There is no mistake about that, and there is a good prospect of my
staying here for some time to come. The snow is deep on the
ground, and more is falling.
The Doctor looks glum, and speaks of his ill-starred countryman, of
Sir. J. Franklin, who went to the Arctic once too much.
A good thing happened down here the other day, said a miner from
New Hampshire to me. "A man of Boston dressin' went through there,
and at one of the stations there wasn't any mules. Says the man
who was fixed out to kill in his Boston dressin', 'Where's them
mules?' Says the driver, 'Them mules is into the sage brush. You
go catch 'em--that's wot YOU do.' Says the man of Boston dressin',
'Oh no!' Says the driver! 'Oh, yes!' and he took his long
coach-whip and licked the man of Boston dressin' till he went and
caught them mules. How does that strike you for a joke?"
It didn't strike me as much of a joke to pay a hundred and
seventy-five dollars in gold fare, and then be horse-whipped by
stage-drivers, for declining to chase mules. But people's ideas
of humor differ in regard to shrewdness which "reminds me of a
little story."
Sitting in a New England country store one day I overheard the
following dialogue between two brothers:
"Say, Bill, wot you done with that air sorrel mare of yourn?"
"Sold her," said William, with a smile of satisfaction.
"Wot'd you git?"
"Hund'd an' fifty dollars, cash deown!"
"Show! Hund'd an' fifty for that kickin' spavin'd critter! Who'd
you sell her to?"
"Sold her to mother!"
"Wot!" exclaimed brother No. 1, "did you railly sell that kickin'
spavin'd critter to mother? Wall, you AIR a shrewd one!"
A Sensation--Arrival by the Overland Stage of two Missouri girls,
who had come unescorted all the way through. They are going to
Nevada territory to join their father. They are pretty, but,
merciful heavens! how they throw the meat and potatoes down their
throats. "This is the first squar' meal we've had since we left
Rocky Thompson's," said the eldest. Then addressing herself to me,
she said:
"Air you the literary man?"