The tribune. (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, February 17, 1875, Image 1
s
THE TRIBUNE.
VOL. I.--NO. 13. BEAUFORT. S. I'.. FEBRUARY 17. 1875. $2.00 PER ANNUM.
Of Dogs.
Yon may Ring of your dog, your bottom dog,
Or of any dog that you please?
I go for the dog, tho wise old dog.
That knowingly taken hie eaae.
And, wagging his tail outside the ring.
Keeping always his bone in sight.
Cares not a pin, in his wise old head.
For either dog in tho fight.
hot his is the bone they are fighting for.
And why should any dog sail in,
With nothing to gain, but a certain chaucs
To lose his own precious skin ?
There may be a few, perhaps, who fail
To see it in quite this light;
ltut when the fur flies. I hod rather be
The outside dog in the fight.
I know there are doge, most generous dogs.
Who think it quite the thing
To take the part of tho botfom dog.
And go yelping into tho ring.
I care not a pin what tho world mar ear
Iii regard to the wrong or right;
My money goee, an well as my soug,
For the dog that keepe oat of the fight.
?John Paul
T1IE POST OF SANDY GULCH.
They called the place Sandy Galch; it
was hard to understand why, for it was
full of rocks, apparently. There was
not sand enough visible to scour a pan?
bnt then, pans in Sandy Gulch were not
scoured. There was a deeply bronzed
and heavily bearded set of men, heavy
drinkers all; and there were no women,
at least until Phoebe arrived. Slim Jim
was the autocrat of the place; he kept
the Now Orleans Saloon. Liquors were
dispensed in the front room, and faro in
the rear.
Phoebe lived " a smart piece " above
it, in a rongli place, half canvas and
half logs. What old Langsdale had
brought her there for no one could imagiue;
she had been the only woman on
the ship when they made their weary
six-months' voyage from New York, and
now sho was the only woman in Sandy
Gulch.
Phoebe was twenty?most girls are
pretty at twenty, if tney are ever going
to be pretty; Phoebe Had Wei eyes, and
rounded, rose-pink checks, and the
prettiest pouting mouth in the world.
The Sandy Gnlckers thought her a god
ucno) uiiu nuuicu uui oocui
Old Langsdale took the beet of care ol
hie daughter. When he moved hie
claim he movodhis cabin, too; and always
kept near enough for Phoebe to
hear the sound of his pick. When the
diggings gave out in one place, the
cabin was *' toted " to where they had
not given out. He never locked help in
moving his cabin?there were always
plenty of Sandy Gulchers anxious to
lend a hand; thev even quarreled aboul
it, and Langsdale obliged them to take
tarns. You Bee, they called it " helping
Phoebe."
There wero not many loafers in camp;
the people had come there to make n
fortune, and oould not afford to loaf; bul
there were a few, a oouple of Mexicans?
" Greasers," the miners called them?anil
two or three of the stamp of Slim Jim.
They were always busy enough al
night; in the daytime they hung round
the New Orleans Saloon, and they would
have liked to have visited Phoebe, but
old Langs dole would not have it. He
borrowed a pot of black paint and i
brush, and painted over his door,
"None*! No Loafbrs Wanted."
He thought that this would do, bul
one day he camo home and foand Apo
does there. PhoBbe was sitting on ai
empty butter keg, the rose-pink in he)
round cheeks deepened a little, and the
pouting mouth wus as smiling as yot
please.
Old Longsdale was mad; he called
Apodoca out, and pointed to the notice
on the door. Auodoca olanted his f<wv
firmly on the ground, placed his armi
akimbo, and gazed intently at the letter
ing for Home time; then, turning t<
Langsdale, he eoid, in his politest ac
rents :
" No sabbee."
? " You no read T" interrupted Longs
dale.
" Mo no sabbee read Inglis," repliec
Apodoca, taking his sombrero from tin
bush by the door Which caught the hut:
of most of Phoebe's visitors; onoe in i
while a hat was taken inside, if it chancet
to be new, and kicked under the table foi
safe keeping.
" Well," said Langsdale, "I'll read i
for yer: 'Notice!' '?he said this ii
thundering tones, which increased ii
volume as ho went on?" ' No loafcri
wanted. That means, Git! You sabbf*
that V "
"Si, Senor," replied Apodoca, with i
, sardonic smile, as, after a most profoum
bow to I'ncebe, ho placet! his somurert
on his head, and walked serenely away
" I'll horsewhip that fool, ef I ketel
him yere agin," said Langstlale, frown
ing at Phmbe.
" Why, paps, don't blamo me," sail
""" lihe, tossing her head; "I couldn't tel
him to clear out."
" You needn't havo been so dreadfu
weet and smiling, though I" he replied
! " I just gave him a pleasant word,"
< pouted Plicel>e; " I can't be cross to
i people, and June was very polite, I'm
: sure."
Langsdale muttered something about
: ,4 breaking his head," and went into the
cabin for his dinner. Phoebe went in
j after him. When he had gone into the
I rear room, which was his room, par cxI
ccllence, she softly closed t^e door be
hind him. The front room was her own;
it oontained her bod, her wardrobe, and
; her trinkets; the latter were all presents,
J and all of one sort. They stood in a
! row on n rough board shelf?" specimens,"
which would have made Eastern
ladies' eyes shine.
! When a Sandy Gulcher found a ntigi
get which was remarkable for purity or
: beauty, ho set it aside for " Posy "?
; they all liked to call the blooming
maid tlieir "Posy." The consequence
: was that Miss Phoebe had several thou;
sand dollars on her rough shelf, and
.1 went barefooted and bareheaded, and
i wore a calico gown. She had no fear of
! any one robbing her, though there were
i scamps in the camp who would have cut
a man's throat for a tenth of the wealth
| which Phoebe's nuggets represented; but
{ \ran nntn flro man in ftumlw
would have robbed the Posy !
When she went to attend the grand
' ball at Bootjack Bar, although she was
1 absent three days, she left her trinkets
1 undisturbed on the shelf, and for.nd
them there undisturbed on her return.
When she had Bhut the door after tier
; father, PhcBbe took from her pocket a
new specimen?a particularly fine one,
and very valuable; it was a present just
| received from Jose Apodoca. It had
[ probably been won in the rear room at
Slim Jim's, but that did not trouble
1 Phoebe. When she first came to California
she had been shocked at a hundred
things whifch she now looked upon with
indifference. She admired her nugget,
not for its value, but because it was
pretty; perhaps because in her heart
there was a soft place for the handsome
Mexican. She despised him fo: <his laziness.
and yet?she put it on the shelf
with a sigh. 44 I'll tell papa," she
thought to herself, 44 when he feels
kinder toward .Tooo."
Tet, in spite of old Langsdole's emEhatic
translation of the 44 Inglis " over
is door, Apodoca came again.
Plicsbo 44 couldn't be cross to people,"
and smiled and chatted, rose-pink deep,
ened in her cheeks, light brightened in
her eyes, nntil Jose was more enthralled
1 and bewildered than ever. But, for all
her pleasantness, Phoebe was a dutiful
daughter, and not only impressed her
' adorer with the necessity of departing
| before her father came home for his dinner,
but likewise besought him not to
' come again, unless to her evening recep'
tion. The Posy and her father seldom
' entertained less than twenty in an oven'
ing. Every one in the camp would have
| been there if the cabin had been bigger;
' as it was, half the callers had to content
themselves with standing outside, and
' catching now and then a word or a smile
) from the goddess through the door'
way. The New Orleans Saloon did not
' begin to have such attractions for them;
and the evening before tfce Posy went to
^ Bootjack Bar, and held a grand farewell
' roceptiou, in her ball dress, with shoes
l and stockings on, the saloon was wholly
1 deserted, and Slim Jim himself closed up,
' and went with the crowd to old Langs'
dale's cabin.
1 But Jose intimated, in mellifluous if
adulterated Spanish?Spanish flowed like
oil from Posy's ready tongue?that he
t could not speak more than two words to
. her in the evening, and besides (with a
i smile and a jerk of his thumb toward
r Slim Jim's), his business engagements
) prevented his coming in the evening;
i and, still besides that, he must there meet
a certain hated John, who was supposed
1 to be the choioe of her heart, as he eer3
tainly was of her father's,
t Phoebe pouted and mode a face at the
j mention of John; he would have been a
- grand catch for pretty Phoebe Langsdale
> m the little down-east town where she
- had been brought up?but the goddess
of Sandy Gulch could afford to be scornful.
Jose, however, was inclined to question
J the sincerity of her scorn; she, m turn.
1 I Drotested viororouslv. and. in tlw? mi.lui
3 I of the discussion, old Laugsdale walked
n , in unsuspiciously. Casting one look full
\ of anger and disgust at his daughter, tho
I old man, who had the strength of n giant,
r seized Apodoca by the shoulders, ami
, half lifted, half kicked him out, jelling,
t "Git! git!" at the top of his voice.
i Tho Mexican, however, was not to be
i kicked out of aaywhere by anybody
s with impunity, and, drawing his short,
s sharp knife, without which a Sandy
Gulclier would have l>oen unrooogniza\
ble, he made a furious bound toward tho
1 I U1U inihil) Willi inn A11UU Iipiuinuuy UIKI H
> ' murderous rage distorting liis handsome
. i face. But Phoebe was there before him;
i seizing his arm with her little brown
- hand, the rose-pink all faded out of her
cheeks, and her eyes wide open with ter1
ror, she cried: " Don't strike?don't
1 strike !" catching her breath in a terrified
sob. Flinging his knife into the chap1
arral, lie caught the terrified goddess in
. , his arms, pressed a burning kiss?his
find and Inst?011 tlic round, warm cheek, j
1 and fled, and Sandy Gulch knew him no 1
more. Ho knew that Fhcebe and her
guardians would never forgive his drawing
a knife on old Ijangsdale, and he unarmed.
A man who would resent any- 1
thing from the Posy's father wns not to
be tolerated in Sandy Gulch,
i Time went by, and the goddess still !
reigned without a rival in her kingdom; ,
and poor John still sued at her feet, |
though getting hopeless. His univer- |
sity education, his talents, his proud I
family, his manly beauty, all availed him 1
nothing in his desire to gather to him- j
self the blooming Posy; and then, ho
i did have wretched luck. He often said, '
with a gloomy 8iuile, that when his pick j
went in, gold went out at the other
< end.
i One night, John sat in the rear room, j
! tipped back in his chair with his heels j
! on the window-sill. The Posy held no j
reception that evening; she lind started
at daybreak, accompanied by her father, !
for a visit over to Van Dozens. Aside *
from the unwonted absence of the Posy, i
John felt melancholy; he was dead- j
i broke, and had come to the conclusion i
that his claim was not worth as much as
his pick; and then, although old Langsdale
had invited him to ride over to Van
j Duzen's and help escort the Posy home
i that night, yet he could not but let the
j remombxauce of Plicobo's cool manner I
rankle in his mind, more than the pros- i
peet of his felicity soothed it.
j " Jiitcnas twchct, Senor John," said a j
| musical voice.
Jolm looked up, a trifle surprised, j
| " Hullo, Apod oca, that you?"
Apodoea responded that it was uu- !
! doubtetlly himself, and invited Jolm to a !
j game of cards. John looked at his
j wutch; in ten or fifteen minutes he must j
; be starting for Van Duzen's. It hod
I been the Posy's sovereign desire to leave i
j there about ten o'clock and come home J
: by moonlight; moreover, he knew that ;
I the Mexican hated him, and that his !
J reputation as an honest man had not j
j been improvod since ho left Sandy
| Gulch. So John tipped back a little i
I more iu his chair, ona ?wiii he cinldn't; j
j liuil promyjed Langsdale and the Posy to .
rido home with them from Van Duzen's i
that night.
Apodoea smiled serenely, and said: j
I " One little game; it takes but few i
minutes. i
"Come, John," said the Dofctor, " I'm j
in good luck to-iiigkt; you and 1 against
Slippery Jack and Jose."
" I'm dead broke," said John.
"I lend; I have plenty gold-dust.
See," and Jose drew out a bag, which!
looked comfortably plump. He insisted !
on lending John au ounce, and the game i
began. On the first deal Apodoca and
Jack were winners, and the former
! volunteered to treat. John began to get
| interested in the game, then excited,
j then absorbed. Ho called for moro
| drinks, he borrowed more gold-dust, he
I forgot the Posy and her moonlight
i ride. His brain seemed to bo on fire;
now he won, now ho lost. His losings I
were the greater, for he must always borrow
more dust from the "Greaser's"
bag, so comfortably full. Slippery Jack
and the Doctor slipped out of the game,
somehow, and he and Apodoca played
alone. Slim Jim looked on contemptuously,
commiseratingly. " Confounded
fool!" he said to bald Pete?1
John's former partner?" he never had i
no luck; ougliter know it."
Meanwhile, the Posy rodo home over i
I tlio mountain trail, in the. silver moon- :
I light, in a very bad temper. Her father 1
I rode before her; where was "that John," i
j who ought to have been only too happy !
I to have the honor of riding behind her ? !
I She had intended to be so pleasant to j
! him, too ! When they passed the New ,
Orleans Saloon, it was brilliantly lighted; j
it was always brillianted lightly, all j
night,
. " Ask what time it is, papa," said ;
1 Phoebe.
T ^ 1 3 -1 1 T? 1 I
uHHt'u jxuu rcw, WHO ;
stood by the door. 44 Two o'clock," he
answered.
44 Wlmt ore they so'still in there for?" '
asked Phoebe, accustomed to hear the |
most uproarious noises iu the saloon,
i 44Apodoca and John aro playing," ;
i replied Buld Pete.
44 Come hero !" said the Posy, iraperi- \
j ously. Bald Pete came, obediently, as
i became a faithful subject. 44 What are
, the stakes ? John's got nothing to play
with. When did Jose get back i Who .
| is winning ?"
Bald Pete answered nil the questions, j
i but tho one about the stakes he evaded, j
But she made him tell how John hud j
borrowed gold dust until Jose would
lend no more ; thnt he had risked his '
claim and lost; liis watch, his pick, the 1
i very olofhisi upon his Imck. "He's:
! clean gone crazy," said K*' Pete?
I " clean outern liis wits."
" What's he playing for now f " said
the Posy.
Bald Pete hesitated, and tried again
' to evade the question, in vain.
" If you don't tell me," said she "I'll
go right in and ask 'em."
I " Wall," sjiid Pete, peering up in the '
I darkness to get a look at the Posy's
| round, pretty face, "he's staked ins,
> t
chances ter git you again the dust lie's
borrowed of Jose."
" And who's winniug?"
"I'm bound to Hay an Jose's winuiu',"
waid Pete, sorrowfully. "Jolia never
had no luck at keards."
Phcebo whipped up Robin a little, and
followed her father up to the cabin in
silence. Once inside her room, she took
from the shelf the nugget which had
been a present from Jose, and. stepping
outside the door, she threw it with all
her strength into the thick underbrush,
whispering: "There, blood-tbirsty villiiui?"
Then she went back, took the
rest of her nuggets?gathering up the
corners of her apron, that none might
roll out?slipped out of the door, and
ran at full speed down to the saloon,
the silver moonlight shining upon In*
as she went. Ikdd Pete stood at the
door.
" My eye !" he cried, when he saw the
Posy.
"Are they playing yet!'' she whispered.
tT? 1.1^.1 i CJ1 i 1. 1 _ 1 1
-CLt? limUUMl lUVX'UU Oil** lUOb Ill* lllllia
and clung to it like a child, drawing liim
into the room after her. Jose looked up
when she cumo in, and started; John
saw her, too, and let the cards drop from
his hand. "Never mind 'em, John,"
she said, in so low a voice that he hardly
heard her, " I'm going to pay Jose for
your debt;" and she emptied the nuggets
upon the table, between the two
pistols which lay there, one npon each
side, ready to tho hand of each playar.
She put her arms around John's arm,
clinging to it, as if she loved it, and tried
to lead liim away.
AjMxloca llung his cards upon the
floor, and, quick as a hash, Plicebe
heard the crack of his pistol?once,
twjce I Jolin fell back against the wall
with n groan, tho room was full of smoke
and the smell of burnt powder; then
there was a heavy third, and Apod oca
fell, between the wall and the table,
dead, without a groan or a word; the
Col, clenched fast in his stiffened
d, went into the grave with him.
And two days after, with all the inconoiutoncy
of a woman, the Posy searched
tho chaparral, far and near, to find the
nugget which she had scornfully thrown
away, and which, for all her searching,
she never found.
John was all very well?she did love
liim, and would marry liim, but his
wound had been nothing; Apodoca's
aim, so fatally sure the second, hod
missed the first time, and John had
escaped with a mere flesh-wound. But
Jose?" poor fellow !" his love cost him
his life, and even spoiled goddesses have
tender women's hearts!
In Behalf of the Birds.
George T. Fish, of Rochester, chairman
of tho oommittoe on ornithology,
presented to the "Western New York
Horticultural Society a well-considered
RtAtpmAnt fr*nr?Vnnor fho napfnlnfiofl r\f nnr
feathered friends. A French naturalist
ascertained by careful investigation that
a single insect might in five generations
become the progenitor of five thousand
millions of descendants. With these
appalling figures before us we are
forced to the conclusion that were the
birds destroyed a desolation would result,
compared with whijh the grasshopper
plague of the West would sink into insignificance.
The vocal melody of birds
would give placo to the constant buzzing,
scraping, lussing sound of insects, not
long, however, to be endured, for
the destruction of vegetation must inevitably
be followed by the destruction
of animal life. It is evident God designed
tliat the birds should hold the
insects in check. Can we afford to dispense
with even a part of their assistance
because it costs us something in
fruit? Wo are willing to pay money for
fertilizers and for labor. We even pay
men for destroying insects, and regard
it as a profitable investment. It is unreasonable
to demand that the entire
work of the bird sliall be gratuitous.
While the committee would advise the
protection of birds as a class, they think
experience has shown that the pugnacious
character of the English sparrow
renders him an undesirable settler.
Our domestic birds, more peaceablv dis
posed, incline to leave lnm the whole
field, and his introduction to this country
is probably no improvement on nature's
plan. It would seem to be better
to encourage by every means an income
of our uativo tribes.
She Felt llupp.v.
Two ladies met on the avenue, and one
inquired of the other, 44 Why, you look
very happy this morning. What's
happened ( 44 Oh, I've just been up
having my fortune, told," was the reply,
44 and the woman says I'm to marry
twice more, have diamonds and a camel's
hair shawl, and that I can go to the opera
six nights in a week if I want to. ' 44Dear
me, I don't wonder that you are happy.
Hut you won't say anything to your husband
if" 44 Oh, of course not. Poor
man ! Hc'h good t<? me, and it might
hurt his feelings to know that I am going
to marry twice more. I think I'll tell
him that. I'm likely to die first
i ; Items of Intemt.
i There are seven foreigners out of the
nine members of the Covington (Ky.)
City Council.
There is nothing more hazardous Hum
! to be bothering an irritable woman with
i folish questions on wash day.
The population of Louisiana, according
to tne last census, numbered 301,450
' whites and 463,067 blacks, a colored
majority of 61,617.
One of the curiosities to be found at
i Hot Springs, Arkansas, is a blind dog
which lends its blind master safely about
in lus i>eregrinntions through the valley.The
obituary notice of a much respected
lady concludes with?" In her life
I she was a pattern worthy to be followed;
i and her death? oh, how oonsoling to her
! friends."'
Friendsliip is a good deal like china,
j It is very beautiful and durable as long
1 as it is quite whole ; but break it, and au
j the cement in the world will never quite
repair the damage.
An experienced papa,, speaking of a
; youthful baby, says: "Its mouth when
| shut n'n't bigger than a worm hole in a
, hickory nut; but it is generally open,
and as big as a stove-pipe hole."*
The praying women's temperance
' union of Worcester, Mass., furnish the
firemen of that city with hot coffee at
! every fire, the aim being to forestall the
demand for intoxicatinc beveraxres.
Twelve States have adopted compul
sory edncation laws : New Hampshire,
, Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky,
I Rhode Island, New Jersey,. Michigan,
j Kansas, Texas, Nevada, California, and
: New York.
Gen. M. L. Smith, whoeo sudden
death lias been announoed, is said to
have hail his life insured for nearly $100,000,
and just before leaving Washington
for New York took out n $6,COO accident
: policy.
If every one were to begin the new
t year with a resolve to do as well as he
knew how until it ended, and accomplish
only half of that purpose, what a largo
i advance in the direction of the milleniuxn
1875 might witness.
j Women have a great respect for old
age. Watch a young lady seated tu ft
: street car between a young gentleman
and an elderly one, and see how dsMk!
mined she is not to incommode the tatter
; by crowding against him.
"The child has since died," is "Ihe
' j laconic remark which a paper affixes to
an account of a twelve-year-old girl who
, lxAil already mastered logic, rhetoric,
] geology, botany, and tho mysteries of
| mental and moral science.
The present system of penal servitude
! for womeu in England is one of solitary
: confinement, and it is asserted that not
! one woman in twenty undergoes im'
prisonment of over a year's duration
I without showing signs of temporary insanity.
At Trevoux, in f ranee, ft farmer's boy
killed two vomic owls in a neat nenr the
' house, and the old owls watched around
i for several nights, till on the fifth night
, an old male owl-struck the name boy in
; the faoe and put one of his talons in the
boy's left eye.
A popular clergyman says it is interesting
to observe how many people go to
the circus " just to please the children,"
and very curious to notice that somei
times it hikes several nble-l?odied men
I and motherly women to look after one
i little boy or girl on such an occasion.
A Western' paterfamilias, who has
I raised two families, lias discovered that
j children grow more between January
i and July tlian in the other half of the
year. His theory is that the growth of
! humanity is governed by tha same laws
1 which prevail over the vegetable kingdom.
! "Yes, I lilTe. these short days," said
i old Truepenny, the other inornuig, joining
in the discussion; "the interest
i counts no so fast. Wliv. when T mirm
into my place mornings, and fret ont my
securities, I can fairly hoar tliem 'draw
interest, right through the side of the
! box."
A New York life insurance company,
in n recent publication giving a list of
i gentleman who hold policies on their
J lives, puts down Alexander T. Stewai t as
insured for $100,000. This pa <-r is
1 authorized to stute that tlier? is ? ' .mil
| never has been any insurance wh .i ? . r
on Mr. Stewart's life.
A party of juvenile fiends out in Viasouri
tied an unpopular schoolmate to
the railroad track, where the life was
crushed out of him by a pawing trnui.
These young villains, when gr?vwn up,
' will probably black their faces s*d assist
in the ndmiuistrntion of the laws aceord'
ing to the code of Judge Liyncik.
i The committee of relief for tlia
! famine stricken people of Asia Minor
urgently request the llngliahaud Aineri
can press to let it be known tliut their
funds arc exhaust*vd, while the distress
i is increasing. TUfty state tliat it will tm
1 necessary to clothe, feed and give medi
I ad assistance, to several hundred tllCU
! sand porsorjj until uext June,