Evening star., 1901-05-11

t
"RlindIuck IS the most remarkable thing"
said an old mechanic to a Star reporter
In IS-I4 with a party OF other young men
belonging in Washington. l started out to
California To find gold On our arrival there
We learned of the great finds on the FRA
zer river in British Columbia which Gre
ated as much excitement as the gold fever
in California and our party decided to go
there. There were seven of us in the party.
all of us good-iooking. but it turned out
that was the only thing in our favor and
il did not help us much. While in San
Francisco a young German, a dishwasher
in restaurant, who knew Of our intention
to 60 up into British Columbia asked to
Join tn" party His only recommendation
was that he could cook and willing to
dn So. He was about the ugliest-looking
young man that any of us had ever seen.
Ills face resembled that Of a sheep, and
was entirely devoid of intelligence. We
needed cook and consented to take him
along The trip was made during the win
ter. and much OF II was on the snow. FL
naIly arrived at the gold fields and be-
gan prospecting under the most difficult
circumstances. Our cook became footsore
and it WAS impossible for him to walk a
step farther. and We decided that We would
have To drop him the road to do the
best he could for himself. 1t was rough to
have to desert him, but there was no way
out of it. We built him a log hut cut
great quantity of wood and left him as
much provisions we could spare out of
our store and then bade him goodbye. He
thanked us for our kindness IN providing
for him well did and said he
would be willing to taNe his chances of get
ting out Of the country. His feet had
swollen that he could not wear shoes,
and for a week before LEFT him he
had worn mocCasins made out of gunny
sacks He spent the rest of the winter
there, but We went on As the fire in his
hut melted off the snow he found that it
was located on a pile Of rock. Needing
some of the rock to reconstruct his chim-
ney, he by accident OF luck discovered
that the rock was particularly heavy, but
he had Sense enough to keep the discovery
to himself. Several times during the win
ter parties passed by and proyisioned him.
In the spring he located a claim imme-
diately under his hut and set out his
stakes y few weeks afterward a party
of EngliShmen came along and very gladly
paid him $:tn.thD for his claim and besides
gave him a tenth interest in it Before he
left there he had bank account of over
SlJD,eHu. He is living today and owns real
estate including hotel, in San Francisco,
which is valued at about SioO,o0o. What
became OF the party? oh. nothing. We
kept on prospecting until our supplies and
money ran out, and then, when the cold
weather ended were glad enough to
rtdCH san L francisco. Where the most or the
party got work at our trades and In time
managed 2" get back to Washington. They
are all dead now except our cook and my
self Though L am seventyfive years of
age. | am still at work at my trade. house
painting and vanishing. l am good-look-
ing yet. my grandchildren say. but 1 would
have preferred the luck of the sheep-faced
man.
Repairing watches is an easy task now
compared to what it was when learned
the trade" volunteered a matchmaker to
a Star reporter. LAS far a. American made
watches are concerned. there is practically
10 necessity in making anything any more
for all the parts sold by the factories
and can be- replaced instantly without any
labor. excepting. of course, that required in
taking the watch apart replacing the in
jIrei or broken part and putting 1t to-
gsther again. This is an advantage in
favor Of the American watch, and Is what
is slowly. but surely, driving the Swiss
watch out of our market The Swiss
watch manufacturers will not sell parts by
the quantity to the trade. The result is
that when new parts are needed to repair
Swiss watch IL has to be made outright.
and the matchmaker necessarily has to
charge considerable for the work. | got a
bunch of wheels few days ago, about 1JO
iH all. in the regular trade way, for 80
Csnts Any one Of those wheels, If / had
To make them by hand, would take at least
day"
X X
In the way Of predictions as TO the
growth of Washington city," observed an
old citizen to a Star reporter. II think the
late col james q. Berret had a keenar in
sight than any man I ever knew. had
known him intimately for over fifty years,
and don't think L ever knew prediction
OF his that did not come true. He had a
faculty Of looking into the future as far as
this city is concerned which was remark
able i'll its accuracy. few years ago he
told me that inside Of the next thirty years
the center of the city would be about
whore the Methodist University is now be-
ing built This would not have struck with
much force had 1 not heard him make d
similar prediction thirty-eght years ago
when ne told of things which have already
come 10 pass | was a member of the city
council at the time. and the question of
building 4 public school at the corner of
18th and Z streets was under discussion
The nearest public school building then
was al the corner OF Eth and G. streets 1T
was contcnded by some, myself among
others. that this far out indeed ir wa
practically out in the woods for the square
north of it was d large nursery, known as
Pierces nursery. where a number Of the
trees that are now in various parts of tn,
city were grown The opposition had bu,
little effect on Col. Berret and he silenced
many of us by saying that he thought h.
would live TO see public school buildings
five miles further out on 18th street [ was
with him when the corner stone OF the
BrightwoOd school was laid. which proved
the prediction In every particular. though
since then public school buildings have
been erected out at Takoma nearly a mile
further out. and some may have to he bull,
soon even further out. In view of what has
happened since | can't help laughing at my
own Judgment. that the building at the cor.
ner of lith and z streets would be ia,