The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 12, 1897, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1897. 19 l : f : “Oh, ves, Iam going tostrike it again. I am sure to this time, Fate can’t be so much against me as to make me work forty-eight years for noth/ng. Come up and I will show you my prospect. Am down ten feet now, and if the snow will only hold off a while I will be a rich man by New Year’s.” Tbe speaker was Joe Lane, an old miner at present workingon a claim in the Mojave Desert not more than twelve miles from Randsburs. His whitened Lair and grizz'ed beard told of long years of exposure to the elements, and the deep wrinklies in his brow told of dozens of disappoint- ] AN forit. Hem The; an existence. ment of Randsburg ana EO wonderful find there. and into the er at unknown. These men must be classed as the true '49:rs. Leight of the gold fever and have stuck to their purposeever since. Taey love the excilement and the wild life nd derive an intense pleasure from pes for the ure. The chances are that if many of them wers to chasing the rainbow. enn Just Jus who ¢ a since 1849. rlock is, perbaps, the most typical 1 Cali‘ornia to-d possible to v except the ‘“‘days of 49.” m g, long aco. n both s is gold there—piles of gold. snow only holds off.” I hoped that he would, but if he does it will be one of the wonders of The old man did not accompany me back to camp, but climbed down into his hole and before I had gone many fest I beard the sound of his hammer and dril ringing on the clear, cold « But Joe Lane is not the only man who has been d moun tains of California for the last half century end got nothing toshow 1t be taken as a type, for there are hundreds just like him, are all '4%ers and the close of the year 1897 finds them just barely prospecting in the desert. Sierras and at the foot of Shasta. Coffee Creek. itrich they would be miserable, for there would be no mora Life would b:come dull 1o them and the chances are they wouid end it in dissipation or else t present the greatest number of mining ’49ers can be found in the Coffee Creek country and around Randsburg and Garlock. ve gone 1o the Klondike there to do just as they have cone In fact, by looking about in a casual way it would place the town in any particular era of the nineteenth Old miners sav that it looksexactiy some of the towns that sprang suddenly into existence along the There 1s the one street, wide and unpaved, des by buildings of rough gnpainted boards. There are no 1 conveniences like the railroad and the telegraph, and the stages ments. claim. They came here in the and monoto- Numbers mining town to be found NS must be more gold lower down. Now, ycu see the ledge dips this way 4 = v ik i 3 res = and from where my hole is I ought to strike it in about five feet more A LONEYY 5 1a0 will put me about thirty-five feet below the outcropping and thare Ob, I am going to strike it again—if the Within the last year I have met and conversed with at least fifty old miners whose lives have peen almost identical to Joe Lane’s. I have seen them in the hills of Mendocino County, 1 have seen them along the Ihave seen them in the wild excite- Each and every one thinks he is ing to strike it rich in a short time and each and every one is ready tc leave his claim and rush off to new diggings at the first story of some They have been doing this for forty-eight years continue to do so until the time comes for them to sink a shaft But there were lines beside his nose that marked determination. Were it not for those lines Joa Lane would long ago have given up pros- pecting and setiled down in the seventy-fiftls year of his life to some occu- pation less toilsome than digging holes through the rocky formation of a = mountain side in the hope of siriking a ledge of gold at a certain depth, “Come up and look at my prosvect,” the o.d man had said, and I went, more to please him than in the cXpectation of seein He 1ed the way up the mountain side several hundred feet to a spot where a rude windiass was constructed over a hole in te grouud. took no practiced eye to tell that the old man would never strike gola there, but I did not let him know of my lack of faith in his *I found the outcropping just up there,” said the cld man, in an ex- cited tone, as he pointed to a spot on the mouniain side. *‘Itdid not carry many celor:, but I knew from the character of the rock that there 1t dertaking. g boles in the likely he will ve sitting near the stove, apparently staring into vacancy. The sound of the fiddle and the scraving of heavy boots over the ro boards do not scem to make any impression on him. chips and the clicking of the roulette wheel are sounds he does not seem 2.3 wonderful == h The rattle of poker rich the first week I was in the digeings. soon had a bucketful their vaiue and went to Frisco to get rid of ’em. long time, even if I did roll 'em pretty high, because I gambled a good of nugeets, Ran across a pocket and But I got "em so easy Ididn’t know Well, they lasted me a pected for forty-eight years. color. O3RN Y i In all that time ke has haraly found a According to Tom’s story he came out to California well backed by friends and worked at prospecting for months. But he could find noth- it throuzh twice a day are really relics of ihe old days, one of to hear. Once ina while'he wili look up and smile approval at something deal and was Jucky. Bt the any came when I was broke—dead broke; ing. Soon his money was all gone and he had to go to work for another 2 done duty in Calaveras County since 1850. Asfcr the ap- that has been said. He may even draw cloce to the faro table when didn’t haves bean. Of course I started for the di gines, and when I got man. However, it was the same old story. He saved up enough to pros- pear of the men on the street they all look as men did in 1849, Lere is ife and activity bere. The saloons and gambling-houses he is enjoying himself. stakesare high, but generally he scems only about half conscious. The sights and soundscarry him back half And yet a cen- hungon until I hea there had to go to work for another man. a stake., He paid me $10 a day, and [ pect for him-e fand spent 1t all in a fruitless search. He savs that in all Then I struck out for myseli, but some. his forty-eight years of work he hardly found $50 werth of zold. r ,and the stores aie constantl supplying men tury to the time when his life was before him. He forgetsthe presentand how the nu appeared to have all been collected, and I was soon And still this old man had hope. At present he is driving a team, most every house com the sound of mortar and lives in the past sirapped aga Then I got another job and scon had another stake. but says he knows of a place where there is plenty of gold, and he is going s testing rock, and above all can be heard the But these old men are always ready to ta'k about themselves, and ‘‘About this time there was a strike made in the Mineral King coun- to try his luck there. be stamp mill while all teli the sume story 2ll tell a different one. try, and av dy went. This time I struck it rich again, but like a fool Such stories as those just related could be told of a bundred men. It s at the old forty-niners love to congregate. It *Peter” is about the cid2st miner wor g on the desert. He may blew : in at Visalia. They are simply the accounts of trials and hardships, and yet these men and tiey feel at home. Just at present have another name, but nobody else seems to know it, and he seems to “‘Eince then I have prospected all over California and Nevada and all seem happy. Not one of those I have met uttered the word “discoure fifty of them there. Some are working on ciaims near have forzotten it Cousiderably over 80 years have lef: their worked by theday in all the biz mines. 1 worked a long time in the agement.”” Ail looked forward to the morrow witl high hopes, asdoes a 1 the mi Some have struck it r at some marks on his | has had disappointicents be I Comstock and made a big stake. Lasted rae three years and I put down boy to his first fishing trip. at they will fail never seems to occur to r career and lost all, and others have never found a ed him 192r and De replied that he was. But that w about half a dozen holes, but found no gold in’em. But this prospect them. them are discouraged. All have the strongest hopes he would s {1 called to the barkeeper. After he had swall near Panamint is good. 1 am st old fellows can take no part in the amusements of hey love to be near and ce is in progress. rand an atmosphere filled with the odor of There is the same kind of a crowd as filled gone by, and there you will find the ola "49er. b look on. Go into Itis the sameold ‘*’49" g.ass of fisry liquor his t “Lam working sinking a shaf: for a friend of m of town Liere,”” hie bezan, “‘but as son as I g:t a staks lam going to puta hole into a claim of my own. I am sure there is gold there. very near it this time. “Yes, I got to California gue lcosened. ; 1U's over near Panamint. I am sure pretty ear! ne, eptember, 1849, am going to open her up. just on the edge and go hack Mast a who own farms. T No, it's not I am going 1o strike time, sure.” Old Peter’s stor Struck To nobly win and proudly wear the Iron | gold; there is scarcely the faintest shadow | the story has gone out 1 have been fairly | hospital nurse auring the campaign. | should serve in the same divis'on as her aunt and be under her loving care at t mes. Scarcely was the permission given than the two enthusias'ic women were at the front, arrayed in their gray stuff gowr with the safeguard of the cross upon their | s'eeves, busily picking lint, rolling and foiding bandages and making all possibie | preparations for the carnage which was to follow. At Metz the devoted young patriot re- ceived ber first baptism of blood and fire, live or die as they might, while they hur- ried on to the glory of victory, the tears course down her smooth cheeks, “It was dreadful,”’ she said. *We had to step over the bodies of the dead to minis- ter to the ilving; and the groans and cries ain’t goin’ until I strike it rich. compared to Tom Lac | and she pales a little even now, in spite of | G s e down. may seem a hard one, is 74 yearsold and of it, and when I get enough ahead I And thistime I am going to save my money Got a brother and sister back there bey’ve invited me to come and live with them, but I And I tell you Iam a-goin’ to do it this but it is bright and cheerful The men who came here e are. of the oues, could do nothiug eise but do so. They simply went from with the same hope of siriking 0:r's in the year 1397, has pros- But after all it is only natural that these men should exist as they in the early days and made fortunes out ines, and held on to them, long ago ceased to be prospectors, but settled down into some quiet business. The less fortunate, or less wise stick 1o mining, even had they wished to one pr to another, ever buoyed up it rich. That is the reason they ure still WrILL SPARKS. anythi: untii that he wished me godspeed in all my after life. And that is all.” i When I rose so proud has been characteristic of ber whole unselfish life, and has won her the golden cross of her children's grateful to go sbe rose also and \llovc and the respect of all who know her, | motion.” « 4 the cross was on my |stood leaning a little heavily upon her | but I went there to talx of the battles of Yielding to the pleadings of both the breas Thea the King bent and kissed { chair. T wished that I might tell her how | nations, not of the harder battles of English husband aliowed his wife :0 go | me on the forenead and said that I was | I had beard from other~ that the bravery | life. | where she felt that her highest duty | the youngest woman to whom he had | win.ch won her the cross of which she is “I am goine into the ranks again as calied Ler, only stipulating that she |ever given that reward and <oon as Iam well,” she said as we parted. But I answered her, *“Not in the ranks, surely; vou have long since earned pro- FLORENCE MATHESON. Pretty girlsare as thick and number- | tess in” San Franci-co as the pay niotes thatdance on the sunbeams. The plain. absolutely unattractive gir! is “rara avis,” will nct find" a ratio to compare to this, Classic beauties have we none. The cold, | pure, regular type does not flotrish on | our soil. Our girls are all aglow with color and dash. Otker cities may ssess | what seemed an hour to me and ten min- | utes to the colonel. Of a truth, we are so | accustomed 'o seeing pretty women that our interest flags when the view is bought | looks was deserved, only to return, after | much weary tramping, sadder and wiser, | tor invariably on such a day the pretty women are all at home. However, I think one 1s always safer . SAN FRANCISCO'S PRETTY GIRLS here’s a long life to them—the pretty San Francisco women! Naxcy LEe. WGharlott24 and for every one thus cut off from |at the costof peronal comfort. As they | | those fearless gray eyes of hers, as she beauty’s domain we can point to three | sauntored by, singly and in eroups o e speaksof it. And when she tells of the | favored with the most fateful of all gitts. | twos and threes, I thought, with many | Smith's wounded, torn and maneled groaning on ( From sun-kissed south to wind-swept | twinges of regret. of ocoasions when I hat | the ficld as the broken ranks swent over | north, “from Greenland icy mountains | proudly escorted Eastern friends duwn-] S l_\ | them, and all, unheeding, left them to | to India's coral strands,” search and you | tawn to prove that our repatation for zondi cheme | The latest lunacy of Mrs. Charlotte Smith and her group of female impersona- tofs is an endeavor to have Congress pass laws making matrimony compulsory. No one is to be > 4 3 4 exempt—even the tramp | women of greater individual beauty, but | in 100k ng for them in the mor BS- | must take unto himself a trampess. nd c s been, and is, the glory of | of a line on her fair face; the blue ribbons | overrun with curious visitors. If you care | —I can hear them yet, when I lio awake | here it fa tome equally distributed. and | Why it should te so Iam not prepared to | o s oorns ot i o n for some years now a resident | on ber invalid’s robe are wonderfully be- | to see it and hear thé story, and will keep | at night and think of those awfal days | the tout ensembie is a thing of joy and | say. 2 W0 xcnlas;to Swed musy pSYa firle who carries her honors so | coming; and my inner self, noting these | my name out of it I will | . atthe present time, few r most intimate {riends are e that she is heroine whose hero- r a quatter of a century ago it all duriug the the decoration Franco-Prussian coveted by so happened, war; ana and few things, kept repeating amazedly and per- sistently, “And it ali quarter of a century ago!” her children — three, all married —and then, quite as a matter of cours grandenild or so. Arnd L of a then I began to nd happened over a | talk with ure, otherwise no.” Assuredly I was mistaken. There is lit- I puzzled over the anomaly I met hereyes squarely and they solved the mystery. They don’t belong 1o her personality at pleas- | and nights on the battlefields. buried the dead in trenckes with uniforms on, just as they They ther fell, thirty and only tents to shelter the amputations and | dressing of wounds.” them. Then came tue washing and I glanced at the | 1:.:} the wonderment forever to visitors from less favorea climes. Feminine sojourners are notso prone to acknowledge this as are women look with augnt but cold disap- proval upon our finest spacimene, The reasans for this are shown. The New York woman is short of leg, remark- connoisseur and spends all his valuable | Suffice to state that one who is a | time studying lovely | woman lnl&i me so and it has proved to be a straight tip., stored away in the pretty heads of the college girl she is as crisp and trim asa tailor’s model and wonderfully well up on equal to the support of a wife, thus leav- ing a beaatiful choice between matrimony and alimony—between the lot of a hen- z SE < - o | vecked husband d th ta - tle of the canary bird about this little lady | forty in one diich hustily covered. The | tnose of the opposite sex. Itisscidom, | The college il and athleiic Lot oy orn ol anal T o o Rockel 1 was rewarded by the hand of royalty | Presently, however, I became aware | save her soft flufy prettiness and dainty | wounded were carried to convenient |1if ever, that the New York or Chicago | here. Whatever intricate problems are ‘”” o i f’l‘“" l’: I‘° "k‘:“" :“1: "’;rv 1. that my gracious hostess was speaking of =. Sheis firmness personified, and as | houses or sheds, and sometimes we had court throughout the length and breadth | of the land will be grinding out bushels of complaints, where the people of Califorma | or some other State will be plaintiff and o 5 =, the proper tuing as to neckties, cuffs and | go ™ . 4 . bestowed upon so was | real'ze how much can be crowded intoa | all. Wide, clear, st of a light almost | hands iying folded in her lap, looking for | sbly long of WalSt and bustless. Thus | coliars, She Swings olubs. sides. oo 'j’:':‘ S 'J,e,fm;‘“‘";' “"l,“',e. l“";'“.“'“ earned by “'b y and devotion 1o the | few years of life when one marries at 15 | cold gray, with unnsually large pupile, vorld like two slightly crumpled | feminine New York seated uppears very ohn Doe will be charged with baving nded upon the field of battle’’ at Meiz ment al picture of the woman, who, | serves her country at an age when fe <miled when I put this thought into retainers with stern hand, had broad ideas | she said simply. broad of shoulder, but sans bust, sans swms and develovs a form ana carrt Francisco girl are her height and splendid | Lsey belons to some one with an iron wil', | petals of a Laurette rose palest cream | much tailer than it does when standing. | inat s hor coviosrariote v b, S Lpaiconily talodionslpfann 1an. other cirlsare just beginning to plan their | decided character and learless heart; somo | shading to blush pink at the tips. “They | Caicago women are long of leg, fairly | The sirixing features of the typical San | Pre T ¢ditatively refused to marry, ine n I heard the story I straightway i\(c!runmo society. | &rim Saxon ancestor of hers who ruled his | have been red with blood to the wrists,” 5 me being contrary to the statutes ang | agein-t the laws of these United States of | hips—more like the English woman than | development: In a great measnire our J : told, bad pbraved shot and shell and | wcrds—a litue wearily, for she has been | cohcerning kis individual rights na | Then she told me of the weeks of caring | the New Yorker can attain after a dozen ;;,:x‘;; :x‘re responsible ;ofqzlyis, \\'a‘:ch a Ami',—“," ok ;md Jo“", o wilins fo vons of all kinds to help Ler|an invalid for over three years now, and | fought for tuem sturdily, but having | for the wounded and dying in the rear of | severs attacks of anelomeniacion.” Wiy throng of pecpie andl you will notige how | o iser ot Gar gy OF Slaim that he s a country’s soldlers in ti need; and a<s0- | 1o be prisoned in even so pretty a home ay | fallen heir to them they have dominated | the army, and the privations which they | wonder, then, that our tvpes do not ap- many couples there AR SRR S cit ./-fln o ) ada :.md‘ that, under the we are apt todo, the idea of | this of hers is almost unbearably irk. | and made her whatsue was and is. | all endured. The hampess sent from | peal to them! They differ as the pine overtops the bitof ma calinity at her side | s cariers B i L natonal matrimony courage with that of sirength and size, 1 some 10 one of her uctive ana energetic | ve her my word 2nd then she took | home full of dellcacies suffered the for- | tree - that 3hoots - straight and strong | by holf & hesd. Tis typical girl’s | witl foy s _"’l" rich for his boot: Cupid imagined her to be a person of command- | temperament. of honor from lts casket and | tunesuf war on tho wsy, and when they | toward ilieisky differs from the shrub. | foatures are cather fars to saateh tho B s ,‘"? bow and arrow and ing stature, resolute bearing, and deter- | I was always one of the workers until It 1 a Maltese cross |arrived, if they arrvea at all, were | There isa height and breadth, a zespon. plan that she is builton. But her eyes | ooy LD 80 down the land, armed with mined countenance. This picture I car- | I was forced to he idle,’” sie snid, *‘and I wn two incies square depending | emptied of all dainties. Pea-sausage and | siveness and ‘spice of originality ubout | have a rich coloring!. Match ‘me these if | oo C. WAITant and a pair of hande; ried with me throuchout my cable journey | . Lall soon work again, for I am gaining | from a knot of faded ribbon, once of the | pumpernickel was the food upon which | to er home; and then, when at las. I was now daily. When a woman is left a brave German colors. A crown ornaments nurses and patients had to depend for the them that is as refreshing as the aroma ic you can. They are her natural heritages The poor man will be forced to join the : ] b c natrimonial stampede, while the rich : - breath of the pines. They are to be found | handed down from the senoritas who | man will grubstake a substitute. al ted to her presence, it was shattered | widow in her early twenties, and brings | the upper arm, the letter W is in the cen. | most part, and sometimes there was a | everywhere—in the numerous places of | oraced the yes ears, who drooped | 5 ‘,\1_"" tte 5 s = 5 in an instant. I had come expecting to |up two sons and a daughter by her own | ter and at the bottom is the date 1870; » | scarcity even of this coarse fare. amusement, in the cafes, on the cars and iotie Smiih is preparing to see a gray eagle, a noble but somewhat forbldding and awe-inspiring bird, and I found—at least it seemed so in the first moment of meeting—a pet canary! Surely there must have been some mis- take, I tbought, but my uncertainty was anickly ended by her greeting of gentle «nity, She was the lacy whom I had X ired to see, most, certalnly, and 1 trust L] she forgave the rudeness of my won- zo as she made me welcome. of a woman as this Though not gigantic myseit I fairly loomed over her, and she is as daintiiy delicaie of form and feature and coloring as an exquisite Parisian aoll —rather let me say, since nationalities clazh a trifie perhaps still—one of those charming and graceful little Dresden shepherdess figures which we kuow 850 well. Her luxuriant hair bas on the curve of the zoft ripple« just the glint of burnished unaided exertions, she does not find time hang heavy on her hands by any means, but now—'" passing over her bright face. The pris- oned bird wiil beat its wings unavatlingly against the bars at times, no matter how gay that cage may be nor how carefully tended. The blue sky outside looks so She sighed, a little shadow | fair; the open air and freedom to fly | where 1t will, are so sweet! 1 told her my errand, how I had heard of her ana wished to hear her story from ner own lips and see jor mysell the famous Iron Cross which, rizh:ly, is her greatest treasure; but though gracious still she positively refused to lct me make the mat- ter public. “‘My friends know of it,” she said, “and before I was ill, fur charity’s sake, I was persuaded to show myself and the cross in public; but Idislike notoriety—indeed I canno: bear anything of the kind now— and wherever 1 have bcen heretofore and | During the early years of | gained her point, bowever, little line of beading outlines it, running just inside tve euge. Surely a simple thing, a worthless trifly to any who do not know iis story and significance, but to those whe do a jewel of priceless worth. Atter that she told me briefly of herself. Born in Dresden, but passing ber childhood and the little of young girthood that was hers in Australia, she married at the age of 15 an Engish physician of excelleut family and bigh professional reputation. their married lite the Franco-Prussian war stirrea all Germany to patriotic action, and the young wife felt herself speciaily called to work for hercountry and its heroes. It is scarcely provable that she could have had it not been that a maternal aunt of hers, a Ger- man lady of iitle, whose hu-band was a coionei in the Prussian army, delermined to follow his fortunes and become a fiela | At Sedan she was again under fire, this time feeling quite a veteran. Here the | same scenes were re-enacted, and here | again the brave. little G:rman nurse did her duty well in spite of bu lets and can- non-balls and bursiing bom! s ana guwastly | horrors of torn flesh and shattered bones and hideous sights and sounds such as we stay-homes can never realize, though even mere description makes us shudder. | And then it was all over, and one day. just before the volunteer nur-es disbanded 10 g0 back to their homes and prosaic, every-day life again, King William of Prossia—crowned the German Emperor soon after—summoned her to his pres- ence, and, with his staff looking on with grim approval on their triumphant faces, pinfied the iron cross upon the bosom of ber gray gown. “I was more frightened then than I was on the field,” she says, smiling at the re- membrance, “and I scarcely heard or saw ferries, and on a sunny morning they swarm, like bees, in the hives where tempting tbings are put forth to attract | the bright dollars and brighter eyes of fair purcha ers. One morning this week I ran across an Englistman who is visiling a prominent member of the Bonemian Club. He stood, leaning against the "wall at Post anud | Kearny streets, closely scrutinizing the passers-by. “I have been standing here for a half hour,” he said, “and I have countel more pretty women than one can see in London in a month. It 1s a veri- table ‘Dream of Fair Women.’ " A pirl with painted cheeks, bleached hair showing black and brown and green- ish where the chemicals were beginning to wear away, | assed. “A nightmare now and then,” added the colonel, “makes sweet dreams pleasanter by contrast.” I held up a decidedly uncomfortable and unappreciative plank of the wall for \athousand other lovable things besiaes, their long Iashes and brought forth sweet soundas from the wuitar with Jong, slim | brown hands, whe fanned away the heartof | the youths, holdinz the little instrument | of exquisite torture in a manner that de- | [ fies imitation. And thesenorita loved the | glistening baubles, the brilliant-colored scarfs, the cloth that gleamed with scar- let and gold and every:.hing that was gor- veous and bright a1d gay. Why cavil then at our pirls because they sometimes bedeck themse ves in colors tha: vie with ihe rainbow? They never wear the right gown at the right time—a bright-hued one on the street, jacket and walking hat at the opera. They are as uncertain as the fog that rolls in without a word of warning and plays sad havoe with feath- ersand hair. But even her incongruities are charming. Because thev are large of heart and strong of body, clear brained and self re. liant, picturesque, artistic, vivacious and | dren. ndumus Congress, and, while the law v be far in the ‘uture, when I think of | 1ts wonderful and fearful possibilities [ tremule for the safety of my grandchile Australia claims the largest agto-mobile carriage ever constructed for actual ser- ves. This car utilizes seventy-five horse power. The car travels, from Coolgapdie tothe coast for the transportation of mer- chandise to the mines. Besides the load on tue car itself, it drags two ‘trailers” over a distance of 400 miles. A railroad was too expensive a luxury to indulge in in that country, and so the idea of the big motor was couceived. So scarce is water along the route traveled that the steam is not exhausted into air, but saved, recon- verted into water,and thus used over and | over again,