Romance of California Life: Illustrated by Pacific Slope Stories, Thrilling, Pathetic and HumorousHabberton, John
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Romance of California Life: Illustrated by Pacific Slope Stories, Thrilling, Pathetic and Humorous
Habberton, John
California -- Fiction
What we said, though perfectly proper and sensible, might not be
interesting in print, so I omit it. I will say, however, that my
longing--when I first saw Helen as a little girl--for a daughter just
like her, has been fulfilled so exactly, that I have named her Helen
Markson Raines, after her mother; and if she is not as much comfort to
me as I supposed she would be, it is no fault of hers, but rather
because the love of her mother makes me, twenty years after the
incidents of this story occurred, so constantly happy, that I need the
affection of no one else.
[Illustration]
GRUMP'S PET.
On a certain day in November, 1850, there meandered into the new mining
camp of Painter Bar, State of California, an individual who was
instantly pronounced, all voices concurring, the ugliest man in the
camp. The adjective ugly was applied to the man's physiognomy alone; but
time soon gave the word, as applied to him, a far wider significance. In
fact, the word was not at all equal to the requirements made of it, and
this was probably what influenced the prefixing of numerous adjectives,
sacred and profane, to this little word of four letters.
The individual in question stated that he came from "no whar in
pu'tiklar," and the savage, furtive glance that shot from his hyena-like
eyes seemed to plainly indicate why the land of his origin was so
indefinitely located. A badly broken nose failed to soften the
expression of his eyes, a long, prominent, dull-red scar divided one of
his cheeks, his mustache was not heavy enough to hide a hideous
hare-lip; while a ragged beard, and a head of stiff, bristly red hair,
formed a setting which intensified rather than embellished the
peculiarities we have noted.
The first settlers, who seemed quite venerable and dignified, now that
the camp was nearly a fortnight old, were in the habit of extending
hospitality to all newcomers until these latter could build huts for
themselves; but no one hastened to invite this beauty to partake of
cracker, pork and lodging-place, and he finally betook himself to the
southerly side of a large rock, against which he placed a few boughs to
break the wind.
The morning after his arrival, certain men missed provisions, and the
ugly man was suspected; but so depressing, as one miner mildly put it,
was his aspect when even looked at inquiringly, that the bravest of the
boys found excuse for not asking questions of the suspected man.
"Ain't got no chum," suggested Bozen, an ex-sailor, one day, after the
crowd had done considerable staring at this unpleasant object; "ain't
got no chum, and's lonesome--needs cheerin' up." So Bozen
philanthropically staked a new claim near the stranger, apart from the
main party. The next morning found him back on his old claim, and
volunteering to every one the information that "stranger's a grump--a
reg'lar grump." From that time forth "Grump" was the only name by which
the man was known.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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