The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-30
TRUTHFUL JAMES AND xLono,xsss

We WOE sittln' free-like ez you and me
I'm our camp on the Stanisiow.
Round a roarin' fire OF bresh and brier,
stirred up by a pitch p.ne bough.
And Jones of Yolo had finished his solo on
Bilson's prospectin' pan.
And we all WOE gay until Jefferson Clay
KEN In with a Klondike man.
Now ! most despise low language and lies.
as I used to remark to Nye.
But the soul OF Truth-though he was but
a ~youth-looked out of that strang-
er's eye.
And the things he said I had frequent
read I'm the papers down on "the
Bay"
And the words he choosed WOE the kind
wot's used In the best theayter play.
He talked OF SHOWS. and OF whiskey wot
froze In the solidest kind of chunk,
Which IL took just a. pound to go fairly
around when the boys had a first
class drunk.
And Of pork that was drilled and with
dynamite filed before IL would yield
to a blow.
For things will be strange when
eters range to sixty degrees below.
How they made soup of b~oots-which the
Oldest best suits-and a FRY" from a
dancin' shoe.
HOW III 1ukOn NdhtN n tbfpst NC bdiis
might get up a fine "menoo.'
But their regular fare when they'd nothin'
to spare and had finished their Ina
mule.
Was the harness leather which with hides
went together. though the last didn't
count as a rule.
Now all this seemed true. and quite nat
ural. too. and then he spoke of the
gold.
And we all sot up. and reflled his cup.
and this is the yarn he told:
There was gold in heaps-but it's there 1t
keeps. and will keep till the Judg-
ment day.
For its very rare thai a man gets there
and the man that is there must stay!
It's a thousand miles from them Russian
isles till you come onto Fort Get
There
at the spot on the map-that OF gold
is barep.
Then a river begins that the Amazon
skins and the big Mississippi knocks
out,
For it's seventy miles cross Its mouth
when IL smiles. and-you've only be-
gun your route.
Here Bilson arose with a keerlesslike pose
and he gazed on that Klondike
youth.
And he says: Fair sir. do not think I in
fer that your words are not words
of truth,
But ia simply ask why-sInce thai all
men must d%ie-your speerit is wan
derin' here,
When at Dawson City-the more's the
~pity-you've been frozen up nigh a
year"
You need not care. for 7 never was
there said that simple kiondike
man.
"Tm a company foater and business pro-
moter. and this Is my little plan:
I show you the dangers to which you are
range and now for "A sum you'll
learn
What price you expect us-as per this
pro~spectus-to insure your save re-
turn"
Then BIlson stared. and he almost 'rared,
but he spoke In a calmlike tone:
you'll excuse me for sayin' you're rather
delayin' your chance to insure your
own!
For we re wayworn and weary. your
style isn't CHEEKY. we've had quite
enough OF your game"
But-what did affect us-he took that
prospectus and chucked IL right into
the hame!
Then our roarin' fire OF bresh and brier
flashed upon the Stanislow,
And Jefferson Clay went softly away with
that youth with a downcast brow.
And Jones of Yolo repeated his solo on
that still. calm evening air.
And We thought with a shiver OF Yukon
river and the fort that was called
Get There
Bret Harte In New York Journal.