The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-14
CHAPTER |. oh, Susamnahl

OMEWHERE in this story must
 write a paragraph exclusively
 about myself. The fact that in AZ the outcome of all these stir ring events I have ended as a mere hookkeeper is perhaps good reason why one paragraph win be enough In my youth had dreams a-plenty, but the event and the peculiar twist of my own temperament pre- anted their full dIlment- Perhaps in a more sQueam- lsh age-and yet that is not fair either to the men whose destinies I am try ing to record Suffice it, then, that of these men have been the friend and companion, of these occasions have been part, and that the very lacks and reservations of my own character that have kept me to subordinate DO sitIon and little garden have prob ably made me the better spectator Which is a longer paragraph about my self than I had purposed writing. Therefore win pass over briefly the various reasons, romantic and practi- cal. why decided to join the gold rush to California in the year 1S49. It was in the air, and I was then of roman tic and adventurous disposition.
 The first news of the gold discovery filtered to us in a roundabout way FoSSGIS lands, and then appeared again in the columns of some Baltimore paper. Ev- anybody laughed at the rumor, but ev- infinitely remote, and then, as now, TO- nance increases as the square of the distance. There might well be gold there, but more authentic were the re ports of deas, rawhides and a dried up coaat- Minstrel shows made good deal of fun of it all, remember. Tlien, when we were of broad grin. came the publication of the letter writ ten by Governor Mason to the war de partment. That was a sober official document and had to be believed, but it read like fairy tale
 "I have no hesitation in saying wrote the governor, that there is more gold in the country drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers than would pay the costs of the late war with Mexico a hundred times over." And he then went on to re port in detail big nuggets and big wash 1ngs, mentioning men, places, dates, in q cfrcumstantial manner that carried conviction.
 Our broad grtns faded. The min streIs' jokes changed color. As look sbaci: it seems to me that I can almost see with the physical eye the broad restless upheava1 beneath the surface of all society. The Mexican war was just over, and the yeterans-young vet 9erans all-flled with the spirit of ad- venture turned eagerly toward this g1ittering new emprise. Out in the small villages, on the small farms, the news was talked over seriously, al- most without excitement. as offering possible means of lifting the burden war had laid. Families strained their resources, mortgaged their possessions. ito equip and send their single strong est members to make the common for tune.
 Then came the song that caught the popular ear, and the rush was on. Most great movements are done to song, generally commonplace. It was so in this instance. "Oh, Susannahr' or rather a modification of the original made to it the occasion, first sung in some minstrel show, ran like fire in khe finder of Nn en's excited hopes. From every stage. on every street cor ner, in every restaurant and hotel it was sung, played and whistled. At the sound of its first notes the audi