Harse_Luck_of_Roaring_Camp.txt topic ['13', '324', '378', '393']
cost!" to say,
the child thrived. the invigorating climate of the mountain
camp was compensation for material deficiencies. took the
foundling to her broader breast. that rare atmosphere of the
foothills,--that air pungent with balsamic odor, that ethereal cordial
at once bracing and exhilarating,--he may have found food and
nourishment, or a subtle chemistry that transmuted ass's milk to lime
and phosphorus. inclined to the belief that it was the latter
and good nursing. " and that ass," he would say, "has been father
and mother to him! 't you," he would add, apostrophizing the
helpless bundle before him, "never go back on us."
the time he was a month old the necessity of giving him a name
became apparent. had generally been known as " ," "'s
," " " (an allusion to his vocal powers), and even by
's endearing diminutive of " d--d little cuss." these
were felt to be vague and unsatisfactory, and were at last dismissed
under another influence. and adventurers are generally
superstitious, and one day declared that the baby had brought
"the luck" to . was certain that of late they had been
successful. "" was the name agreed upon, with the prefix of
for greater convenience. allusion was made to the mother, and the
father was unknown. "'s better," said the philosophical ,
"to take a fresh deal all round. him , and start him fair."
day was accordingly set apart for the christening. was meant by
this ceremony the reader may imagine who has already gathered some
idea of the reckless irreverence of . master of
ceremonies was one "," a noted wag, and the occasion seemed to
promise the greatest facetiousness. ingenious satirist had spent
two days in preparing a burlesque of the service, with pointed
local allusions. choir was properly trained, and was
to stand godfather. after the procession had marched to the grove
with music and banners, and the child had been deposited before a mock
altar, stepped before the expectant crowd. " ain't my style
to spoil fun, boys," said the little man, stoutly eying the faces
around him, "but it strikes me that this thing ain't exactly on the
squar. 's playing it pretty low down on this yer baby to ring in fun
on him that he ain't goin' to understand. ef there's goin' to be
any godfathers round, 'd like to see who's got any better rights than
me." silence followed 's speech. the credit of all
humorists be it said that the first man to acknowledge its justice was
the satirist thus stopped of his fun. "," said , quickly
following up his advantage, "we're here for a christening, and we'll
have it. proclaim you , according to the laws of the
and the of , so help me ." was the
first time that the name of the had been otherwise uttered than
profanely in the camp. form of christening was perhaps even more
ludicrous than the satirist had conceived; but strangely enough,
nobody saw it and nobody laughed. "" was christened as seriously
as he would have been under a roof, and cried and was
comforted in as orthodox fashion.
so the work of regeneration began in .
imperceptibly a change came over the settlement. cabin assigned to
" "--or " ," as he was more frequently called--first
showed signs of improvement. was kept scrupulously clean and
whitewashed. it was boarded, clothed, and papered. rosewood,
cradle, packed eighty miles by mule, had, in 's way of putting
it, "sorter killed the rest of the furniture." the rehabilitation
of the cabin became a necessity. men who were in the habit of
lounging in at 's to see "how ' ' got on" seemed to
appreciate the change, and in self-defense the rival establishment of
"'s grocery" bestirred itself and imported a carpet and mirrors.
reflections of the latter on the appearance of tended
to produce stricter habits of personal cleanliness.
imposed a kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and
privilege of holding . was a cruel mortification to
--who, in the carelessness of a large nature and the habits of
frontier life, had begun to regard all garments as a second cuticle,
which, like a snake's, only sloughed off through decay--to be debarred
this privilege from certain prudential reasons. such was the
subtle influence of innovation that he thereafter appeared regularly
every afternoon in a clean shirt and face still shining from his
ablutions. were moral and social sanitary laws neglected. ","
who was supposed to spend his whole existence in a persistent attempt
to repose, must not be disturbed by noise. shouting and yelling,
which had gained the camp its infelicitous title, were not permitted
within hearing distance of 's. men conversed in whispers or
smoked with gravity. was tacitly given up in these
sacred precincts, and throughout the camp a popular form of expletive,
known as "--n the luck!" and " the luck!" was abandoned, as
having a new personal bearing. music was not interdicted, being
supposed to have a soothing, tranquilizing quality; and one song, sung
by "-o'- ," an sailor from her 's
colonies, was quite popular as a lullaby. was a lugubrious recital
of the exploits of "the , -four," in a muffled minor,
ending with a prolonged dying fall at the burden of each verse," b-
oo-o-ard of the ." was a fine sight to see holding
, rocking from side to side as if with the motion of a ship, and
crooning forth this naval ditty. through the peculiar rocking
of or the length of his song,--it contained ninety stanzas, and
was continued with conscientious deliberation to the bitter end,--the
lullaby generally had the desired effect. such times the men would
lie at full length under the trees in the soft summer twilight,
smoking their pipes and drinking in the melodious utterances.
indistinct idea that this was pastoral happiness pervaded the camp.
" 'ere kind o' think," said the , meditatively
reclining on his elbow, "is 'evingly." reminded him of .
the long summer days was usually carried to the gulch from
whence the golden store of was taken. , on a blanket
spread over pine boughs, he would lie while the men were working in
the ditches below. there was a rude attempt to decorate this
bower with flowers and sweet-smelling shrubs, and generally some one
would bring him a cluster of wild honeysuckles, azaleas, or the
painted blossoms of . men had suddenly awakened to
the fact that there were beauty and significance in these trifles,
which they had so long trodden carelessly beneath their feet. flake
of glittering mica, a fragment of variegated quartz, a bright pebble
from the bed of the creek, became beautiful to eyes thus cleared and
strengthened, and were invariably put aside for . was
wonderful how many treasures the woods and hillsides yielded that
"would do for ." by playthings such as never child out
of fairyland had before, it is to be hoped that was content.
appeared to be serenely happy, albeit there was an infantine gravity
about him, a contemplative light in his round gray eyes, that sometimes
worried . was always tractable and quiet, and it is recorded
that once, having crept beyond his "corral,"--a hedge of tessellated
pine boughs, which surrounded his bed,--he dropped over the bank on his
head in the soft earth, and remained with his mottled legs in the air
in that position for at least five minutes with unflinching gravity.
was extricated without a murmur. hesitate to record the many
other instances of his sagacity, which rest, unfortunately, upon the
statements of prejudiced friends. of them were not without a
tinge of superstition. " crep' up the bank just now," said
one day, in a breathless state of excitement, "and dern my skin if he
wasn't a-talking to a jaybird as was a-sittin' on his lap. they
was, just as free and sociable as anything you please, a-jawin' at
each other just like two cherrybums." , whether creeping over
the pine boughs or lying lazily on his back blinking at the leaves
above him, to him the birds sang, the squirrels chattered, and the
flowers bloomed. was his nurse and playfellow. him she
would let slip between the leaves golden shafts of sunlight that fell
just within his grasp; she would send wandering breezes to visit him
with the balm of bay and resinous gum; to him the tall redwoods nodded
familiarly and sleepily, the bumblebees buzzed, and the rooks cawed a
slumberous accompaniment.
was the golden summer of . were "flush times,"
and the luck was with them. claims had yielded enormously.
camp was jealous of its privileges and looked suspiciously on
strangers. encouragement was given to immigration, and, to make
their seclusion more perfect, the land on either side of the mountain
wall that surrounded the camp they duly preempted. , and a
reputation for singular proficiency with the revolver, kept the
reserve of inviolate. expressman--their only
connecting link with the surrounding world--sometimes told wonderful
stories of the camp. would say, "'ve a street up there in
'' that would lay over any street in . 've got vines
and flowers round their houses, and they wash themselves twice a day.
they're mighty rough on strangers, and they worship an
baby."
the prosperity of the camp came a desire for further improvement.
was proposed to build a hotel in the following spring, and to
invite one or two decent families to reside there for the sake of
, who might perhaps profit by female companionship. sacrifice
that this concession to the sex cost these men, who were fiercely
skeptical in regard to its general virtue and usefulness, can only be
accounted for by their affection for . few still held out.
the resolve could not be carried into effect for three months, and the
minority meekly yielded in the hope that something might turn up to
prevent it. it did.
winter of 1851 will long be remembered in the foothills. snow
lay deep on the , and every mountain creek became a river, and
every river a lake. gorge and gulch was transformed into a
tumultuous watercourse that descended the hillsides, tearing down
giant trees and scattering its drift and debris along the plain.
had been twice under water, and had been forewarned.
" put the gold into them gulches," said . "'s been here
once and will be here again!" that night the suddenly
leaped over its banks and swept up the triangular valley of
.
the confusion of rushing water, crashing trees, and crackling
timber, and the darkness which seemed to flow with the water and blot
out the fair valley, but little could be done to collect the scattered
camp. the morning broke, the cabin of , nearest the river-
bank, was gone. up the gulch they found the body of its unlucky
owner; but the pride, the hope, the joy, , of had
disappeared. were returning with sad hearts when a shout from the
bank recalled them.
was a relief-boat from down the river. had picked up, they
said, a man and an infant, nearly exhausted, about two miles below.
anybody know them, and did they belong here?
needed but a glance to show them lying there, cruelly
crushed and bruised, but still holding of in his
arms. they bent over the strangely assorted pair, they saw that the
child was cold and pulseless. " is dead," said one. opened
his eyes. "?" he repeated feebly. ", my man, and you are dying
too." smile lit the eyes of the expiring . "!" he
repeated; "he's a-taking me with him. the boys 've got
with me now;" and the strong man, clinging to the frail babe as a
drowning man is said to cling to a straw, drifted away into the
shadowy river that flows forever to the unknown sea.