Year: 1871

"1ou don't say that is his wife ?-Well


size is sumner, and no mistake. l con.


fess to an overwhelming curiosity con


corning that marriage Why, in the
! States he was considered an inveterate
bachelor. Somehow he never cared to go
round with the girls like the rest of us
did; but always took his mother every
where and waited upon her as though she
had been queen of England All the girls
liked him, and if he ever ventured where
they were, they would futter round him.
them second thought.


! His mother used to say, If my son ever
marries, twill be a superior woman quite
different from the girls one ordinarily
! meets


When we heard at home that he was
married, the girls said, little spitefully,
| reckon, There must be one wonderful
woman in California and they hoped she
would be superior enough to teach the
! old bachelor lesson or two How is it =
is She likely to?


Well, there smore other than you would
think at first sight. She must be real
good herself or she never would have ap-
freciatcd our friend. lie is solid and sub
stantial, but notyery snowy. I've known
him intimately for years, and l never
knew him to say or do mean thing. He
deserves his good luck, and will own it !;
though, to be honest, | wanted that wo-
man to be my wife, and have not reached
point yet where can take much pleas
sure in thinking of the wedding Come
over here under the trees, and I'll tell YOU
how it came about; but you'd better not
let on you know it, for It's sort of under
stood thing that we are TO keep it ON the
square and its rather q tender subject
with Us boys


1t was the summer of GO, we lived over
the canon am telling you about-therc were
thirty of Us in the gang, and we had four
cabins, with q store-house, which were
public property. We worked hard throu'
the week and ON Sundays did our wash
ing and brought our house work up lit
tie. ! suppose We should be called a
hard set, but We were not any rougher
than men who get a living by themselves
for year or two


Eight nf us campcd together, and each
of US had as distinct an individuality as
/ though We represented the different ma
tons. Somehow or other We had acquired
a sobriquet which was acknowledged to
be Characteristic and we were called by it
in camp 10 the complete ignoring Of our
real names


There was Hal Winterton, Southern
er, aud fierce sccessionist We called him
South Carolina David Austin, Con-
nccticut man and regular sell, we called
/ Nutmeg 'Dandie' stuck to Charley
Chuplin, for he was a regular fop Then
there was Ned Simpson, a regular Aunt
Betty'-you'd know his name at the first
glimpse without my saying aword. Otis
Allen would faint If he janlmed his finger
or had sight of blood. He was Our
Baby Jack Cummings was a wag and
he certainly deserved his cognomen, Jack
the Wicked Jim Woodruff was known
all over the country by the appcllation of
Judge, and your humble servant, from
his black eyes, swarthy complexion, and
jet black locks, perhaps something, too,
in my manner was styled Senior


Well, we were a goodnatured set of fell
lows, always making allowance for each
others peculiarities, and never having any
friction in the camp. Sometimes used to
think we joked Aunt Betty and Our
Baby rather numerically, but a word
from our Judge would sraighten us all
at once e Al Ak


If one was sick, we all took turn about
in nursing and watching, but the Judge
/ was always near to do it, Tender and
patient as woman; we all honored him,
and held him little higher in our esti-
nation than any of the rest.


n forgot to tell you that month before,
and when Dandy and Aunt Betty were
out of our number, we had in their place
Will Browning, who was equal to two
men any day. Good to work and good to
4 play, as smart as need be, and true to the
core. think most any of US would have
been glad to have gone with Will over
the mountains, but he said No; stay
where you are, boys; you are doing we'll
and if find anything better, l will let you


know at once. Then come all hands OF


you, and it will be a jolly time when we


all get together again


You know it wasn't the pleasantest


travelling in the world to get around two


years ago.


We hadn't heard word from VIII


though he had been gone for long time
: Several letters had come for him, but O
course we couldn't forward them, having
: no idea of his whereabouts, and we bae
, come to the conclusion that he woule
3 walk In upon US sometime dead broke ans
2 2 cured OF his rowing disposition. We hat


finished work one day, and supped of
: three BIS, as we called our beans and ba


con and bread; the table stood just wher
! !; we had left it, for you know the miner


are not very fastidious in their notions


We were sitting on long bench whicl


reached across the end of our rude cabin


talking over our days work and specula


ting on what the boys were doing over t,


the left side Of US, when all at once


young woman stood right in our cabil
> door.


Now woman Ia those days was Gu