. but
now ! am old, but never have l seen the
righteous forsaken or their seed begging
bread Now. dear husband take care of
your health, and If you do not find anything
out there soon. come back to us, we miss
you, oh, so much Every night Bessie
prays for her papa, way out in the mines.
and that he may find something rich. You
may be sure that echo her prayers Write
as soon as you get this, dear husband, for
cannot stay here long.
Your loving wife,
MAGGIE"
This letter was passed around; two
or three started to read it aloud, but
they broke down, and it was silently
passed from one to another. 1t was
well for Mr.. Rhoades that he was not
in camp.
He told me all about it," said Sam.
"They was five acres in the home place
that he got from his fathers estate
close to town, an he bought five more
joinin', mortgagin' the ten to make up
the balance of the money. He'd a-made
it all right, but times got hard, an first
one, then another of them got sick an
he had to keep on a-mortgagin'. He
see he could never pay out, SO he come
out here to see if he couldn't strike
it, leavin' nearly all the money they
had with his wife, an this cuss Rhoades
sayin' that he'd let the mortgage stan
anuther year, now-dern him. See that
stain there? That's from bunch of
he lowed they must a-been from the
yellow harvest trees back of the gar
den, poor cuss. Take lleer of yer
health, dear husban',' an him a-layin'
fat on his back up there in his tent,
without money enough for months
grub. Come back soon to us'-hum m.
Look here pardners, let's answer Bes-
sizes prayer, an show this Teller
Rhoades whether mimi is chasin' wild
geese ur not. Mebbe Sans dern fool,
an l know he amt got much money,
but he can rustic. I'll go purity nigh my
pile ON it-there's so; who's all in on
it?" and he slammed two 20s and 10
on the bar. LIT was just like Sam, and
whoever heardan appeallike that go I'M
answered in mining camp? There
man saw Sans ante, and those that
did not have that amount borrowed it
from their friends. In few moments
$3.50 in gold lay piled on the bar.
Sans eyes ghstened as he counted the
money. "Everybody's in on the game, "
he said; won't he be paralyzed? Now,
pardners, every one of you come down
and see what he has to say"
NO nonsense, Sam; you take it down,
an tell US what he says tomorrow"
mo, In be derned if l do. Some of
you fellers got to come along. amt
a-goin' to play this hand alone any
longer" So three or four of us went
with him. Well. there is no use going
into details. What would you or any
other man say under the circum-
stances? Finally he wanted to give us
q note or send mortgage back as Sc
curity, but we laughed at him, and all
of us crawledl into our blankets that
night conscious of having done some
thing that might balance something
else on the debit side of the recording
angels ledger. He was too i'll to travel
alone, and at last, after repeated urg-
ings, Sam was induced to accompany
| him.
You can bet your life," said Sam
that I'll give Mr.. Rhoades the camps
respec's."
Not long after that my partner and
l left the gulch and drifted into Cripple
Creek. One day when court was in
session we dropped in to see how court
organized under the code operated.
well, I'll be d." muttered my part
ner as he pointedto the prisoners dock
There were two men in it, Pyrites Sam
and the tenderfoot. The air seemed tc
grow suddenly close in the courtroom
and we went out.
At noon we went down to the Jail
and were allowed to see the prisoners.
Hello, Sam; how's Rhoades?'
Hello, hello; how's the boys down al
Tough Nut?" and Sam and his part
ner grinned.
Look here, Sam, you done the camp
up in good shape, and you know we
won't squeal, but tell us aboutit."
Sure; but then they ain't nothin' te
tell; this is my pardner, an there was
no fever, no Rhoades, no Maggie, nc
Bessie, no Charlie, no mortgage, nc
farm, no COW, mono apple blossoms, NJ
nothin', but jest me an him."
AN so FOOLS" said my partner, as we
vent out. He made brief mental cal
culation, then said: Sam was there
three months an his pardner one, an
they cleaned up twelve hundred an fiji
ty each. not bad 'snecially when the,