White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1911-01-22

there was no written laws they estab'
lished order; where there were nc
courts they commanded and enforced
justice, within a few months they
had called a convention and. though
quite half of them were from slave
states. they dedicated the new land
to freedom forever.
Some had tongues that were tipped
with fire and could sway a multitude
] as a southwest storm ways the
I mighty pines of the Sierras until the
roar rivals that of the lashings of the
ocean surges outside, that break al
the mountains feet.
Colonel E.. d. Baker was one oil
these. J. Y. MeDougal was another
so was Meredith, so was Edgington.
so Randolph; so were Scott and Mar
shall so we're a hundred more; sc
especially was Thomas Starr King
whose notes were the highest ano
sweetest of all: who when dying,
said: This cannot be approaching
death: such visions of splendor are
opening before me-"
There were marvellous writer's:
more legal talant than eve before
gathered in a population SO small.
there were scientists and scholars,
professors, statesmen. soldiers and
jurists mighty men of affairs and in
dustrial kings who under new condi-
tions wrought wonders never before
deemed possible.
l just spoke of Starr King. A
sentence that fell from his lips gives
an idea of him. He said: Great
purposes. and the spirit that counts
death nothing in contrast with honor
and the welfare of our country
these are the witnesses that man Is
not a passing vapor but an immortal
spirit"
When you hear the name of Bret
Harte, you think at once of Truth
full James" But listen to what he
wrote the night that Starr King died
Game the relief" What sentry no.
How passed the night through the
long waiting?"
Gold, cherries. dark, as may beht
The hour before the dawn is break
ing"
NO sight. or sound?" No, nothing
save
The plover from the marshes call
ing.
And in yon western sky, about
An hour ago. a star was falling
"A star? There's nothing strange in
that"
No. nothing. but above the thicke:
Somehow. it seemed TO M .that God
Somewhere. had just received a
picket"
Starr King was one or Gods pick
cts who stood guard on the battle
ments of righteousness every night
of the years of his brief manhood.
They were not all great. that old
band; some were boisterous and WHO
and reckless. They played for big
stakes. they drank and / am told that
some of them under great provoea-
ton. would sometimes fight. but as
a rule they were alert and true and
brave.
Most OF them succeeded. But some
did not. and those toiled on and sang
as they toiled. They made jests at
misfortune and laughed hardships to
But II last. as they slept under the
stars. Inc frost that fell upon their
hair would O melt in the warm sun
shine of the dawn for cares had come.
the calls of duty and self-saerifce
were in their ears, so they scarcely
Needed when youth gave up the
march by their side and disappeared.
When. one by one, the hopes ,ney
had so long held in their hearts,
hopes for loved ones, far more than
for themselves. faded and persisted.
so absorbed had their lives become
that when the loss fell upon them,
they made no sign.
They had come over the wear
trails from the east, or rounded the
Horn, or sought their way by the
charnal ships that crept down and
back from the Isthmus: they hao
taken their post graduate courses
from the mountains. their crags.
their SHOWS, and their pines. their
lights and their shadows. and from
the deep sea that rolled outside.
bringing strange whispers of far on
lands. until noe the fierce friction
they had become superior to distress.
But under the blows of Fate they
had grown strong. They had, too.
grown tender. Never were pure
women so much revered as by them,
never were children so loved: never
a cry of distress so quickly heard.
The eyes of most of them were fix
ed on golden mountains which SEEM
ed so real; they would reach them
just over the next divide, and so
marching with fired eyes like sleep
walkers, they noted not the open
graves before them; walked in and
disappeared.
No miser's love for gold was theirs.
To achieve something was their
dream. The gold was but an incident.
But they built some monuments TO
themselves.