Comstock Lode (Nev.) -- Fiction; Miners -- Fiction; Virginia City (Nev.) -- Fiction
P. S.--Should you nade a bit of coin to return comfortably draw
on me through W. F. & Co.
BARNEY.
Harding read next.
VIRGINIA, August 13th, 1878.
DEAR FRIEND MILLER:--Enclosed I send certificate of deposit for
$100. The Club desire, unanimously, that you return without a
moment's unnecessary delay. All agree that this is the best
field for you. I will see the foreman in the morning, tell him
you have been called away for a week and get him to hold your
place for you. It was very wicked of you to go away. You can
only get forgiveness by hurrying back.
Lovingly,
HARDING.
Brewster's was the final letter, and was in these words:
VIRGINIA CITY, Nevada. }
8th month, 13th day, A. D. 1878. }
MR. JOSEPH MILLER:
DEAR SIR AND FRIEND:--I have this evening, with great pain,
learned that you have left this place, and, moreover, have
heard explained the reasons which prompted that course on your
part. It would be a lack of candor on my part not to inform you
that I sincerely deplore the wrong which you have done yourself
and us. At the same time I believe that the real date of the
wrong was when you permitted yourself first to engage in stock
gambling. This world is framed on a foundation of perfect
justice. The books of the Infinite always exactly balance. In
the beginning it was decreed that man should have nothing
except what he earned. It was meant that the world's
accumulations of treasures--in money, in brain, in love, or in
any other material that man holds dear--should, from day to
day, and from year to year, represent simply the honest effort
put forth to produce the treasure.
Men have changed this in form. Some men get what they have not
earned; but the rule is inexorable and cannot be changed. The
books must balance.
So when one man gets more than his share, the amount has to be
made up by the toil of some other man or men. This last is what
you have been called upon to do, and, naturally, you suffer.
But I acquit you of any sinister intention toward us. So do we
all. Your fault was when you first attempted to set aside God's
law. You may recall what was said a few nights ago. "The decree
which was read at Eden's gate is still in full force, and
behind it, just as of old, flashes the flaming sword."
We have thoughtfully considered your case. The unanimous
conclusion is that you should at once return; that here among
friends and acquaintances, with the heavy work which is going
on, you have a far better opportunity to recover your lost
ground than you possibly could among strangers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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