THE TIM US NEW HL00MFIEL1), PA., JULY 1
2, 1881.
The Conductor's Story.
I THINK It Is Emerson who gay:
" Wlien you pity for your ticket mid
get Into the cur you hnve to guess what
goo J compnny you nliall 11 ml there.
You buy much tlmt is not rendered lu
the hill. " I hnve found this remark
eminently true on several occasions,
particularly when my We long filend
ltuth hears me company.
ltutli Is the most unconventional of
women. She travels, as he does every
thing else, with whole-souled earnest
ness, and Muds hread where most could
gather only stones. Thus, recently
helng in the rear end of a long train, she
preferred standing on the platform aud
drinking lu at one draught the ninsnill
cent valley through which we seemed
flying, than by tantalizing sips, ns one
has to from behind a narrow car win
dow. I followed her. I always do.
And, holding on to the narrow railing,
we felt somewhnt like two comets
whirling through spaoe. Soon the door
behind us banged, and a gentleman in
the midsummer of life, with a fuce hs
"classically beautiful as Edwin Booth's,
uud a waist of FalstafTlan dimensions,
joined us. He beamed on us almost
literally. From the dimple in his fair,
9oftchin, to the ring of brown, silky
hair which lay upon his broad, smooth
forehead, the expression scintillated
with intelligent good nature. Withal
there was such a retrospective back
ground to the sunny brightness that,
after n few commonplaces, Ituth, the
daring, honest, impudent creature, said,
meauwiiiie looking up into his face
With a smile bo honest and kindly that
iie would have been a Berserker not to
have reflected It:
"Sir, permit me to remark that you
are a physical incongruity."
" Not so bad as that, madam, I hope.
I am merely a conductor, as by this
time you have discovered, and a pretty
well balanced one independent of my
avoirdupois."
" But your thoughtful face, sir, that is
what perplexes me. It should belong
to a body but one-third the weight of
yours," suggested ltuth, the wise disci
ple of Lavater.
"My face is all right," he replied,
stroking his cheeks and chin with an
air of marvelous self complacency. "It
stopped growing ten year ago, but it is
here," touhching the region of his
diaphragm with the tip of ills front fore
linger, "that contentment and my rare
good luck show themselves. Once I
was as thin ns Peter Shemmel's shadow,
and" he paused, looking into Ituth's
clear, gray eyes as if he would souud her
soul's depth "I am strongly tempted
to tell you my bit of romance, for there
is a long stretch ahead, aud you look
like one of the kind to enjoy a touch of
nature. Isn't it sol"'
The conductor had struck the very
key-note of our needs. We were pining
for n veritable California story, told in
an unconventional way, outside the
well-read romances of Bret Harte and
the Argonaut; to be told, too, under
such peculiar circumstances would be
an added spice, and thus we besought
him to immediately yield to temptation.
"I am an old stager," he said, "at
least as far back as the spring of '50.
With a blanket strapped upon my back,
fifty cents In my pocket and the biggest
stock of hope and untried energy that
ever made a lad's heart as light as a
balloon, I tramped along here in my
search for tho 'gold diggings.' My
ambition was higher than those buttes
yonder by thousands of feet, aud the top
was to be capped with solid gold,"
pointing as he spoke to the three singu
lar and isolated peaks we were just then
passing, known as the Marysville
Buttes, whose volcanic heights looked
as inaccessible to us as their peaks seem
ed brown and barren."
" It appears to me," said Hutu, meas
tiling the aliuott precipitous sides of
those lofty and mysterious hills, "that
when a mau aspires to touch the sky he
would want a higher guerdon than mere
gold, not, however, that I hold the
metal in contempt."
"I had madam, and that was the
whole matter. I was desperately in
love that was a solemn fact expressed
'in as few words as possible and I
believe that she loved me, but the top of
Mount Sinister was not more unattaina
ble to me than Jennie. Her father, an
old Philadelphia druggist, bad money,
and I had none. He was proud as
Lucifer, aud as ambitious for his daugh
ter as he was proud. I felt that I could
'move a mountain,' if I could find a
mountain to move ; so Jennie and I said
good-by one afternoon under an old oak
in Falrmount Park, aud In the very
depths of heart I believed she would be
true to me. It was not a seven days'
ride in a palace car from Xew York to
Ban Francisco those days, and the tall,
slender, hungry, penniless lad who
tramped along here twenty-nine years
ago, seeking his fortune like another
Dick Whittington, was a home-sick and
weary one as well."
"By 'here,' which you have twice
used, do you mean this veritable valley
of the Sacreinento V" asked ltuth.
" The very same. My objective point
was a place now .famous in the annals of
that period, called 'indwell's Bar,' on
account of a rich bar in the Feat ' ".
river, full of golden sand, which s
discovered by General Bldwell ..'he
place was many miles from . the
country was sparsely settled : .Jd not
know a soul (for even nps were
scarce In those early day' .nd so my
courage and my legs ga-'a ut together.
Pulling oil' my br is about live o'clock
one sultry day, 1 bared my blistered feet
to the cool evening breeze, and creeping
into a clump of young manz'inltzas, fell
asleep, hoping that I would never agalu
wake this side of the stars. I did, how
ever, conscious that my toes were
being licked In a gentle fashion, and
discovered that It was being done by a
young brown setter dog, about as
hungry looking and generally dilapidat
ed as I was myself.
" Where became from I never knew,
but looking into Ills half human eyes,
we speedily entered into a sort of dumb
compact to trudge on together. I found
that the poor fellow (I never could call
him a brute) had n sore knee, lutlamed
and bleeding. I tore a strip oft' from
my last handkerchief to bind it up, and
in place of the Good Samaritan's oil and
wine, gave him my last scrap of cold
bacon. It Is strange, but for'oru as I
was lu those days, I recall them with a
tender pieasuie almost unaccountable.
If 1 had been raised a Brahmin, I would
have believed that some immortal spirit
of unfailing cheerfulness aud unending
resources was imprisoned in that dog's
body.
" Did you ever read the fairy legend of
the 'White Cat,' who, after she had per
suaded the young prince, her lover, to
cut on" her head and tail and throw
them lu the Hre, suddenly stood before
him a woman, as fair as Aurora? Fritz,
for that was the name by which I called
the dog, looked at me with Jennie's
brown eyes, half roguish, half thought
ful, and together we resumed our
journey. Nor would I have followed in
the wake of the young prince, even If I
hud known the result would have been
similar, for Fritz, the dog was invalua
ble just as he was. All louesomeness
was gone now that he rarely ever left
my side, and although our shadows had
grown less by the time we ' reached the
' Bar,' our immaterial entities were in
prime order for anything in the shape
of adventure. Have never seen any
gold dug y Then I'll not at this late
day spoil your first Impression of a
miner's camp by describing mine as I
approached Bidwell's Bar. I may say
though thnt one might hnve supposed
an earthquake or tornado had just been
at work there, tearing up the hundreds
of thousands of cubic feet that had been
moved and removed by mortal hands
In their frantic and persistent search for
gold.
" The ' Bar,' was a world In minia
ture. Almost every nationality was
represented there, aud almost every
feature of human kind but humanity.
Armed with a pick, pan aud shovel, I
like hundreds of others, began to dig
and burrow aud wash dirt. But my
labor aud its results would not balance,
for somehow my little leather bag of
gold dust grew no heavier, toil as I
would. Wages being good I stopped
digging and hired myself as a camp
scullion. I did every kind of jobbing
within range of a miner's wants.
Washing dirty flannel shirts and cotton
overalls, patching leather trousers and
cooking flapjacks is not the most digni
fied and flower-strewn path to fortune,
you must kuow, aud to a hoy whose
ideas of .chivalry, independence and
deeds of knightly valor were purely and
intensely Byronio, such a fate you must
acknowledge wasasortof poetic justice.
My aim, though, was to earn enough
money with which to buy a certain
claim of which I knew, and that I had
in advance labeled 'bonanza.'
" I might have succeeded, but I was
prostrated by a malarial fever, aud for
days and weeks lay unconscious at the
tender mercy of a few Welsh miners
with human hearts. My little hoard of
money and my energy melted away
together like -spring snow. But for
Fritz-I'd have died of disappointment
alone. He had adopted the 'never say
die,' motto, and I as often read in his
glorious eyes the sentence : ' You great
old coward. At him again I' us a tender
and appreciative sympathy which the
gift of speech could not have made more
assuring. My nurses had pitched me a
lent on the south side of a low hill, and
left me to get well at my leisure.
" My bottom dollar had dwludled
into the value of a dime, my legs into
the thickness of a pair of tongs (for all
appetite was gone), and one evening
hope failed me. Believing I was going
to die, I resolved to do the fair thiug by
Jennie, apprise ber of the event, and
advise her to forget me. By the flicker
ing light of a bit of tallow candle, I
commenced a letter the first I had
written for months. I thought aloud an
I wrote. Fritz lay beside me, his nose
wedged lu between his fore-paws, but I
knew by the twitching of his ears
that ho understood every word I was
writing.
" I had reached tho climax of renun
ciation and wretchedness or rather my
expression of It when he suddenly rose
and went out. I soon heard him paw
ing and scratching and tearing the earth
about six feet from me, us though he
was under contract to dig a tunnel to
China before daylight. Thinking he
had found the burrow of a wolf or fox, I
called him oil', but he was as deaf as a
rock to my voice. Seizing the candle I
hurried to the spot, around which lay a
half-bushel of gravel, which he had
loosened, when my eye caught the
gleam of a dull read Btreak that stained
a quartz about the size of an egg, lying
among the fresh earth. Would you
believe it ? That streak was worth llfty
dollars, for it was virgin gold. Nor was
it the only one upon tlie billslde. Fritz
had fount! a lode (thanks to a gopher),
and I, thereby, had found a fortune. As
booh as possible 1 had the gold of that
first precious stone wrought into a ring
of my own designing ; all of It, at least
the contents of but one blunt corner,
which, In native roughness, I mounted
as a simple brooch. Sending these to
Jennie I"
"An act of great generosity, sir, I
think," Interrupted ltuth, with u laugh
ing glint in her eye. " One would have
thought you'd have preserved such a
piece of rare good fortune as a memorial
stone."
"You anticipated me, madam. It
was as a memorial that I sent my first
bit of treasure, but I expected to get it
back at the end of two years, and the
girl with It."
"And did you?"
"No; nor even received n line of
acknowledgment that my offer had been
accepted. Nothing finds gold quicker
than gold when a mau has once got a
fair share of It, and iu two years I had,
In various ways, secured twenty tbou
i'Hnd dollars. Investing It, as I thought,
safely, I returned to Philadelphia in nil
the pride of a conquering hero. My
story ought to end here ; wind up with
the chime of wedding bells and 'a beau
tiful Rachel,' as my reward for faithful
serving, hut I had scarcely arrived
when I heard accidentally that Jennie
had gone with her father to Europe,
nor left 'one sign that she had ever
remembered me."
" You certainly did not let that fact
dampen the ardor of your pursuit,"
queried ltuth; "you followed her, of
course V"
" Of course I did no such thing,
niadam. I returned to San Francisco
and plunged into the excitement of gold
hunting with a recklessness that a
woman cannot understand. Six months
after I had lost every dollar, but, by
that time, I had learned that experience
is worth nothing as solid capital until
It has been 'dearly bought. I whistled
my rhyme :
Loss and gain, pleasure and pain
Balance the sco-eaw of life.
in the sensitive ears of my faithful
Fritz, hugged his brown head close to
my shoulder don't laugh, that dog was
my friend rolled up my sleeves aud
again went to work with a vigor thnt I
knew meant success if the vein held
out. It did, and five years afterwards I
had a hank account which ran largely
into the thousands. I Invested it in
land. Hard knocks aud my big disap
pointment had shaken all the romance
out of me, and when I again went East
it was on business connected with the
construction of this railroad."
"Aud you had quite lived out your
boyish fancy, as your heart begau to
lose Us youth V asked Ituth, with the
least bit of cynicism in her tone.
, " I think Fritz kuew," said the con
ductor quietly. "I had become almost
a misanthrope for his sake. If I left
him to go into society sucli as' we had
for a few hours, he either whined like
a sick child or kept up such an Incessant
barking and baying that, to save him
from being shot as a nuisance, I went to
no place where It was Impossible for
him fo accompany me. The old fellow
went with me even to New York, aud
on the journey I often found myself
cogitating as to how he horn in a
wilderness of wild mustard, and as fond
of camp-life as an Indian would take
to the constraints of an old city. Well,
I had not been iu New York a week
before there was a strong tugging at my
heart to run down to Philadelphia. Not
that it was home for me, for my parents
had died before I had first left it. I
called the desire, 'the charm of associa
tion,' aud it led me to decide at ouce to
run over to the Quaker City.
" There, as I first went down Arch
street, my poor dog lost his wits aud the
sober dignity of his maturity. He had
a remarkably fine scent. I always
knew that ; but no sooner had we turn
ed into that particular street, than, with
nose close to the ground and rigid tail,
he ran zig-zag to and fro, as though he
was on the trail of an erratic fox. I
called to him b'ut he gave no heed.
People got out of way. The gamins
shouted, and, with a w ild, shrill bark,
he bounded Into the doorway of a large
dry goods store. I bounded after hltu
In time to see him rush up to a lady In
black who Was examining some gloves
and dance around her with signs of ti)e
most extravagant Joy. There are tones
that live without the aid of phono
graphs, 'lloyl lloy 1 Jjear old Itoy "
was all she said, but I'd have sworn the
voice was Jennie's, If I had heard it on
the summit of Mount Blnne. A w hite
hand was laid upon his head, and my
ring was on the hand."
He p.msed. " Yours V Sir, I hope
you did not claim It," said his practical
collocutor.
" I did, and the hand which wore it,
just as I had originally Intended."
Aud Alexander In his hour of greatest
conquest, never smiled a more serene
approval of himself than our conductor
at this stage of his story.
"But the conduct of Fritz and the
lady's silence, aud the queer concomi
tants wlilch exist only In fiction how
do you reconcile them with an 'ow'r
true tale V" said ltuth, the truth-lovlug.
"Fritz was Roy, the Itoy who had
often been caressed by Jennie before his
young master, Jennie's cousin, got the
gold fever when I did, and came to
California never to return. Jennie had
written but her letter never reached me.
She thought me dead. Why the dog
came to me when his master died, is one
among the riddles of my life which I
will disentangle iu the hereafter."
" And to-day where is she V"
He stood waiting for the question.
" Ou our ranch near Sacremento, and
I believe one of the happiest women in
the State. We have a boy ten years old
whose name is Fritz, aud all the dearer
for the sake of the old friend whq has
long since gone where I hope some,, day
to meet the human of him. I wish you
could stop off a while and see my wife.
Queer, isn't it, that I should have in
truded this bit of private history upon
you, but the truth Is. Yes, coming,
I'll be with you again, ladies."
A brakeman beckoned him inside,
and we had seen the last of our hand
some conductor.
The evening shadows had begun to
lengthen. The setting sun had turned
the vast plain of the Sacremento valley
Into a "field of the cloth of gold," and
the distant peaks of the Sierra, clad In
their eternal snows, but now rose-tinted
nnd glowing, seemed to cleave the azure
nbove them as with a wedge of burnish
ed silver. It was starlight when we
reached the end of our ride aud were
registered for the night.
" The conductor's story was a pleas
aut little episode, Ruth, wasn't it V Do
you believe it happened ?" I asked, as I
leaned from my pillow to hers to leave u
good-night kiss on her round cheek.
" I like Fritz," was her sleepy answer.
"There's an instinct about some dogs
that the half of mankind can neither
appreciate nor attain. I trust a man
whom a good dog loves."
Very Precise.
In noting thedillerence iu the style in
which Senators and Representatives
now live lu Washington as compared
with that usual thirty years ago, an old
resident tells nu unecdote of interest.
He says that at that time it was not
uncommon for very worthy members
of either House of Congress to occupy
rooms over stores. A very swell gentle
man was elected to Congress, whom we
will call Baker, and he set up a grand
establishment here. He was greatly
shocked to find that his intimate friend
Cooper, although a very rich man, lived
over a grocery store, and one day, in
addressing a note to him, wrote: " Hon.
Mr. Cooper, over Smith's grocery store."
But Cooper was not to be put down
thus, so, remembering the situation of
Baker's grand house, when he answered
addressed his letter: "Hon. George
Augustus Baker, opposite Foy's livery
stable."
" Don't Know Half their Value."
"They cured me of Ague, Biliousness
and Kidney Complalnt.as recommended.
I had a half bottle left which I used for
my two little girls, who the doctors aud
neighbors said could not be cured. I
would have lost both of them oue night
iflhadnot given them Hop Bitters.
They did them so much good I continu
ed their use until they were cured. That
Is why I say you do not know half the
value of Hop Bitters, and do not recom
meud them high enough." B., Roches,
ter, N. Y. See other column. Amer
ican Mural Home, -7 -t
A Good Foundation.
Oue of the greatest troubles of our peo
ple Is weakness of the stonixcli. As
this soon causes Indigestion, Nervous,
ness and Rheumatism, they prevail in
almost every American household.
There Is positively' no need foranybody
to sutler from these painful troubles who
can buy a 50 ct. bottles of Parker's Gin
ger Tonlo; for this superior medicine
always toues up the stomach and nerv
ous system, and keeps the kidneys act
ive In carrying oft' the foul matters, thus
laying a good foundation for perfect
health. 20 lm
I En iiTCIeP E D
Foil
RHEUSIMISEI,
Neuralgia, Sciatica, Lumbago,
Backache, Soreness of the Chest, Gout,
Quins, Sore Throat, Swellings and
Sprains, Burns and Scalds,
General Bodily Pains,
Tooth, Ear and Headache, Frosted Feet
and Ears, and all other Pains
and Aches.
No Preparation nn earth equal Pt. jArons On. as
a titfr.Kiirr. and rhtnp KxterHHl Keniedy.
A trlfti entails but ihe f-ompamtivcly triliinp outlay
of 5f fenl. unit every one Mificrincr with pain
can have cheap nnd jMwitlve proof of it claims.
Directions In Eleven Languages.
SOLD BY ALL DRUGGI8T3 AND DEALERS IK
MEDICINE.
A.VOGSLER & CO.,
Jlitltlmnrr, JIM., U. S. A.
May S, 1SS1 ly
CENTRAL STORE
NEWPORT, l'ENN'A.
-Now oiler the public
A HARK AND ELEGANT ASSORTMENT Of
DRESS GOODS
Consisting of all'shades suitable (or the season
BLACK ALPACCAS
AND , ,
Mourning Opods
A SPECIALITY.
BLEACHED AND UNBLEACHED
MUSLINS,
AT VAKIOUS PKICES.
AN BNDLESS SELECTION OF PRINTS'
We sell and do keep a good quality of
SUGARS, COFFEES & SYRUPS
And everything under the head of
GROCERIES !
Machine Needles and oil for all makes ol
Machines.
To be convinced that ourgoodsare
CHEAP AS THE CHEAPEST,
18 TO CALL AND EX AMIN E STOCK.
y No trouble to show goods.
Don't forget the
CENTRAL STORE,
Newport, Perry County, Pa.
PUEE
TINTED GLOSS
PAINT !
DO'T
make experiments on your buildings with untried
aud unreliable auclclesat your expense.
lOIV'T PAY
fur water and benzine J1.0 toSHO per gallon.
DO 1JUY
the Lucas reliable and guaranteed Tinted Gloss
Clreulara and Sample Cards of Taint mailed on
application.
JOHN LUCAS & CO,
141 North Third Street,
13 6m rhUadelphla, Pn.
HELP
Yourselvea by maklmr money when a rolden
cham-e in ortered, thereby alwaya keepiutr
IKtverty from yonrdor. Thoaeu-hn alwav
take advantage of the ood chaucea for tuakiutr uioney
that are offered, a-euerally ittcome wi-althy, while those,
who do not improve uch chances remain in imveriy.
We want many men.women, boys and .rirla to work for
ua rbrht in their own localities. The. burtiuesa will my
more than ten time ordinary wa.res. We. furnish an
exneuaive outtit aud all that you need, free. No oue
who emnwea faila to make money vei-v rai'hllv. You
cau devote your whole time to the work, or only your
lare momenta. Full inforuiatiou ami all that is needed
Kent free. Addreaa 8TINSON k CO., Portland, Mains
ly.
ESTATE NOTICE. Notice Is hereby given,
that letters of administration on the estate
( Kav. S. 8. Klrhiuoud late of Toroite township.
Perry Couutv. Pa., defeased, have Ix-aii granted
to the undersigned. P. U. Addiesa taudiaburg.
Perry County. Pa.
All persons Indebted to said estate are request,
ed to make Immediate payment and those having
claims will present them duly authenticated lor
settlement to
AT.BBRT E. HlCHMOND,
Cius. H. Pmii.et, Att'y. Administrator.
May 10, list.