The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-03-13

horizon had broadened; he had grown
stronger in mind as we'll as II body,
when finally promotion came hEa s,e be-
gan the upward climb of whicI each ad-
vaucing step seemed more favored of
| fortune than the last. A chance en-
counter with one OF the ASA RS of the
! establishment, to whom he lappened to
be of some trihing service, orought him
| into congenial companionsnip and a
friendliness of great use 10 him in
material ways. He had taught himself
stenography to beguiletle monotony Of
his time of shepherd ag, and now,
| through the assaye,'s influence, he WIS
| given position in the office; while
through further favor of his friend,
! whom he was always glad to help in
| work after hours, =: was enabled to
study assaying, fol which All enthus-
iasm for chemistry N his college days
had SO we'll prepared him that before
the year was out lie found himself reg"
| ,lar]y engaged il. THAT pursuit, which
was not only more congenial than office
| work. but afforded better wages.
! And now II another year Neil had
10 thought II complaining, though his
fortunes had come to q standstill. 4
system rigid as that prevailing in the
army regulated advance to tho higher
offices in the business. in which rarely
! anything but death served as ca11se OF
removal; and beyond the point the
young man had now at tained promotion,
was necessarily glow. After the hard
times he had known, however, the cons
parative afluerce of his present lot
was at first profoundly satisfying, ana
he asked no more; but there came day
when the restless ambition of youth
awolSe again, insistent, impelling. The
daily round Of unvarying duty grew
wearisome in view Of the fact that he
could look ahead 70 no definite advance;
he 1onged for wider field, for the stinl-
ulus of nearer possibilities; and, as
though fate had caught the unuttered
prayer, it was about this time that
lie went upon the vacation trip over the
Old Silver trail and stumbled upon tho
discovery Of free gold.
Naturally, he lost no time in begie"
ming work upon his mine, with the
s2nguine faith Of inexperience, count
ing upon immediate flow of wealth;
and Windy Gulch, long since arrived at
settled conviction that the ground here
abouts was all nttcr!y barren, in the
throes Of changing its mind was reused
to such pitch Of excitement that the
hills about came to be staked out with
claims and ri,:dled with prospect-holes
until it was all like an unkempt pot
ters' field; while the papers made so
much of the unexpected strike that Col.
Randolph Meredith, reading the account
Of it in New York, was moved to wire
his agent at Orodelphia to attend at
once to the long overdue assessment
work on the Grubstalse claim just over
the hill from the newly discovered Mas
cot, n property long docl1cted in the
colonel's mind along with certain other
possessions significantly known to him.
self as "yellow dogs"
But in mining, perhaps more gem
orally than in any other pursuit, it
j.. the unexpected that happens. A few
feet below the surface the Mascot vein,
erstwlile SO fair in promise, abruptly
"pinched out" scarce, showing even 81
trace Of mineral, while old miners
looking on declared that the ore would
rever come in again, however deep Neil
might sink his shaft. His discovery was
simply a pocket" nothing more; and
with heads wisely wagging and many
an assured ri told YOU so" Windy Gulch
yeercd round to its first opinion of the
ground, leaving Neil to his work alone.
The s'te1N]erfoot" confidence with
which he stuck by the claim came to be
regarded as rather IL good joke as ti1o
went on; but. prone most Of all to adj
n,ire that quality in man known in It's
own vernacular as F'sand," the young
man was held in growing respect, the
camp as unit declaring that he de-
served s'to play in better luck than
was ever likely to be his share up there
by the old trail.
To Neil it seemed simply inevitable
that he should go on with the work, all
though, with finances presently down
to BEDROCK" in the mining phrase, he
struggled against heavy odds. He had
80 far prohted by lessons of adversely,
however, that he was fertile in contriv~
ance; and when the last slice of bacon
had gone into the frying~pan and the
last stick Of giant powder had plowed
up the Mascot shaft to no end but to
increase its depth, in no wise dis
heartened, he betool1 himself to one of
The neighboring mines, there to ham
mer drill for day wages until a s1ffi-..
cient fund had been accumulated to re-
new the work. upon his own claim. So
for many months he alternated be-
tween the rough lot of the common
miner and what seemed the even harder.
experiences Of the mine-owrer, until
the 1,umbing touch of despair had slow
ly settled upon his heart and he went on
duly with the work, more from force
Of habit than from any living hope in
the outcome. And then, as though fate
had tried his mettle far enough, he ran
into free gold in such marvellous masses
es had never been known before in all
the region round.
Windy Gulch, altogether forgetting
its previous spirit of prophecy, turned
with renewed enthusiasm to it's aban-;
doned claims, while Col. Meredith was
80 far impressed by the published re-
ports that ROW he came himself to in!
spect his Grubstake holding, thinking;
good to clear q somewhat clouded title.
by relocating the claim, changing o
little the trend of the side lines, which
brought to more acute angle it's cross