The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-02-20
Life Story of a Philosopher
==FOrCes of the Unseen.

schooner Henry. bound from SAG Fran
cisco en- "a Whaling sealing. abaIcne cur
ing and general PICK Ip voyage" along the
I.ower California coast. AZ ne could cook
nothing wei save irish stew MS expert
ences and those 4 the schooneTs captain
and crew were unusual from the begin
uias q the voyage. Described ~ Null
ford. they seem 10 have been funny, and
80 they doubtless often were. bttt II took
h.g own genial fancy 70 find the <an and
his own clever pen 20 bring out the humOr
- the situations.
When this voyage was over. he lift of
f0ticvs luE the sea for the second time aca
wen, 10 tire placer regions Tnis course
yras not taken without a struggle. for ne
reshipped as cook or another vessel hut
vas discharged before she cleared 5e-
cause NJ couldn't cook He had SO as
his share q the proceeds from the Henry's
catch ~ whales bat be spent n good deal
% IL before ~ went out to the mines.
lis frs; failure in the mountains was
peCdlng meat Then he hired himself 10
the man VINO kept the chief store. saloon
end boarding house at Hawkins Bar.
There he was "errand boy. barkeeper.
h0okseeper woodchopper, assistant cook
and general maid Of All work" He was
again likewise failure and. being dis
charged with the storekeeper's blessing.
was forced 20 seek gold with dipper and
cradle
II was not until after 1850 that Muford
saw ne Was also a failure al mining. he
found g0id-indeed. a good deal Of IL In
the aggregate bat the net was NIL So he
became a schoolmaster at Jimt0wn. Tuoi-
umne county. he earned plenty Of expe-
rience. bat little money there. In lsG2 the
copper fever broke out In Stanlslaus coun-
y. and be quilted school teaching u form
a company TO mine this metal For a year
Re-
sense at least, since the Company's head
quarters were away UP IN the mouEt3ins.
last this enterprise failed also and was
abandoned ia It's turn.
Wearing home made snow shoes. he
started for the coast alone In the dead OF
winter over q tran deep buried by the
snow Fer days he struggled along. bare
~ eseaplug death by freezing sliding over
preclp!Ces and drowning His survival Is
ore Of tae mysteries. Afte- that ne dug
post holes 10 live Then he wrote cut Il
lecture. and when h HAD delivered =
rl2ny times 20 tho rocks and the trees he
invited a few friends 20 go into the court
house az sonora and hea- II. They liked
IT, and then for some time he earned .
livelihood on the rostrum. 1t was tough
work, though aud he generally had 10
walk from one place 70 the next because
he couldn. afford 10 ride.
l. 1851 ne ran f1- the state legislature.
Lut he got "a little mixed about green
harFs" and failed 81 election AL along
he had been an occa siCnal contributor 70
coast newspapers and his work had at
,ractsd general attention In ISIS he was
amazed by being asked 10 Join the staff
u the San Francisco Golden Era. From
that time to his death his pen was almost
constantly employed. ana mu-n Of his
work was % an exce edingly higt order.
Some of his humorous writing was fully
eqgS. 60 that OF Mark Twain a., mis- best
Auitord ictt san FranCisco I'm ISL after
having served three papers-the last of
which was The Chron!cle-successive
aof successfully. too. had he only known
81. Bat in his own mind ne was san
failure. and. as he used % say years after
ward. Il seemed a wonderful thing 10 him
tha1 any editor should bay his manu-
script. Yet a. shat very time there was
a much greater demand for his work than
hH c1uia possibly supply For years ther,-
after ~ Travelled tn Transatlantic lands
ana his carvesp oaderce found PLACES IN
~osne ol rhe best known newspapers and
I'ft o0.cals I'm the country Then he set
t.eI down on ,ke now dead and some New
Yofk Daily Graphic
Il Was ONE 0f ble G1tirE while cTnlovpd
on Chat paper - couieusc each DAYS
rres e. "a column. and thil work which
d3tc rs most neu would have been thor