Year: 1875

We were silent for long time; ther
he said:


"Well, I'll try again. BY Heaven! II
make her take you'll"


And he was gone.


And Anna promised that if the mines
prospered we'll for two years more under
my care, and if / then went to the ole
country and graduated in medicine at 8
British university, she would become my
wife.


"Oh, Anna," I pleaded, "you are
cruel! Think of the terrible ordeal you
assign to me! An old, rough silver miner
accustomed to savage men and savage
WAYS, to go to study medicine at uni.
versity! Oh. tits cruel! 1t is unfair! ]
must surely fail. am overweighted in
the race. Be merciful! I'll do anything
at mining; but at college learning | have
little chance"


Then she turned on me with her proud
impetuous beauty and naughty dignity


"Sir, if you do as | have said, l shall
marry you-not till then"


There was fiashtand a rustling OF
silk, and her father and l were alone.


And here I am working hard to become
doctor. Another year, and | hope to
be in position to claim Anna for my
wife. Lovely Anna! Oh, how good she
isl Yes, you have guessed right. That
poor woman who was to get her hand
amputated was so like Anna that could
not stand it, That was the reason why
| ran away.


I thought over his story as | traversed
the gas-lit city streets on my way to my
lodgings I thought long and deeply on
the tender tale-for tender it was-and
all the more affecting that jackson was
so stern and rugged himself.


Ugly old Jenny let me in, and gave me
my frugal tea. Invent to bed, feeling as
if dream had been realized.


Time passed, and at length Jackson
and | found ourselves at the end of our
medical curriculum at the close Of our
last session, and preparing to go up to
meantime poor Jackson had not recruit
ed very well after his terrible illness
He still remained pale, shrunken and
emaciated. 1 could not help frequently
thinking that this bad state of health
WIS uuC IIlOIC W u1CnbdI tldu W puySlCdl
suffering, Of one thing | was quite
sure-while he seemed to be continual
ly writing and posting letters to Califor-
MIA, very few were sent to him from that
part of the world. At times [ almost
fancied that poor old Jackson's stout
heart was being slowly broken. | could
read terrible agony in his cold gray
eyes. Twas indeed seldom that he re-
ceived note from Anna, and had rea
son to know that the few which she did
send were very short. One day l found
Jackson sitting poring over one of them
as if in trance. imagined that he was
trying to extract kindness from it
which the words of the message did not
express


In spite of all this, however, my friend
made most marvellous progress in his
studies. He did not work like other
students-he seemed be possessed. He
was ill; he was anxio&ss yet / was con-
scious that his attainments far exceeded
mine, although also worked very hard
and constantly, and possessed many ad-
vantages which he lacked. Then came
that anxious and terrible day on which
we must stand the trial of the final ex-
In the evening we would
either be "plucked'' or graduates of our
university and qualified to practice our
profession Jackson and | had read a
great deal together, and ground each
other we'll, and we were both conscious
of having worked honestly; still con-
fess to very considerable degree of
nervous apprehension when the day
dawned which was to test our attain
ments. I need not detail that days
doings; suffice it to say that both jack
son and were pretty well satisfied with
ourselves when we came to compare
notes in the evening. A week must
elapse before the result would be pub
licly announced-week of misery. But
one day Jackson and ], rushing up to the
blackboard in the first quadrangle, found
the list of passed" men affixed thereon.
With throbbing heart and swimming eye
devoured, rather than scanned, the roll.
joy! oh, happy relief! oh,
proud Observation-Disclosures was my own
name among the successful men;
and a grunt from Jackson told
me that he was all right Then
we pointed out our names to each other,
took last longing look, then arm in arm
walked away with feelings beyond de-
scription. That evening Jackson wrote
and posted letter to Anna, informing
her of his success; then he scanned the
shipping advertisements to see the earli
est opportunity which he would have
of getting back to California to claim
his bride; and having settled these af-
fairs he accompanied me home to my
lodgings. We enjoyed ourselves to the
full-drinking toddy, smoking cigars,
chatting or indulging In happy,
dreamy silence till two o'clock in the
Then we parted, with mutual
congratulations and good wishes.


To my utter amazement and indigna-
ton, Just as / was in the act of getting
into bed, "Old Jenny" thrust her mahog-
any countenance into MY room, and in
duIged in prophecy to the eff
feet that something "no canny"
would happen to Master Jackson"
for she had Just had an lawful dream"
about him. from which she was awak-
ened by the noise of his departure. l
was somewhat puzzled at first to decide
whether this was sort of revenge for
the annoyance we might have given her
or whether it was sly and roundabout
way to come at her share of the tOddy.
At any rate l ended by laughing and
telling her to take nip" She
thanked me; said she would; then, ask
ing if was all right in bed, coolly turned
off the gas and walked out of the room,
leaving strong impression on my mind
that she had walked off with the whisky
bottle in the dark.


Next morning l had fearful headache
and felt utterly PROSTATE. Bottles OF
soda-water and cups of tea formed my
only sustenance, and | kept my bed all
day. 1t was long, dismal day to me,
but through it all had the happy con-
sciousaess that had" passed" Che day
had been wet; in the evening it cleared
up little. had just fallen into light
but refreshing sleep when "Old Jenny