The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 16, 1902, Page 13

- 2, by Robert Howard Russell days after that pinfeather H person, marked the Old Cat- hile refilling his pipe, l ok of sage reflection, days after that pinfeather gains C Enright's consent malk e of Wolfville as a private ement, him an’ his loved s camp. They floats ere mountain w calls a "buckboard son’s drivin’. Between three settin’ on e one seat—perches a preacher gent wk LR ¢ from the iook in his eyes, s sort o captivity that a-w Wi be this vere € s k got a o, f thar's a wearied hectored feather nds oute osses the reins an come that bout as her party, 1 them the hand to welcome ‘em, ion: r as this cer-mony, the as be- an’ after plump plite, Restauraw we, who represe Enright & sts the 0. K ckon r party, *tha says Enright t pendin’ hos- g0 over to combs goes over her make-up ens out her game.’ rty this yers an’ Abby t oughter b: he preacher sharp. e don’t want to come,’ ex- ‘an’ it's cost eap of trouble to round ain’t none shore but he seizes to go stampedin’; an’ rally, these rites we- would bog down a whole better allows im er party, v a ® says the preacher sharp; t de by you an’ em- Since I'm vou-all as you wish; ause I trusis that as rove a mootual re- r; an’ also for in your single- ace to the com- re yourse'fs, an in the happy the drop of the to escape. says Texas Thomp- ne side with Dan Boggs, s that, like his heart's s has r'iled him lows that the short 3 s to ma em as they Which if you-all knows that wife of mine who gets divorced, e what I says.’ reacher sharp gives ¥ doobious. She s wise to throw him loose. asshores her. Peets, at to the ground, ‘vou to me. T'll pledge ce him at the croocial d for to make ap obieeged to you, Abby to Peets, sizin' him up now that I'm convinced d e of my footure sufferin bsenteeism on the part of t I better go over, like ke a look or two In the to consoome a mo- ere titivation I said improvements, on he'll land none con- An' with confidin’ the , Abby goes curv- O K Restauraw. Pect “However does this yere virgin look? describe a lady onless or'ble for her. Which an’ lie a lot to say that autiful that a-way, if you-all only give me S0 much as one good cher io0 go on. But I'm plumb power- less in the ce of Abby. Thar's a zard effect to her face, an’ they best can say is that if she don’t look love- ins at Jeast she looks convincln’, The liest pine knot burns frequent the test, an’ you can take my word for it, is Abby girl has sperit. Speakin’ of her pearance, personal, Missis Rucker— r jedge—allows later to Enright by's a kyard in a faro game, her to lose. " , HE Goldsmith of Nome” is a little book of verse by S8am C. Dunham, who was sent to the Yukon in Au- 1897, by the Department bor at Washington e&s expert to make @ Te- opportunities for capital and w gold fields, and in 18%9 oned by the director of the ccial agent to supervise the of the population of North- These verses are the result uthor's observations and experis the four years that mark with the northland. in October, 1597, the nd had composed a poem en- ades of the Klondike,” the of which is as follow: titled first stan. Have you, too, banged at the Chilkoot, That storm-locked gate to the golden door? Those thunder-built steeps have words built to suit And whether you prayed or whether you + swore, “Twere ome. where 1t seemed that an oath “ *Which she looks like a sick cat in the face, an’ a greyhoun’ in the waist, says Missis Rucker; an’ I ain’t got any mortal use for no sech spindlin’ trollops as this yere Abby girl is, nohow." ““I don’t know,” says Enright, shakin’ his head: ‘I ain’t got much practical ex- perience with women to guide by; but I reckons now it's love that does it. Who- ever is that gent, Peets, who says “Love blind?”" He knows his business, that »ort does, an’ just about calls the turn.’ “I ain’t none so shore neither,’ says Peets. ‘Love may be blind, but somehow, 1 don't sign up the play that way. Thar's plenty of people, same as this pinfeather party, ‘who discerns beauties In their swesthearts that's veiled to you an’ me.’ “Of course, these yere discugsions con- cernin’ Abby's charms takes place weeks On the weddin’ day Woltville's too trackin’ ‘round an’ ‘backin’ the pinfeather party’s g0 makin’ remarks, In yere connectlon, however, it's jéstice to Abby to say that her bus: Abby's game to th! Although Abby done threat- him with a gun-play to make him ad her to the altar that time her old W creases him, an' he begins to wax low-sperited about wedlock—Itke he re- lates to Enright former—still, the pin- ther party’s enamored f Abby an’ mp wropped up in her. ** "Shore!’ says this pinfeather party to Texas Thompson, who, outen pure sym- pathy for him, takes the bridegroom over to the Red Light to be refreshed. ‘Shore! While thar's no one that egreegrious to £o claimin’ that my Abby's doo to grade E as “cornfed,” all the same she's one of the most fascinatin’ ladies—that is, an’ give her a gun—in all the lén'th an’ breadth of Arizona. I know; for I've secn my Abby shoot.” ‘Excoose me, pard,’ says Texas, after surveyin’ the pinfeather party plenty mpathetic; ‘pardon my seemin’ rood- ness, if I confers with barkeep aside. On the level! Now,' goes on Texas to Black Jack as he pulls him off to a corner an’ whispers so the pinfeather party don't hear, ‘on the level, Jac Ain't it my d me who saveys what he's ag'inst—— o warn this yere victim touchin’ of matrimony in ail its horrors? Don’t you do it!" remonstrates Black an’' his voice trembles with the emphasis he feels; ‘don’t you do it none! ~ou-all stand paws off! Which you don't know when you'll be answerable for! 1f this yere marriage gets broke off, who knows what new line of conduct this Abby maiden will put out. She may rope onto Boggs or Peets or mebby even you. As long as Abby ain't marryin’ nome of us, Wolfville's attitoode oughter be one of dignified reserve.’ “Texas sighs deep an’ sad as he turns 2’gin to the pinfeather party; but he se. the force of Black Jack’s argyments an lelds without an effort to combat 'em. ‘After all’ says Texas to hims 'y ‘others has suffered; wherefore then should this yere jaybird gent escape? An’ with that Texas hardens his heart a whole lot an’ gives up any notion of this pinfeather person’s rescoo. “Which’ Abby now issues forth of the O. K. restauraw an’ j'ines the pinfeather party when he emerges from the Red Light. * “This yere sky pilot,’ says Dan Boggs, approachin’ the happy couple, ‘sends word by me that he's over in the Noo York store. In default of a shore enough sanchooary, he allows he yootilizes that hive of trade as a headquarters; an’ he's now waltin’, all framed up an’ ready (o turn for you-all. Likewise, he's been complainin’ ‘round some querulous that you foiks is harsh with him, an’ abducts him an’ threatens his skelp.’ Now, see thar!" ejac’lates Abby, liftin’ up her hands. ‘Does mortal y'ears ever before listen to sech folly! I suppose he takes that gun I has as threats! I'm a onprotected young female, an’' nacher- ally, when I cmbarks on this yere elope- ment, I packs cne of paw’s guns. Beslides, this sweetheart of mine might get cold feet an’ try to jump the game, an’ then I'd need sald weepon some to make gond my p'sition. But it's never meant for that pastor! When I'm talkin’ to him, to pre- vail on him to come along, an’ that gun in my hand at the time, I does sort o’ make references to him with the muzzle. Buc he needn’t go gettin’ birdheaded an’ timid over it; thar's shore nothin’ hostile meant!” “ ‘Enright explains to him satisfact'ry,” says Boggs. °‘An’ as you urges it don't mean nothin’. Folks ou the brink of bein’ married that a-way gets so exyooberat it comes mighty near the same as bein’ locoed.” “‘Well,’ says the pinfeather party, who's been stackin’ up a dust-cloud where some one's gallopin’ along about three miles over the trail toward Tucson, ‘it I'm any dab at a guess, that's your in- turiated paw pirootin’ along over yonder, an’ we better get these matrimonial hob- bles on without further onreasonable de- lays. That old murderer would plug me; an” no more hes'tation than if I'm a coy- ote. But once I'm moved up into p’sitfon were a orayer— Seemed that God couldn’t care, Beemed that God wasn't there! Mr. Dunham was *inspired by his as- soclation with the great Western poet and the reading of his poem to make his first attempt at verse. The result was “‘A Reply,” written in a semi-humorous vein. We give the first stanza: I, tco, have banged at the Chilcoot; I have scaled her storm-torn height And slid down her trall with dizzy shoot That produced a northern light; And 1 uttered a curse-laden prayer— Of course God didn’t care, For only the devil was there. “The Men Who Blaze the Trail” is the author's second attempt at verse and is in a much more serious veln: Let otbers sing of those who've won Full hoard of virgin gold! I strike the lyre for those who've none, But yet are strong and bold— ‘Who've blazed the trails through a pathless waste . And on the world’s new chart have traced The lines which lead where the treasure's it A Book of Verse “BETWEEN HIM AN’ HIS INTENDED—ALL THREE SETTIN’ ON THE ONE SEAT—PERCHES 4 PREACHER GENT WHO, IT'S EFLAIN FROM as his son-in-law, this yere feelfn’ of kin- ship mighty likely op'rates to stay bis hand. Blood's thicker than water, an’' I'm in a hurry to get reelated a whole lot to your paw.’ “But Enright has his notions of what's proper. He su'gests them services be de- layed ontll old Glegg gets in. Meanwhile he dispatches Jack Moore an’ Dan Boggs placed, And all’ thefr secrets told. They search the streams and hillsides rend The hidden truth to learn; They trudge where land and sky line blend, And gaze till eyeballs burn; They scale bleak heights whence vast plains sween, And sow for those who come to reap, ‘While wives and sweethearts In homeland weep And pray for their return. This“poem, of which only stanzas are here printed, was so well received in Alaska and so favorably mentioned by several Bastern papers that the author was encouraged to continue, and he next Wrote a series of three poems' entitled “Just Back From Dawson,” “Sence I Come Back From Dawson” and “I'm Goin' Back to Dawson,” which first appeared in the New York Sun in the fall of 1898. They have been widely copied and read throughout Alaska and the States, and are perhaps more popular than any of the others. Mr. Dunham continued o con- tribute poems to the Nome newspapers. “Alaska to Uncle Sam'’” appcared in Sep- THE LOOK IN HIS EYES, IS HELD IN A SORT O’ as a gyard of honor to lead old Glegg to our trystin’ place in the Noo York store. ‘An’ the first thing you-all do, Jack,’ says Enright as Jack an’ Dan rides away, ‘you get that outcast's guns.’ “It ain't no more'n time for one drink when Jack an’' Dan comes surgin’ up in company with this yere Glegg. He's a flerce, gray old gent with a eye like a P , 1898 RSt dhme, “The Lament of the Ol Sour Dough,” which took like wildfire amopg the old-timers, and won for the author the sobriquet in the north of “The Poet of Alaska.” T've trudged and I've starved and I've frozen "All over this white barren land— Where the sea stretches straight, white and silent, ‘Where the timberless white mountains stand— From the white peaks that gleam in the moon- light, Like & ghrment that graces a soul, Tg the last white sweep of the prairies, Where the black shadows brood round the pole. (Now, pray don’'t presume from this prelude That a flame of poetical fire 1s to burst from my brain like a beacon, For I've only been tuning my lyre ‘o the low, sad voice of a singer Who's inépired to sing you some facts About the improvements in staking* And the men who mine with an ax.) T've panned from Pery tn Toint Barrow, But I never located a claim wolf. Jest before he arrives, Enright ad- vises the pinfeather person an’ the bride Abby to go camp in the r'ar room, so the sudden sight of ’em won't exasp'rate this parent Glegg to madness. “ ‘Whatever's the meanin’ of this yere concourse?” demands old Glegg as he comes into the Noo York store, an’ p'intin’ to where Peets an’ Texas an’ Till I'd fully persuaded my conscience That pay dirt pervaded the same; And this {8 the source of my Sorrow, As you will be forced to agree ‘When you learn how relentless Misfortune Has: dumped all her tailings on me. 1T worked with my pardner all summer, Cross-cutting a cussed cold creek, ‘Which we never once thought of locating Unless we located the streak; And when at the close of the scason We discovered the creek was a fake ‘We also discovered the region Had nothing left in it to stake. ‘We traversed the toe-twisting tundra, ‘Where reindeer root round for their feed, And the hungry Laplanders who herd them Devour them before they can breed. Here it seemed that Soud claims might be lenty, Ana’we thought we would stake one—per- ‘But we found to our griet that the gulchies Were staked In the name of the Lapps. A hundred long leagues to the northward, O'er the untrodden, sun-burnished smow, ‘We struggled, half blind and half famished, CAPTIVITY THAT A-WAY.” ) Cherokee Hall, along with Enright, is sort o' camped about; ‘an’ why does these oui- laws—' yere he indicates Dan an' Jack— ‘denoode me of my hardware, I'd like to know?' “ ‘These yere gents,’ says Enright, ‘Is a quorum of that respectable body known as the Wolfville Stranglers, otherwise a Vig'lance Committee; an’ your guns was it + From the Land of the Midnight Sun. To the sea where the stanch whalers go. We found there broad beaches of ruby And mountains with placers and leads, But all save the sky was pre-empted By salt-water sailors and Swedes. Then we cltmbed the cold creeks near a mission That is run by the agents of God, Who trade Bibles and prayer-books to heathen For ivary, sealskins and cod. At last we were sure we had struck it, But, alas! for our hope of reward— The landscape from sea beach to sky line ‘Was staked in the name of the Lord! We're too slow tor the new breed of miners, Embracing all classes of men, ‘Who locate by power of attorney And prospect their claims with a pen— Who do all of their fine work through agents And loaf around town with the sports, On_intimate terms with the lawyers, On stmilar térms with ‘the courts. ‘We're scared to submission and silence By the men the Government sends To force us to keep law and orfler, While they keep claims for their friends, And collect In an Indirect manner An exceedingly burdensome tax, 80t So as to redooce the chances of hang- ‘n’ you—the same bein’ some abundant, acheral—to a minimum. Now, who be you? Also, what's your little game?’ “ ‘My name's Benjamin Glegg,' responds old Glegg. ‘T owns the Sunflower brand an’ ranch. As for my gam thars - member of my fam'ly In—comes stampedin’ over mori- I onder- stands—an' I'm in the sad to round her up. Gents' con otd Glegg, an’ he displays emotion, ‘I'm sim- ply a harassed parent on the trail of his errant offspring.’ “Then Enright makes old Glegz a long, soft talk, an" se him with ca’mness. He relates how Abby an’ the pinfeather sport dotas on each other; an’ counsels old Glegg in with roode ot “ “Which I marks Enright. “‘It's as the Seripter says,' replies old mollified a lot, ¥ to tmboo to g0 pes s to the weddir Glegg, who as the Good Book says: A soft answer turneth away wrath. More speshully when the t your gu I be, o see 11, T hates to lose my a-way. Since my old woman y, gents, has been the world an’ all to'me.’ “ Is your wife dead?” asks Enright, like he sympathizes. Shore!’ says old Glegg. ‘Be an’ gone these two years. She's with them cherubimvin glory. But folks, you oughter seen her to onderstand my loss. Five years ago we has a ranch over back of the Tres Hermanas by the Mexico line. The Injuns used to in’ by our ranch, no'th an’ south, all t time. You-all re- calls when they pays twenty-five doilars for skelps vife's that thri all her own an’ my with the In- juns st ed to scout It- wp ould for her m: tle Abby w all breathless With that take I outen t o that savage with her lit chester, and quit winner twen lars right thar.” “ Which I don’t marvel you-all mourns her loss,’ says Enright consolin’ly « ‘She’s shorely—Missis Glegg says old Glegg. shaking his grizzly head; ‘she’s shore the most meteoric married lady of ha w ive dol- ol which hist'ry says a word. My girl Abby’s like her.’ 1 ut whatever's your objection,’ irgues Enright, ‘to this young an’ trusty who's S0 eageg to wed Abby?" ‘I objects to him because he gambles,’ vs old Glegg. ‘I can tell he gambles by m pi up the salt cellar between his thumb an’ middle finger, with the fore- finger over the top, like if's a stack of chips one even’ when he stays to supper an' I asks him to “pass the salt.” Then ag'in; he don't drink: he tells me so him- se’t one time when I invites him to libate. I ain't goin’ to have no teetotal son-in- law around, overpowerin’ me in a moral way; I'd feel criticized an’ I couldn’t stand it, gents. Lastly, I don't like this yere felon’s name none.’ “ ‘Whatever is his name, then? asks Enright. ‘So far, he don’t confide no title to us.” “ Which I don’t wonder none!" says Old Glegg. ‘It shows he's decent enough to be ashamed. Thar's hopes of him yet. Gents, his name’'s Toad Allen. “Allen™ goes, but, gents, I bars “Toad.’; Do you all blame me? I asks you; as onbiased sports, would you set ca'mly down while a party named ‘“Toad” puts himse'f in nom’nation to be your son-in-law?’ “None whatever!” says Jack Moore; an’ Dan an’ Cherokee an’ Texas echoes the remark. “ “You-all camp down yere with a tum- bler of Valley Tan,’ says Enright, ‘am’ make yourse’f comfortable with my col- leagues, while I goes an’ confers with our Gretna Green outfit in the r'ar room.” “Enright returns after a bit, an’ his face has that air of se’f-satisfaction that goes with a gent who's playin’ on vel- vet. “ “Your comin’ son-in-law,’ says Enright to old Glegg, ‘defends himse’'f from them charges as follows: He agrees to quit gamblin'; he says he lies a whole lot when he tells you-all he don't drink none; an’ lastly, deplorin’ “Toad” as a cognomen, an’ explainin’ that he don’t assoome it of choice, but sort o’ has it forced on him in his he'pless infancy, he offers—you econ- sentin’ to the weddin'—to reorganize his play onder the name of “Benjamin Glegg Allen.” on, thi§ yere last proposal nacherally wins over old Glegg in a body. He not only hdraws all objections to them nuptials, but allows he'll make the pin- feather sport an’ Abby fuil partners in the Sunflower brand. At this p'int, En- right notifies the preacher sharp that all depends on him; an’ that excellent gent at once acquits himse’f so that in two minutes Wolfville adds another success- ful weddin’ to its lst of triumphs. “ ‘It ’lustrates, too,” says Enright, when two days later that weddin’ party has returned to Tucson, an' Woltville ag'in sinks to its normal state of slum- brous ease, “it Sort o' ‘lustrates how open to argyments a gent is when once he’s,lost his guns. Which is he isn't dis- armed that time, my eloquence wouldn't have no more softenin’ effect on old Glegs than throwin’' water on a drowned rat.’ " Assumed for a time by the traders And then transferred to our backs. We had some hard knocks on the Klondike From the cub-lion’s unpadded paws, And sufered some shocks from high iicense And other tmmutable laws: But they robbed us by regular schedule, So we knew just what o expect, While at Nome we're scheduled to struggle Until we're financially wrecked. I'm sick of the seream of the Eagle And laws of dishonest design, And T'm going in quest of a country Where & miner can locate a mine; So_when I have rustled an outfit These places will know me no more, For PIL try my luck with the Russians On the bleak Siberian shore. Mr. Dunham’s most ambitious attempt at verse is embodied in the poem from which the book takes iis name, “The Goldsmith of Nome.” Lack of space for- bids the quotations of more than one stanza: 1 am resting by my anvil, And my forge is_growing cold; I have ccased my age-lous laborg, I have beaten out my gol I have scattered wide my treasures On the superficial sands, Where they lje unlocked and waiting For the work of human hands.