Newspaper Page Text
LUMPKIN &. JORDAN, Editors and Proprietors
VOLUME 11.
M. Bertili.on, the French savant,
says that the number of suicides in
France is at the rate of 628 per 1,000,000
for widowers, 273 for bachelors and 240
for married men. It will be noted from
these figures that less married men com
mit suicide than either bachelors or wid
''vers.
ahe efforts of Dom Pedro to increase
the imperial revenues have been met by
resistance in Rio, the people objecting to
a head tax on street-car passengers.
Besides constructing anew system of
internal taxation, the Brazilian Finance
Minister has recently produced anew
tariff which is prohibitory to a great
extent, and will bear heavily on foreign
commerce, especially articles from the
United States.
The widow of ex-President Tyler has
asked Congress for a pension, on the
grounds of the immense depression in
the value of her real estate, the mortgage
on her northern property having been
foreclosed, and those on her southern
property constantly troubling her. She
says: “ I find I have scarcely anything
whatever left to live upon.
The Duke of Argyll, who made a
brief visit to this country last summer,
thinks the extravagance of our rich peo
ple exceeds anything known to the na
bobs of the old world. Would the duke
know why ? Well, the most of our rich
people are not used to being rich. Af
ter all, the extravagance of the rich is
not to be deplored. It is the extrava
gance of the poor people that breeds mis
ery.
SOUTHERN NEWS.
Tliereare 2,000 Indians living in Mis
sissippi.
Corn is worth three and four cents per
pound at Clarendon, Texas.
On Friday 176 vessels were harbored in
Pensacola bar.
The State of Texas in future will in
no case pay any witness fees.
A boy in Chester county, S. C., has
caught 200 opossums this season.
There are 51)0 vacant houses in Mem
phis, the result of the late epidemic.
Americus, Ga., is organizing a society
for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
Two of the moonshiners on trial at
Knoxville, Tenn., last week were women.
Charlotte, N. C., has twenty-two
licensed bar rooms and twelve churches.
The coal fields of Alabama are estimat
ed to contain 52,000,000,000 bushels of
coal.
The venerable oaks in the court house
yard at Americus, Ga., are filled with
mistletoe.
“At one fell swoop” twenty-five appli
cants have been admitted to the South
Carolina bar.
During the last three months over 1,000
negroes have left the depot at West Point,
Mississippi.
Over 500 mules arrived in Atlanta
Monday night, and all of them were
sold next day.
Of the 134 members of the two houses
of the Louisiana Legislature, only thir
teen are Republicans.
The Fish Commissioner of Georgia is
distributing a large shipment of carp in
the streams of that State.
A great many cattle are dying in
Cherokee county, Texas. Their death is
supposed to be caused by eating acorns.
The South Carolina Board of Agricul
ture has permanently employed a chem
st that a uniform analysis of commercial
fertilizers may be obtained.
Toe annual report of the Mayor of
Shreveport, La., shows that during the
past year the revenue of the city exceed
ed its expenditures $139.56.
North Carolina has six newspapers
edited b'y negroes, Louisiana three, Ten
nessee and Texas two each, and Virginia,
Alabama and Mississippi one eaeh.
Henry S. Noble, of New Jersey, has
purchased 2,100 acres of Lick Mountain
land in Virginia, with a view of devel
oping its great coal and iron deposits.
One thousand tons of granite has re
cently been sent from quarries near Col
umbia, S. C., to Washington City, to he
used in some #f the p lblic buildings.
• The Emmet Benevolent A'sociation of
Galveston, Texas, has appropriated SIOO
to be sent to the Irish Land league in
Ireland, for distribution among the po:r
in that country.
Terrell county, Ga., is out of debt and
has $2,000 in the treasury besides. As
a result, the price of real estate has ad
vanced nearly tity per cent in the last
year.
Baylor Thornton, a subordinate officer
in the Virginia House of Delegates, is
under arrest {or abducting and commit
ting an outrage upon a young lady of
Richmond.
The Waring plan of sewerage has been
unanimously adopted by the Legislative
Council of Memphis. Whether the pipes
shall be iron, brick or vitrified is yet to
be determined.
The Savannah and Charleston Rail
road is to be sold on tho first Monday in
June next by a decree of Judge Aldrich,
of the Court of Common Pleas, of
Charleston county, S. C.
Memphis Avalanche < >rt the rotting
JS iekolson davement the streets are prac
RISING FAWN, DADE COUNTY, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1880.
tically impassable for vehicles, unless
empty, and even then there is no cer
tainty of pulling through without an ac
cident.
The rapidity with which the new sew
ers of Memphis will be constructed will
depend on the promptness of the tax
payers. The first installment of the
special tax for this purpose will be due
February 1.
New Orleans Times: Most of the far
mers of Lincoln parish now raise all
their own meat. Unfortunately, all who
had killed their cattle in the earlier part
of the winter have had the meat spoil on
their hands.
Pulaski (Tenn.) Citizen : The unpre
cedented warm weather and-the late
rains are having the effect to injure seri
ously the growing wheat. Its effects are
apt to tell in the yield, however fortu
nate the changes that may come.
At Huntsville, Texas, J. J. Elkins, ex
Sheriff of Walker county, Texas, was
shot and killed by Peter Greer, a farmer.
The shooting was ■ the result of a per
sonal difference which has long existed
between the parties.
Selma Times: Doctor J. H. Henry is
preparing an elaborate and exhaustive
pamphlet on the gold fields of Alabama.
He says he has the data to clearly estab
lish that there is more gold in Alabama
than there is in California.
Drew has left Savannah, Ga., after,
gaining nearly 2,500 signers to his tem
perance pledge.
Alexander Jenkins and Ed. Jenkins,
on examining trial at Bastrop, Texas, for
the shooting of the McDonald brothers,
were released on a bond of $2,000 each.
Some of the best citizens of the county
volunteered to go on their bonds.
The ice factory in New Orleans has
introduced anew way of shipping fish,
f particularly red - snappers. They are
rozen in cakes of ice, or rather cakes of
ice are frozen around the fish, and in
this condition they are forwarded to all
sections of the countrv.
Wilmington (N. C.) Star: Sheriff
Manning transferred the ten dollars al
lowed him by law for the hanging of
Allen Mathis to Rev. J. W. Fry, of St.
Stephen’s A. M. E. church, one of the
spiritual advisers of the doomed man, for
the benefit of his church.
At San Diego, Tex., a party of masked
men took pcssession of the county jail
and jailer and released five prisoners.
Two prisoners were left in jail—one a
woman charged with perjury and one a
lunatic committed for murder. The
whole affair is enveloped in a great deal,
of mystery.
The New Orleans Times estimates that
at least two-thirds of the available lands
of Louisiana are lying idle, or rather,
have never been brought into cultiva
tion. The legislature now in session
will be strongly urged to adopt some lib
eral provision for the encouragement of
immigration.
Judge G. T. Harris, of Georgetown,
Texas, while returning home on horse
back from a neighboring town, was
stopped after nightfall by three men and
robbed of $2,400. The robbers were well
armed, and are supposed to be the men
who have recently committed several
outrages in Bosque county.
Memphis Appeal: The work of sew
erage will be commenced within a week.
Hundreds of poor people will secure la
bor thereby. Ten thousand dollars scat
tered among the laboring people is of
more financial value to our city than
could possibly be derived from $1,000,-
000 locked up in our banks.
In Dallas, Texas, a merchant abused a
little boy named Etheridge for walking
on stilts in front of his st re, claiming
to lie annoyed thereby. Mrs. Etheridge
came to the rescue, and received several
blows from a stick in the hands of the
merchant, when she drew a pistol and
wounded him in the forehead.
It has been estimated by reports re
ceived at the Agricultural Department
of Georgia that eighty per cent, of the
farmers who raise their own supplies
make money by farming. Seventy-five
per cent, of those who give liens and
mortages and pay high rates of interest
on supplies fail to make expenses.
Last week thirty-two families of col
ored exodusters to Kansas, who had gone
from the touthern counties of Texas,
passed through Dallas returning home.
Their home passage was paid by the
farmers in the counties, in which they
had left, on the condition that they
would work for them at specified rates
Savannah News: Anew way of avoid
ing the duty of serving the country as a
juror now is to establish a branch house
in some other city, and when summoned,
take an affidavit that you are not a citi
zen of the county. A dealer who has
l>een doing business in Savannah for
about twelve years adopted this plan.
New Orleans Times: As regularly as
the sun shines, every year the colored la
borers in Terrebonne parish break up and
move from one plantation to another ; in
fact, there is a general changing of hands.
There is apparently no reasonable cause
for this periodical moving, and the col
ored people themselves give no explana
tion of their conduct.
Charlotte (N. C.) Observer: Recent
ly a large number of negroes, probably
200, have passed through Charlotte en
route to the tupentine fields of Georgia,
which are now being extensively devel
oped, They come from the piny woods
regions of North Carolina, and are gen
erally an able-lodied set. The last party,
composed of about 120. passed down the
road day before yesterday. It is stated
that quite a number left the State for
the same destination last year. They
are prefered to the Georgia laborers on
account of their experience and knowledge
of the turpentine business.
“ Faithful to the Right, Fearless Against the Wrong.’ 9
WHY SEEK TIIB NOKTH I’OI.E.
BY LYDIA A. BICHARDS.
The pole! What seek they at the pole?
What prize for such aa reach that goal?
Is ivory massed on polar seas,
Or silken seal in “ open seas?"
Is empire sought, or pleasure, gold,
Or paths for trade, with gains untold?
Not these are sought through arctic main;
There’s good, unknown to vulgar gain,
And Troth, as truth, has champions brave
As any Mars or Mammon gave.
The search of truth, and truth alone,
Has charms, to sordid minds unknown.
To add one drop to human lore,
To prove one truth unknown before,
This, this is life—ambition, meet,
A tones lor failure, sneers, defeat,
An “ open sea," they long have said,
Has North Pole centering in its bed;
And, more, when ships far northward go,
They pass the drift and Iceberg floe,
And reach a calm and open sea,
From lie formations ever free.
Yet none have passed this brumal line,
Which ‘‘open seas" begird, confine
Is this illusion, false, untrue?
Must we reject the olden view ?
Shall youthful idols, one by one,
Still fall, till age, alas, has none?
A myth, that “open polar sea?"
A myth ? Then prove it so to be.
If not, then snows perpetual fall,
As stone on stone build up the wall,
Till oceans, seas, as vapor rise,
And northward drift to polar skies;
There sink as snow, to rise no more,
Till earth itself is toppled o’er.
When north pole bows to kiss the sun,
An era’s passed, a cycle’s run.
“ What seek they at the pole? What’s there,
Save cold, starvation, death, despair?"
“ What seeks he there, heroic man?"
He seeks the key to nature’s plan 1
—lnter < Ocean.
ZEPH PARKER S STRATAGEM.
“ Sleepy, baby-faced set o’ people?
Air they! Baby-faced enough, you bet;
but I tell you, sirree, that I believe
they’re ’beout born with all their eye
teeth cut in theie celestial jaws; and
yew’ve got to get up airly, sir, if you
want to take in a Chinee I”
The speaker was a hard-faced, hollow
jawed gentleman, in a glossy black suit,
which fitted him very badly, and the
remark was made in the smoking-room
of the “ Continental.” There he was
to be seen daily, and he was supposed
to have “ given the speckvlaters fits in
ile;” in other words, he was believed
to have made a fortune in petroleum.
At all events, he had plenty of money,
and was very generous in the spending
of it.
The conversation had turned on the
vexed Chinese question, and he struck
into the discussion.
“ I reek’lect,” he said, “ there was
Zeph Parker. He was ’long o’ me and
a few more up to Nevada, jus’ ’beout
the time of the silver craze. The boys
had been washing for gold; honest-like,
neow gittin’ it out o’ pockets, neow
outer the stream; and when done they’d
with a bit o’ wash out, and gone off’ to
another claim, Mister Washee Washee
Chinee would come and go over the dirt
after them and be satisfied with what
he got. Then comes the silver craze.
All o’ us goes off and loses all we’d made
in gold, gits no silver, and comes back
disappointed to try after the gold again.
“ Guess we might try and try again,
but no gold could we get; and all ’beout
us was them smooth-faced, pig-tailed
Chinamen, gettin’ on prosperous and
contended.
“ 1 1 tell yew,’ said Zeph, ‘1 shall go
and murder one o’ them smilin’ teapots,
I can’t stand it much longer!’
“ This here was in our bit of a tent,
when we was trying to make ourselves
happy, playin’ poker on credit and
keepin’ no account.
“ ‘ What for ?’ I sez.
“ ‘ What for ?’ cries Zeph. ‘ Dew
yew think that I, an enlightened sitter
zen of a free country am gwine to set
down and be robbed o’ my mess o’ golden
pottage by a pack o’ smilin’, washer
women-faced, opium-smokin’ celestial
Jacobs? No, sirree, this dog’s gwine to
bite 1 ’
‘“But I don’t kinder see what this
dog’s gwine to bite fur,’ I sez. 1 Teapot
ain’t done nuthin’ to you.’
“ ‘ Mateys,’ sez Zeph,’ gettin’ on the
barrel as had been his seat, ‘ things has
come to a purty pass with us, haven’t
they ?’
“ * Right, old hoss, sez some one.
hammerin’ the chest lid as had been our
table.
“ ‘ Haz any man here got any to* J
bacco?’ sez Zeph.
“‘No!’ •
“‘Haz any man here got any old
bourbon whisky?’
“‘No!’
“ ‘ Haz any man got any dust?’
'“No 1’
“ ‘ Any flour, or pork, or boots, oi
new blankets?’
. “ ‘ No, no, no, no!’
“ ‘ Then them Chinese haz,’ continued
Zeph; ‘ and what I sez is this —as it is a
sin and a shame to let a pack of heath
enish curses like them teapots, as never
goes to churches nor listens to par
sons ’
“‘ I say, Zeph.’ sez some one, ‘ when
did you go to meetin’ last?’
“ ‘ Never you mind/ • sez Zeph, ‘ and
don’t you interrupt a man as wants to
give you suthin’ to eat. A set of cusses,
I sez, as never goes to meetin’, and
h’lieves in nothin’ but joss-houses. I say,
it’s a sin to let ’em be gittin’ fat on out
land, white we're as thm ana starved
lookin’ as—as —as ’
“‘ As ole Zeph Parker himself,’ sej
Tom Paggins.
“ ‘ Well, ez thin ez I am, if you like,’
sez Zeph.
“ ‘ This is all very purty,’ I sez, ‘ but
we can’t go and take a claim from tht
teapots, Zenh; nor we can’t rush ’eno
and annex the dust and nuggets they’ve
washed out.’
“‘No,’ said Zeph, 1 winkin’one eye
‘but we kin strategise ’em.’
“ ‘ How?’ 1 sez. ‘ Don’t kinder see it
They’re tpo deep tv be dvue,'
“‘Yah!’ sez Zeph, ‘ they’re’bout ez
deep ez a two-cent plate. Give me the
means and I’ll sell the lot and put a
good pocßettui o' dollars or dust in
every man’s pocket—six o’ us!’
“ ‘ But what means d’yer want?’ I sez.
“ ‘ One handful o’ dust,’ sez Zeph.
“‘And where are we to get it?’ sez
Tom Paggins.
“‘This how,’ sez Zeph. “Morrow
mornin’ every man hyar’s to go round
the camp and cadge. Tell the boys
we’re hard up, but we got a good thing
on. They’ll subscribe a little all reourd.
Yew see if they don’t.’
“‘Well, we’ll try,’ sez we; and we
went to sleep hungry and got up rav
enous.
“ There was nothin’ for it but to go to
work, and off' we went, gittin’ back to
our tent about eleven o’clock, when five
out of the six had got a little good dust.
I was the unlucky one, bein’ a bad beg
gar, and had got none.
“‘Now, then!’ sez Tom Paggins, as
soon as the dust was all put together—
about a big spoonful of all glitterin’
stuff; ‘ let’s go up to the store and get a
drink.”
“ ‘ That yew jes’ won’t,’ sez Zeph,
grinnin’. ‘ I’m kinder gwine to throw
all this here dust away—l’m gwine to
sow it, boys, for a crop to come up.’
“We all grumbled, for we were
almighty hungry: but we all had a
kind of trust in Zeph, and gave way.
“ ‘ Lookiee hear, lads,’ he sez, ‘ it’ jest
twelve o’clock now, so let’s go round
and git a mouthful where we can.
“Let’s go up to Billy Bolly’s store and
ask him to give us a square meal, and
stick it up,’ I sez, ‘ he’ll trust us.’
“Think he would?" sez Zeph.
“‘Sartin,’ I sez, ‘if you show him
that gold, and tell him there’s somethin’
good on.’
“And so it was; Bill, on seeing that
gold, and hearing as we’d had some
thing good on, gave us a right square
meal, and taste round of Bourbon,
endin’ with the cheerful remark; ‘ I
shall take it out o’ some o’ you if this
here ain’t squared up.’
“ That didn’t make a nice dessert, for
Bill was a wonderful clever fellow, and
would think nuthin’ o’ pluggin’ a man;
so we kinder sneeked outer that store,
feelin’ uncomfortable.
“ ‘ It’s all right,’ sez Zeph, laughing.
‘jDome on boys and get yewr tools.’
“ We took our tools then and went off
up the gulch to where a strong party of
Chinese was at work, and they watched
us curiously as we began prospectin’
about, w&shin’ a bit o’ dirt here and a
bit there, and always goin’ off discon
tented and sour like, till we one
place close up to the it ran
sheer up 400 or 500 fe*T and, after
working with our picks a bit, we began
to wash the soil in a pan, gatherin,
round it aftenvard, and knowin’ all the
time that oniwtr the other of the teapots
had an eye on us. •
“ Then washed a bit more earth—
gravely, q uartzy .stuff it was—and col
lected again, and Tcm we grew excited
and began to dig iSter, and to wash
more and to examine what we had done
each time affr pickin’ over the pan.
throwiu’ out The lubbish; and when
this fell yew ejild see a few specks o’
gold dust in the sun, while what we got
went into a leather bag what Tom Pag
gins held.
“ ‘ We marks out this claim as our’nl’
sez Zeph out loud; and takin’ a shovel
he chops out a bit of rough trench, just
to show the extent we meant to hex;
and, as he did so, first one pigtail and
then another comes up to watch us, and
I saw them to look at the specks o’ gold
in among the refuses we had thrown
over the side beyond our claim.
“ ‘No goodee, washee washee, Melican
man)’ sez one round-faced smilin’ cuss.
' No golee, no goleel’
“ ‘ Oh, no; none at all, Mr. Teapot,’
sez Zeph. ‘ Just yew keep a bit f°rther
off, or ’
“ He touched his six-shooter, and the
Chinaman scurried back a little ways,
while one of us fetched some water,
and we began to wash another shovelful
of earth.
“‘lt pans out fine!’ sez Tom Pag
gins out loud, as we all gathered round
once more, and the top refuse, with
specks o’ gold in, was thrown away j
again.
“ We kept on at that for two hours,
and with Zeph to manage, we washed
out that little lot o’ gold we had bor
rowed about four times; but it was a
good deal less at the last than when we
started, for some on it was sprinkled in
each o’ the holes we made, and half a
teaspoonful o’ dust was lyin to waste in '
the refuse.
“All this time the Chinese were corn
in’ up from their bit of a camp, about a
hundred yards away. Zeph was awfully
jealous, an’ kep’ drivin’ ’em away —not
as we were skeered of ’em, for they’re
a quiet, sheepish lot, but to keep up the
play.
“Then half on us went down below
and got our tents and odds and ends,
and set ’em up as we meant to stay,
while the others went on washin’ and
pickin’ steadily, getting four Chinese
uf fetch water and do a few rough jobs
in movin’ quartz blocks outer the way.
“ Somehow or other there were a few
specks o’ gold under each o’ these blocks
that the Chinese carried off; and when
that was done Zeph gave the smilin’
chaps a bit o’ gold each, and sent one
of ’em with some dust to buy tobacco.
“ ‘ It’s a workin’,’ sez Zeph to me.
“ ‘ Think so ?’ I sez.
“‘Wait a bit, old hoss, and you’ll
see.’
“That night, after we’d been a bit
nasty and threat’nin’ to the teapots,
who kep’ leavin’ their work, we could
hear a good deal o’ chatterin goin’ on,
and hime-by a kinder deppytation o’ six
cl cm comes up, by ft SttiUiu'
cuss who looked like a big, fat boy.
“ Now, then,’ sez Zeph, ‘ tell you what,
ef yew don’t make yerselves scarce
ther’ll be holes threw some on yew!’
“ ‘ Poor Chinaman 1’ sez the big, fat
fellow, and he puts his head on one side
and smiles his bead half off. Then the
other five sez. in a sort o’ whinin’ sins'-
song chorus, ‘Poor Chinaman!’ and all
half smiled their heads off.
“ ‘ Don’t want any to-day,’ sez Zeph.
‘ Hook it!'
“We all sat smokin’ and lookin’ on
and every man with his hand on re
volver and bowie, as ef we was supic,
ious.
“ ‘ Poor Chinaman 1’ whines the big
’un again.
“ ‘ Don’t want any, I tell you again 1’
roars Zeph, savagely, and the deppv
tation mly holds their head on one side
and smiles.
“ ‘ Are you gwine to cut?’ sez Zeph,
seizir’ number one by the tail, when he
goes down on his knees, and the other*
the same, rubbin’ their chests and wag
glin’ their heads from side to side.
“‘Why don’t you speak out?” sez
Zeph.
“‘Mellicanman let poor Chinaman
washee, washee?’ says the fat fellow,
p’intin’ to the heap o’ rubbish.
“ ‘ You want to wash that dirt over
again?* sez Zeph.
“ The whole party began to nod their
heads fast.
“ ‘ Oh, no!’ sez Zeph; ‘we don’t want
you here—eh, lads?’
“ ‘ No, no I’ we all growled.
“ ‘ Send ’em off 1’ sez Tom Paggins.
“ But they wouldn’t go, only smiled,
ind at last Zeph seemed to be struck
with a notion; and the long and short of
it was that, if we’d allow’em to wash
ur refuse over agen, the Cliinese’d (
make a bit of a stream to lead water up
to our claim.
“ ‘ Well, that’s no good, Zeph,’ I sez,
as food as they were gone.
“ ‘Wait a bit, lad and yew’ll see,’ sez
Zeph, with a wink; and we sat there,
in the pleasant evening, Snoking, while
there was evidently a mighty commo
tion in the Chinese camj>, and before
long the deppytation came back
“ ‘ Poor Chinaman.!’ sez the fat chap
again.
“ ‘Oh, yes; we Know all ’beoutthat!’
Sez Zeph. ‘Now, what is it?’
“ ‘Mellcanman sellee claim two bun
der dollars?’says the fat-headed chap,
and all the others nodded their heads.
“ ‘Will we sell you this claim for two
hundred dollars?’ says Zeph.
“They all nodded till yqu’d ha’
thought their heads’d come off.
“ ‘ Cut!’ sez Zeph, catching hold of
fat ’un by his tail and kickin’ him.
“ Yew mayn’t believe gents, but
them same chaps came back twice be
fore it was dark and made fresh offers,
advancin’ a hundred dollars each time
and we swore at ’em and said we would
not sell, and if they warn’t up to time
in the mornin’ to see about the water,
they shouldn’t be allowed to wash the
dirt.
“ Fust thing next mornin’ them six
fellers were up again, just as we had
got a good panful o’ stuff in course o’
workin’, and I saw their eyes twinkle as
they caught sight of the gold.
“ Then they offered S4OO, and we said
we’d shoot’em if they’d come agen; but
come they did, and offered S4OO, and as
the mornin’ went on, seven, eight, nine
—slooo.
“ ‘Take it’, we said, as they came this
last time.
“ ‘ They’ll give $2,000, I tell yew. I’m
sure they will,’ says Zeph.
“ ‘ But SI,OOO is enough to chisel the
beggars out of,’ sez I.
“ ‘ Yes,’ sez Tom Paggins; ‘ and it’ll
take this time to-morrow sure to get up
to the $2,000.
“ ‘ If I warn’t so ’tarnal hungry, I’d
hold out,’ sez Zeph, hesitatin’; and then
turnin’ to the six Chinese as waitin’ fur
our answer: ‘Look hyar,
cusses,’ he sez, 'takin’ up*# shjrelful of
earth, m which the dust were a-sparklin’
in the sun, ‘ this claim’s worth $20,000!”
“‘No; ouly worth $1,000,’ said fatty
shakin’ his head.
“ ‘ Shall we let ’em have it, boys?’ sez
Zeph, turnin’ to us.
“ ‘ Yes, let ’em have it,’ I sez; ‘ we can
find plenty more.’
“ ‘ Come on, then,’ sez Zeph ; and he
and two more went back with the dep
pytation to the tent of their head man,
and a thousand dollars worth o’ dust and
nuggets was weighed out into a bag;
Zeph put his mark to a kind of docky
ment in Chinese, and half an’ hour
afterward we went back to camp, leavin’
the smilin’ Chinamen to their purchase.
“ ‘ It’s a darned shame to cheat the
poor, innercent babies like that,’ I
sez.
“‘Not it!’ sez Zeph; ‘it’s only like
playin’ poker with ’em and winnin’.
Let’s go and liquor.’
“We didn’t expeek any row, for
them Chinesese had to keep very quiet
for fear o’ bein’ sent off; and Zeph sed
they’d put up with their loss, clear out
and go to some other gulch.
“ But they didn’t; for the next day
Toro, who went up to see what they was
a’doin’, said they moved their camp up
round the hole, and were workin’ away
like a swarm o’ bees
“ That night, as we were sittin’ smok
in’ at Bill’s store, some chaps strolls in,
and one of ’em says, in a bit of a temper;
“ ‘ Call this here a free country ?’
“ ‘ Yes, stra.%er, I dew,’ sez Zeph,
rattlin’ some nuggets in his pocket;
‘ who sez it ain’t?’
“‘ 1 dew,’ sez the new comer. ‘ Here
are we workin’ like slaves for a few dol
lars’ worth o’ dust, and a pack o’ heathen
cusses comes and settles down and grabs
i all the best on it.’
“ ‘ Dew they?’ sez Zeph, winkin’ at us.
“ ‘ Yes, he sez, * they dew. There’s
j tjkjjt pftci of Chiwfse l*l> ibftUvi'
TERMS : si.*a psrAnnum, in Advance
NUMBER 14.
in the gulch, and they've hit on a big
pocket. They got a two-pound nugget
out on it this very afternoon.’
“ ‘What!’ roared Zejoh, with his eyes
starin’ out Of his head like a lobster’s.
“ ‘A two-pound nugget, and the stuff’s
panning out awful. I say it’s a shame
and the government ought to stop it.’
“ ‘ Soldi’ groaned Zeph.
“ Next day it was the talk o’ the
place. The Chinese were pannin’ out
gold at a tremendous rate from the
claim, and some were for driving the
heathens away, but the party of order
was too strong, and they know’d that if
the rowdies was to get the upper hand
here, they’d be just as likely to seize
anybody else’s claim; so it was decided
to temporize with the heathen and try
to buy the claim.
“They were two hundred strong up
there; and when we went up to see the
place—which we did in a kind o’ des
perate feeling—the fat chap smiled and
clapped his hands and gave Zeph a little
round nugget as big as a pea.
"A meetin' was neld and we con
cluded to make a company and buy the
claim. Twenty thousand was the most
as was to be offered.
“ ‘ Twenty thousand dollars!’ groaned
Zeph. ‘Oh, boys, what fools we was!
But I did not want to hold out for
$2,000.’
‘“lt’s no use to growl,* sez Tom.
How much ha’ we got now?’
“ * Bout S9OO, I guess,’ sez Zeph.
“‘Wal, then,’ sez Tom, ‘let’s go in
for shares as far as our money goes.’
“ ‘ The money was nearly all sub
scribed ; but we got on for SBOO, and
could ha’ sold our shares the next hour
for SI,OOO.
“ Next mornin’ the party settled to do
the business, went up to the Chinese
camp, but they wouldn’t take the
money. They said theyM begun work,
and meant to have the proceeds of the
day; but the boys looked dangerous, so
the heathens finally said they’d settle
up that night, take the money, and give
possession.
“This made the gulch worse than
ever, and shares changed hands at a
fine rate, men sellin’ theirs and then
gettin’ so excited that they bought back
again.
“ ‘ I snail never forgive myself, boys,*
sez Zeph, the next morniu,’ as we sat
over some fried bacon and biscuit. ‘ I
thro wed away a fortune 1’
“Hallo! What’s the row?” sez I,
jumping up.
“ There was suthin’ afloat outside, for
there was a heap of excitement, but no
I one kinder seemed to know what it
was.
“ Arter a while we got to know that
there wasn’t a single Chinee in the
gulch; they’d gone off, no one knowed
where, in the night.
“ ‘ They’re darned artful,’ sez Zeph;
and he was right, for we soon knowd
just what had happened.
“ We six had cheated the Chinese by
retail; they’d cheated us by wholesale,
for there wasn’t, and never had been, a
grain o’ gold in that claim that wasn’t
put there first. It was only a small
show that we had made; but the
heathens had clubbed together their
dust and nuggets to make a big show.
That day they had packed it all up
agen, and when they’d got the $20,000
they sneaked out from the camp. I
guess the gulch would ha’ massacred
them; but the heathen hadn’t left behind
even so much as a trail.
“Yes, gents, yew’ve got to get up
airly to take in a Chinee. Waiter!
whisky and seltzer—and ice.”
A Monkey Story.
Rather a good monkey story for little
folks this: There lives in the South of
France a man of wealth whose chateau
or country place of residence has around
it very tall trees. The cook of the cha
teau has a monkey—a pert fellow, who
knows ever so many tricks. The mon
key often helps the cook to pluck the
feathers from fowls. On the day that
interests us the cook gave the monkey
two partridges to pluck, and the mon
key, seating himself in an open window
went to work. He had picked the feathers
from one of the partridges and placed it
on the outer ledge of the window with a
satisfied grunt, when, lo! all at once a
hawk flew down from one of the tall
trees near by and bore off the plucked
bird. Master Monkey was very angry.
He shook his fist at the hawk, which
took a seat on one of the limbs not far
off and began to eat the partridge with
great relish. The owner of the chateau
saw the sport, for he was sitting in a
grape arbor, and crept up to watch the
end of it. The monkey picked the other
partridge, laid it on the ledge in tho
same place, and hid behind the windotr
screen on the inside. The hawk was
caught in this trap, for when it flew
down after the [partridge, out reached
the monkey and caught the thief. In a
a moment the hawk’s neck was wrung,
and the monkey soon had the hawk
plucked. Taking the two birds to the
cook, the monkey handed them to him
as if to say, “ Here are your two
partridges, master.” The cook thought
that one of the birds looked queer, but
he served them on the table. The owner
of the house shook his head when he
saw the dish, and telling the cook of the
trick, laughed heartily.
Jttst as everybody was settling down
to enjoy themselret at a party the other
evening, Master Jimmie appeared in the
room with, “Ain’t you folks hungry?
Guess you haven’t been saving up vour
appetitos for two days as I ana moth—’
The broad and generous hand of his
mother suddenly stopped his convemo
tion trap, and he had to save his apt***
tite until morning, when it was satisfied
wj& bivkey bit* qf jyUy <3*4s