Year: 1864

BY WILLIAM II. THoMEs.
| Il think" said Mr. Dana, as he pushed bacl
| his chair from the breakfast table, and looked
hard at his wife, a pretty little woman, witt
large blue eyes, | think that l should like tC
go to California and try my luck. Darn it all
every body is going about here. Do you thinl
you could spare me for a year, Nelly2"
Mrs. Dana made no immediate reply. Sh'
appeared to be very busy turning out cup o
tea, although keener observer than her hus
band would have noticed an uncommon tremu'
lousness in her hands, as Mr.. Dana ceased speak
ing.


a think 1 might do well there, /" the husband
continued, as though speaking to himself


q Are you not doing well here on your farm?'
the wife asked, at length.
| 4" I'm making living, perhaps; but it's only
! by hard work. Now if should go to Califor'
nia, and be lucky, why. we could have great
many more comforts than we are blessed with al
present"


We have everything that we could wish fol
to make us contented, and I'm sure sigh for M
| luxuries, excepting what we can well afford,
Mrs. Dana replied.


"Yes we have enough to eat and clothes tC
wear, but we can't buy lots of good furniture
and have piano, like Squire Bolton. Darn it
l want to be as rich as he is, and then l should
be contented," said Mr.. Dana, rising from his
CHAIR, dnu Walking DdCh anu lOltl III TIC hiSSu
en- with energy.


" Mr.. Bolton is far from being happy, with al
of his wealth" said the wife.


well, know that; but then who could b
contented with such wife as he has? She's
either crazy half the time, or else


"Hush" cried Mrs. Dana, with reproachful
look; remember, if she have faults, so have we
ALL"


=" But what meant, Nelly, is that if he had
such wife as I've got, and with his wealth, he
couldn't help being happy"


And yet you want to leave a wife you think
so highly Of Mrs. Dana said, with reproach-
full look.


But don't you see that it is for your comfort
and benefit in the end? You know, Nelly, that
nothing in the world would induce me to quit
you, unless it was the hope of making a for
tune in short time | wouldn't be gone long
er than year, and if liked the country, and |
thought you would be contented there, I'd send
for you


The yonng wife strove hard to retain her COM
posure as she asked:


And what will you do with the farm while
gomez"


81 will get my youngest brother to come and
live here, and carry it on. You shall be LETT IN
full charge, Nelly, with power to do as you
please"


"Give me a week to think oft" the wife re.
piled; at the end of that time Ill make uT
my mind whether to consent to your going ol
not. -


Mr.. Dana was too well pleased to obtain even
this concession, to argue any further that day
and after bidding his wife read the accounts in
the newspaper, containing the latest news from
/ California, he started off to his work.
! Mr.. Dana owned farm ofabout one hundred
acres, near the town of Windsor, Vermont. He
was young man, and person of considerable
energy, and had, during his minority, saved a
sum OF money, which he had safely deposited
in the savings bank, until such time as he should
want 10 use it.


After he became of age, he had added to his
capital. and when he thought he should like
Jane Perkins for wife, and proposed for her
and was accepted he bought the farm which we
find him occupying, and was doing as well as
any young farmer in the neighborhood.
| He had been married two years when the gold
fever of I845-49 broke out sweeping thous-
ands of our most industrious mechanics and far
liners, and leaving many hearthstone desolate
and many a wife to mourn for her absent hus-
band.


| How few have returned with their anticipa-
tions realized? Thousands who left the New
England States, expecting to win competency
in short time, have been too glad to work their
passage back in some slow sailing tub, while
Others, too proud to return empty -handed, have
toiled on, barely gaining a livelihood, and now
rest from their cares and troubles by the bank
of some river, with nothing but a rude board to
mark their grave.


After Mr.. Dana left his wife, she washed her
dishes and put them away, and sat down to read
the glowing accounts of the gold discoveries -
The more she read, the more fascinated did she
become, until she at last came to the conclusion
that if she was a man she would be tempted to
go and try her luck,


Twice during the forenoon did she peruse the
paper, and each time her resolution of not con-
senting to her husbands departure grew weak
ler, until she finally made up her mind, if he
asked her consent again, she would give It,


Mrs. Dana was a woman of considerable en-
ergy of mind. Ever since child she had been
obliged to labor and by her contact with the
world, she had acquired a knowledge of busi-
ness, which did not, however, impair or detract
from the natural mOdesty of good woman's s
heart or mind.


A week had not passed before the husband
again alluded to the subject uppermost in his
mind. A company was about to leave Windsor,
and many of the young men of the town were
enrolling their names. Mr.. Dana thought it
would be good chance for him, as he would
have acquaintances to lend helping hand, in
case he was taken sick. His wife thought the





ing her consent to his going.
They were not aware of the selishness exhib-
tied in the gold regions, where each man strug-
gled for himself, and thought it waste OF time to
help his feverish friend to cup of cold water,
or make him a mess of Cruel TO keep him from
starving.


Mr.. Dana's arrangements were soon made
He had some money on hand, and with it he de-
termined to cross the Isthmus, in company with
his townsmen, as he thought he could make
enough in a weeks time, after his arrival, to pay
his passage.


They wrote to engage steerage berths, and re-
ceived answer that the steamer would sail on
such day, and that they must be promptly on
the spot. The news caused the party to hurry
their arrangements, and the day before they
were to start, Mr.. Dana requested his wife to
accompany him TO lawyers.


=" am going long Journey, he said, and
may be gone longer than l anticipate. | shall
leave you the farm to do with it as you please
If you get tired of carrying it on, sell it to the
best advantage; | shall make money enough
while am gone to buy a larger one when re-
turn. But l hardly think l shall live on farm
when / come back. Well get one of the grand
new houses in town, and live like Squire Boil
ton"


His wife thought at the time that there might
be failure in his schemes; but she was hope
full and would not say anything to dash his an
!tcipations.


The day of parting came, and with it tears
and mournful looks; but it was not until Dana
had left the house, never perhaps to return, that
the young wife felt the loneliness of her condi-
ton.


For week or two she was low-spirited and
sad but as she received letters from her husband
lin New York, written in a lively vein, and bid
ding her be of good cheer, as he should certain
Ily reioin her in course of a yearshe became more
composed and reconciled to his absence.
We will not follow him in the crowded steam
ship, nor cross the Isthmus, where he narrowly
escaped drowning, while ascending the river
nor will we tell of his arrival at San Francisco,
and departure for the mines, where he worked
in the bed of the river and was quite fortunate
until attacked with the fever and ague, which
roasted him at one moment and froze him the
next


He would lie i'll his tent and wish that the
gentle hand of his wife could wipe the moisture
from his brow or cover him with blankets when
shivering with cold. All of his adventures
might be written out and perhaps Mr.. Dana
will, some day, give thsworid an account of his
doings in the land of gold. They will possibly,
serve as a warning to other husbands, and thus