A Worn and Weary Soul

Image from EDSITEment

“I came, but they had passed away,
The fair in form, the pure in mind;
And, like a stricken deer, I stray,
Where all are strange and some are kind;
Kind to a worn and wearied soul,
That pants, that struggles for repose;
Oh! that my steps had reached the goal
Where earthly sighs and sorrows close!

“Years have passed o’er me like a dream,
That leaves no trace on memory’s page,
I look around me, and I seem
Some relic of a former age;
Alone, and in a stranger clime,
Where stranger voices mock my ear,
In all the lagging course of Time,
Without a wish — a hope — or fear!

“Yet I had hopes — but they have fled,
And fears — and they were all too true;
And wishes too — but they are dead,
And what have I with life to do?
‘Tis but to bear a weary load
I may not, dare not, cast away,
To sigh for one small, still abode,
Where I may sleep as sweet as they!

“As they, the loveliest of their race,
Whose grassy tombs my sorrows steep,
Whose worth my soul delights to trace,
Whose very loss ’tis sweet to weep;
To weep, forgotten and unknown,
With me to smile, to hear, to see;
Earth can bestow no dearer boon
On one whom Death disdains to free!

“I leave a world that knows me not,
To hold communion with the dead,
And Fancy consecrates the spot,
Where Fancy’s early dreams are shed,
I see each shade, all silvery white,
I hear each spirit’s melting sigh;
I turn to clasp those forms of light,
And the pale Morning chills mine eye!

“But soon the last dim morn shall rise;
My lamp of life burns feebly now;
Where stranger hands shall close mine eyes,
And smooth they cold and dewy brow;
Unknown I lived — so let me die;
No stone or monumental cross,
Tell where his mouldering ashes lie,
Who sought for gold, and found it dross!”

The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) May 27, 1854

The Beggar Boy

The Beggar Boy.

A WORDSWORTHIAN IMPROMTU.

I saw a boy, wasted and sad,
With eyes all red and crying;
Three pence was all the tin he had, —
Or else the boy was lying.

His cheeks were pale and ghostly thin,
His breeches they were thinner;
He looked death’s own, when he stept in,
Or else he was a sinner.

HE said his mother long was dead,
His father in the prison pent —
And yet he cooly raised his head
And asked a penny for their rent.

“O ho!” I said, “you want a cent
Upon pretenses frail;
Why pay your buried mother’s rent?
Or father’s locked in jail?”

He sadly bit his pale thin lip,
A tear stole out his eye;
I thought I had him on the hip —
I thought he’d told a lie.

At length he spoke, in quivering tone,
And midst the words he wept; —
“My father soon is coming home,
He’s most worked out his debt.

“And mother, while she starved and died,
On our cold cellar floor,
Would often call us to her side,
And tell us Christ was poor.

“She said that He would give us bread,
That He would take her trust;
When our sick mother should be dead,
And mouldered into dust.

“She said her spirit would not die,
But often with us be,
And often too, we’d feel her nigh,
Though in eternity.

“And since she died,” the pale boy said,
“We’ve found her words were true;
At night we see her by our bed,
Her face of brilliant hue.

“All round our little room she’ll tread,
And stay sometimes till light;
Oh, no! her spirit is not dead,
She’s with us all the night.

“And often when we sob and sigh,
And think we’ll never sleep,
A soft hand wipes the tearful eye —
We feel we must not weep.

“And so dear James and little May,
And I live on alone;
From door to door I beg all day
For bread to carry home.

“And when at times I bring some meat
We save it all the night,
That mother when she comes may eat
Or gladden at the sight.

“And so, kind sir, I asked a cent,”
The faltering boy kept on,
“To help make out our weekly rent,
Till father can come home.

And so the tatter’d boy was right,
The rent was for the dead!
His mother lived with him at night,
Close by her children’s bed.

*   *   *   *   *
Turn not away the stricken poor,
With harsh and chilling air;
Think when they hover round your door,
‘Tis Christ who sends them there.

The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) Aug 26, 1854

Man is Like a Snow-Ball

Man is like a snow-ball:

Leave him lying in idleness against the sunny face of prosperity, and all the good that is in him melts like fresh butter in the dog-days; but kick him round, and he gathers strength at every revolution.

To make a figure in the world, you much keep moving.

The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) Jul 29, 1854

The Dutchman Loseth his Dog and Singeth

Image from TEXANS UNITED Presents TEXAS

The Dutchman’s Song.

THE DUTCHMAN LOSETH HIS DOG AND SINGETH.

Oh, Vare! and oh, vare!
Has ter leetle toggy gone?
Oh, vare! and oh, vare!
Can ter raschal tog pe gone?
He’s gone unto ter tivel,
He’s gone mit him I fear;
He may be one pig sausage —
Mine tog — oh, tear! oh, tear!

Oh, vare, and oh, vare!
Can te yaller tog pe gone?
Oh, vare! and oh, vare!
Hash ter schoundrel tog pe gone?
I vood give you von goot tollar
To him ash tells to me
Vare I can find ter toggy,
Or shows me vere he pe.

His bark was full of musick,
It goes just like ting tong;
His ears vere cut off short,
His tail vas cut off long;
He ush’d ter drive ter schickens,
And say to tem pow-wow;
But he’sh gone unto the dickens —
Vy! here comes Schnapps now!

Oh, vare! and oh, vare!
Hash ter good-for-nothin’ peen?
Oh, vare! and oh, vare!
Can ter rascheal toggy peen?
I tink he’sh peen koon hunting —
I tink he’sh goot for koons,
Cause tere’s nothing else he’sh goot for
Under the stars and moons.

Come here, you tam vagabond! — vere you been, eh? O mine noshe! you smells vorse ash one schunk; I vips now mit ter proom, for having to do mit so pad people as schunks. If you runs away agin, I puts you in ter papers, and you ish ruined forever.

The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) Sep 9, 1854

*****

From Wikipedia’s entry for Septimus Winner:

Another of his successes, and still familiar, is “Der Deitcher’s Dog”, or “Oh Where, oh Where Ish Mine Little Dog Gone”, a text that Winner set to the German folk tune “Im Lauterbach hab’ich mein’ Strumpf verlorn” in 1864, which recorded massive sales during Winner’s lifetime.

The first verse of “Der Deitcher’s Dog” is particularly noteworthy as its first verse has become a popular nursery rhyme:

Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?

Oh where, oh where can he be?

With his ears cut short, and his tail cut long,

Oh where, oh where is he?

Modern versions occasionally change “cut” to “so”.

The original song is written in German dialect, and subsequent verses praise lager but lament the fact that “mit no money” it is not possible to drink, and praise sausages and thence to speculate on the fate of the missing dog:

Dey makes un mit dog und dey makes em mit horse,

I guess dey makes em mit he

The Poor Man’s May

Image from The Nevada Observer

The Poor Man’s May.

Sweet May? they tell me thou art come:
Thou art not come to me;
I cannot spare a single hour,
Sweet May? to welcome thee.
God knows how hard I’ve work’d this week,
To earn my childrens bread;
And see, we have an empty board, —
My children are unfed.

And art thou still the same sweet May
My childhood loved so well,
When humming like a happy bee,
Along some primrose dell,
I though, O! what a lovely world
Is this, dear God has given,
And wondered any one should seek
For any other heaven?

The hawthorn buds are come again,
And apple blossoms too;
And all the idel happy birds
May sing the long day through,
The old green lane awakes once more,
And looks, perhaps, for me:
Alas! green lane, my heart may die —
I cannot come to thee.

The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) Jul 29, 1854

Where No Irish Need Apply

Image from the Food @ Hunters Hill website.

Hurray for the Irish!

The other day we tossed a scallion to an Irish-owned Employment Agency on 6th Avenue because it posted a sign reading: “No Irish Need Apply.”

Now comes a reminder from William Kenny of East Haven, Conn., who says that this is taken from an old Dean Swift quotation. Swift saw the same sign on a factory — No Irish Need Apply!

So he took out his pencil and under that sign be swiftied: “Who ever wrote this wrote it well, For the same is written on the Gates of Hell!”

Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nevada) Mar 23, 1932

Image from the Lehman College website.

The New York Sun supplies the following ingenious explanation of the origin of the expression, “No Irish need apply.” “The words for a time were common in advertisements of servants wanted. The story is that Dean Swift and his Irish servant were travelling near Cork and reached that city, then governed by some Englishman. He had fastened a sign on the gates to the effect that Irishmen would not be admitted. The dean passed in, Patrick was left outside. He saw this sign, and presently added this couplet:

“”‘Whoever wrote this, wrote it well,
For the same is written on the gates of hell.'”

Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas) Feb 23, 1896

A girl, presenting herself for a situations, at a house “where no Irish need apply,” in answer to the question where she came from, said: “Shure, couldn’t you persave by me accint that it’s Frinch I am?”

Decatur Republican (Decatur, Illinois) Feb 25, 1869

DURING a recent engagement of Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams in Philadelphia, a woman, with an infant, attended one of the performances. The baby kept up an incessant cry. At the end of the play, Mr. Williams was called before the curtain. The baby was bawling lustily. Mr. Williams looked around for a moment then said:

“Shure there’s a nurse wanted.”

A roar of laughter followed. When the mirth had subsided, the woman with the infant arose and replied:

“No Irish need apply.”

There was a tremendous burst of applause, amid which the woman, with the musical baby, triumphantly retired.

Decatur Review (Decatur, Illinois) May 25, 1871

New York Daily Times – Mar 25, 1854

The New York Times – May 10, 1859

The Daily Republican -(Illinois) – May 7, 1873

The Ohio Democrat – May 10, 1883

“No Irish Need Apply.”

Editors Morning Herald.

In running my eye over your list of local news items April 1st, my attention was particularly attracted by an advertisement for the respectable and responsible position of “maid of all work” with the qualifying (but not obsolete) phrase “no Irish need apply.” The advertiser did well to add this last phrase, lest all the Irish in the city might apply together, as the position was too good to miss it there would be a rush sure of the “wild Irish.”

I fear the advertisers have outlived their time, as Irish-phobia and Knownothingism are dead and buried so deep as to be past resurrection. I am told the same phrase, “no Irish need apply,” is posted on the doors and gates of the nether world, as well as on some of their facsimiles on terra firma. The occupants of the house referred to must be sleeping, or out of the country, for the last ten or eleven years, as during that time their fell of bigotry toward the Irish was crushed out and Irish have held positions of trust and danger from the time the first gun was fired on Fort Sumpter down to the present date. In conclusion my Irish friends are better off without such anglicised bigots for employers.

Yours, &c,
“IRISH”

Titusville Morning Herald (Titusville, Pennsylvania) Apr 2, 1872

“Dennis, my boy,” said a schoolmaster to his Hibernian pupil, “I fear I shall make nothing of you — you’ve no application.”

“An’ sure enough, sir,” said the quick-witted lad, “Isn’t myself that’s always been tould there is no occasion for it? Don’t I seen every day in the newspapers that ‘No Irish need apply,’ at all at all?”

The Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) Aug 18, 1883

IT will be noticed that our city government is a regular knownothing concern. The first year of the present administration the Irish and Germans were recognized, in a small way, and even Johnny Bull got a small slice, but the second year every foreign born citizen was bounced. Not only has the promise to “take care” of the men who like a glass of beer been violated, but the men who were largely instrumental in the election of the republican city ticket aer not now recognized in the appointments. No Dutch or Irish need apply, except to shovel on the streets.

Decatur Morning Review (Decatur, Illinois) Jul 15, 1884

“No Irish Need Apply.”

TO THE EXPRESS: — An unknown poetic friend sends me the following stirring poem. It deserves circulation, and will be read with pride by all lovers of distressed Erin — the laurel-twined isle, so ignobly oppressed that station comes not till at treason’s behest:

J.N. GALLAGHER.

Shame on the lips that utter it, shame on the hands that write;
Shame on the page that publishes such slander to the light.
I feel my blood with lightning speed through all my being fly
At the old taunt, forever new —
No Irish need apply!

Are not our hands as stout and strong, our hearts as warm and true
As theirs who fling this mock at us to cheat us of our due?
While ‘neath our feet God’s earth stands firm and ‘bove us hangs his sky,
Where there is honor to be won —
The Irish need apply!

Oh! have not glorious things been done by Irish hearts and hands?
Are not her deeds emplazoned over many seas and lands?
There may be tears on Ireland’s cheek, but still her heart beats high,
And where there’s valor to be shown —
The Irish need apply!

Wherever noble thoughts are nurs’d and noble words are said,
Wherever patient faith endures, where hope itself seems dead,
Wherever wit and genius reign, and heroes tower high,
Wherever manly toil prevails —
The Irish will apply!

Wherever woman’s love is pure as soft, unsullied snow,
Wherever woman’s cheek at tales of injury will glow,
Wherever pitying tears are shed, and breathed is feeling’s sigh,
Wherever kindliness is sought —
The Irish need apply!

If there is aught of tenderness, If there is aught of worth,
If there’s a trace of heaven left upon our sinful earth;
If there are noble, steadfast hearts that uncomplaining die
To tread like them life’s thorny road —
The Irish will apply!

Till on Killarney’s waters blue the soft stars cease to shine,
Till round the parent oak no more the ivy loves to twine.
Till Nephin topples from his place and Shannon’s stream runs dry,
For all that’s great and good and pure —
The Irish will apply!

F.R.H.

San Antonio Daily Express (San Antonio, Texas) Aug 26, 1886

The defeat of John W. Corcoran for lieutenant governor, and the putting aside of Owen A. Galvin as a mayoralty candidate, may be regarded by the Irish-American voters as a notification from the mugwumps that when it comes to offices “no Irish need apply.” — {Boston Traveller.

The Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) Nov 14, 1890

Mrs. Noshape — There, you careless creature, you have dropped that beautiful statue of Venus and Broken it all to pieces.

Bridget — Well, mum, you ought to be glad av it. Sized up alongside of Vaynus your figure was at considerable disadvantage.

And no Mrs. Noshape has advertised for a new servant that is respectful and well-behaved. No Irish need apply.

— Texas Siftings.

The Stevens Point Gazette (Stevens Point, Wisconsin) Jun 12, 1895

Image from the Parlor Songs website, and includes an interesting article about the Irish Immigrants and the song.

FAIR ENOUGH By Westbrook Pegler

[excerpt]
Hated Like Present Jew Refugees

The Irish refugees of those days, men and women of the same faith and stock from which Father Coughlin himself has sprung, were hated like the Jewish refugees of the present. Election frauds and immigration frauds were bitterly resented by the native Americans as politicians exploited the greenhorns to thwart native proposals and defeat their tickets at the polls.

The immigrants were untidy, disorderly and troublesome, speaking in general terms. So, even as late as the turn of the century, a music hall song, possibly one of Harrigan and Hart’s, sounded the refrain, “And they were Irish, and they were Irish, and yet they say ‘no Irish need apply’.”

This referred to the virtues of Irish heroes and to the open prejudice against the Irish expressed in the employment ads in American cities.

The bill against the Irish and, of course, the Catholics — for they were almost all Catholic — also accused them of carrying into their new life here their active hatred of a foreign nation with which this country was on friendly terms. It was argued that immigrants who took citizenship here had no right to imperil the life of their new country by activities which might involve the United States in a war with Great Britain.

Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nevada) Feb 25, 1939

A Farmer’s Wife I’ll Be

 

Image from lisby1 on flickr

A Farmer’s Wife I’ll Be.

I’m a wild and laughing girl, just turned sweet sixteen,
As full of mischief and of fun as ever you have seen;
And when I am a woman grown, no city beaux for me —
If e’er I marry in my life, a farmer’s wife I’ll be.

I love a country life, I love the joyous breeze,
I love to hear the singing birds along the lofty trees;
The lowing herds and bleating flocks make music sweet for me —
If e’er I marry in my life, a farmer’s wife I’ll be.

I love to feed the chickens, and I love to milk the cow,
I love to hear the farmer’s boy a whistling at his plow;
And fields of corn and waving grain are pleasant sights for me —
If e’er I marry in my life a farmer’s wife I’ll be.

I love to see the orchards where the golden apples grow,
I love to walk in meadows where the bright streamlets flow
And flowery banks and shady woods have many charms for me —
If e’er I marry in my life, a farmer’s wife I’ll be.

Let other girls who love it best enjoy the gloomy town,
Mid dusty walls and dusty streets, to ramble up and down;
But flowery fields and shady woods, and sunny skies for me —
If e’er I marry in my life, a farmer’s wife I’ll be.

Watertown Chronicle (Watertown, Wisconsin) Dec 20, 1854

Make A Lawyer of Him

Image from http://www.cardcow.com

FIT FOR A LAWYER.

An old lady waked into a lawyer’s office lately, when the following conversation took place:

Lady — Squire, I called to see if you would like to take this boy and make a lawyer of him.

Lawyer — The boy appears rather young, madam — how old is he?

Lady — Seven years, sir.

Lawyer — He is too young, decidedly too young. Have you no boys older?

Lady — O yes, sir. I have several; but we have concluded to make farmers of the others. I told my old man I thought this little fellow would make a first rate lawyer, and so I called to see if you would take him.

Lawyer — No, madam; he is too young yet, to commence the study of the profession. But why do you think this boy any better calculated for a lawyer than your other sons?

Lady — Why, you see, sir, he’s just seven years old to-day. When he was only five, he’d lie like all natur; when he got to be six, he was as sassy and impudent as any critter could be; and now he’ll steal every thing he can lay his hands on!

The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) Mar 4, 1854

Spelling is the Pitts!

Pittsburgh -- Pittsburg

A Question in Etymology.

An old dispute has been revived in the city of Pittsburg, or Pittsburgh, as the case may be. In old times they used to spell it with an “h,” after the English fashion of putting that letter where it is least needed. The dictionaries incline that way in this case. Worcester, who is called Wooster at the North, has “burgh — a corporate town or borough,” and Webster gives the choice of burg, burgh, burough and burh without the “g.” This ought to be enough to satisfy all parties; but it only widens the breach, and obliging people, who wish to satisfy all parties, have their hands full.

1870

*****

1902

*****

1819

Half of the papers have “Pittsburg” in their head-lines; the other half have nailed “Pittsburgh.”

Image from http://www.history-map.com

These images are from the same map. For the railway, they used the Pittsburg spelling, but for the city, they used Pittsburgh.

The railroads, to secure traffic, have to paint their cars on one side “Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago,” and on the other “Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago;” on the locomotives they put “P., F. W. and C.,” and allow each man to spell it with an “h” or not, as he pleases. Harper’s Gazetteer drops the “h.”

In the meantime there is a lull in the question whether the first syllable in the name of the city should have one or two “t’s.”

The site used to be called Fort Pitt, in honor of the great English statesman; but people now generally think it is named after the coal pits which abound in the neighborhood.

Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas) Jun 16, 1874

*****

More newspaper examples:

An 1867 paper

*****

1833 Paper - "Pittsburgh"

*****

Now, just for fun, two that use BOTH spellings!

1854 -- Gold Rush Era - California Paper

*****

1845 - Norwalk, Ohio Paper

Placerville: Miners, Bankers, and Runaway Hogs

Miners’ Meeting.

At a meeting of the miners of Smith’s Flat, on the evening of September 21st, 1854, E. Gage, Esq., was called to the chair, and T.M. White appointed secretary, and the following laws for the government of claims in Smith’s Flat District, were unanimously adopted.

Mining Laws of Smith’s Flat.

1. The boundaries of Smith’s Flat Mining District shall be as follows, viz:

Beginning at the south east corner of Negro Hill District, thence east until it strikes where the road running through Smith’s Ranch intersects the emigrant road East; thence south until it strikes the Coon Hollow ditch; thence west, along said ditch, until it strikes Spanish Hill District; thence north to the south line of Negro Hill District; thence east on said line to the place of beginning.

2. The size of mining claims shall be 50 by 100 yds.

3. Each miner may hold two claims — one by location and one by purchase, or both by purchase.

4. All claims must be recorded by a Recorder duly elected; and he shall receive one dollar for recording each claim. He shall set a permanent stake at each corner of each claim, and put a written notice on each, giving the name or names of the party or parties, having such claims recorded, with the number of the claim and time of recording, and shall file a duplicate of such notice in a book kept for the purpose. It shall be his duty, also, to record all claims that he may be requested to.

5. No claim shall be forfeited by not being worked between the first day of July and the first day of December; provided the owner of any claim shall notify the Recorder of his intention to work said claim before he leaves it.

6. Any person having a claim shall forfeit it, by neglecting to work it one whole day in every seven, between the 1st of December and the first of July following.

7. Any person having two claims may hold both, by working either, as above mentioned.

8. Any difficulty that may arise relative to mining interests, shall be referred to a jury of five miners; — four of them to be chosen by the parties, and the fifth by these four.

9. Any person having a claim that requires a tail race, shall have the privilege of cutting it through the claims adjoining it below, (provided, said cutting shall not interfere with the working of the same,) until he has obtained sufficient fall for all reasonable mining purposes. But he shall in no case permit his tailings to accumulate on the claims below, to the detriment of the working of said claims.

Hill Claims.

1. A tunnel claim shall be 150 feet front, and run to the centre of the hill.

2. A claim must be worked within ten days from the time at which it is taken up, and as often as one day in each week thereafter.

3. Two or more holding claims, may form a company to work any one of them, without being bound to work each of them.

4. Any miner or miners finding new diggings in this district, shall be entitled to one extra claim for each member of the company, on any vacant hill ground in the district.

5. Any tunnel company who shall have expended $200 upon notifying the recorder of their intention to leave their claim, shall not forfeit the same, provided, they resume operations within three months from the time of giving said notice.

Resolved, That the old code of laws be repealed, so far as they conflict with those now adopted.
Resolved, That the above be published in the Mountain Democrat.
Meeting adjourned.
E. GAGE, President.
T.M. WHITE, Sec.

Mountain Democrat, The (Placerville, California) Sep 30, 1854

THE DIGGINGS.

Owing to the scarcity of water in many localities, mining is not carried on so actively as in the early part of the summer. But, where water is to be had, at Negro Hill, the Reservoir, and the various tunnels in the vicinity supplied by the South Fork Canal, and on the creeks and bars, the miners are making their usual good wages. Next month the South Fork Canal will be completed, and will afford an abundance of water. We may then look for an activity in mining operations, that has not been equaled in any portion of the State heretofore, during the dry season.

Mountain Democrat, The (Placerville, California) Jul 22, 1854

A Placerville Church (Image from http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us)

NEW CHURCH. — The enterprising citizens of Negro Hill have erected a fine church and school house at this point, which was dedicated to religious and educational purposes, on last Sunday evening, by Rev. G.B. Taylor.

Mountain Democrat, The (Placerville, California) Dec 23, 1854

Placerville - 1851 (Image from http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us)

PLACERVILLE STREET IMPROVEMENT.

“Let other poets raise a fracas
‘Bout vines an’ wines, an’ drunken Bacchus,
An’ crabbit names an’ stories wrack us,
An’ grale our lug,
I sing the juice Scot’s bear can mak us
In glass or jug.”

The above verse, as every body knows, is the beginning one of Robert Burns’ eulogy on “Scotch Drink;” the peculiar national beverage of his fatherland. The pride which animated him in the witty composition may have been different in [spirit], yet the same in kind with ours, in referring to the excellence and completeness of our street improvements. San Francisco, Stockton, and Sacramento have, for months, literally “grated our lug” ’bout piles, and planks, an’ pitfull sidewalks, while it has been equally the custom of visitors from either of those illustrious localities, to harp and carp about the alternate dust and mire of our mountain City.

In the future, however, for these croakers, “Othello’s occupation’s gone.” The principal streets of Placerville now present an appearance of substantial firmness not equalled in the State. Not of combustible or decaying boards — eternally wearing and shivering into yawning man-traps and requiring a perpetual re-taxation for repairs, — but deeply Macadamized with imperishable stone alike impervious to heat or cold. — The substratum is of stone blocks of considerable size, covered with gravel or small cobbles, which effectually fill up all the interstices, and render the surface smooth as a carpet.

You will not, O denizens of plank-bottomed towns, hope, therefore, any reciprocation from hitherward, of your melting records of fractured limbs or skulls insensate — the fruits of planking discrepancies.

Mountain Democrat, The (Placerville, California) Feb 3, 1855

*****

Image from http://bodocktimes.blogspot.com

NOTICE.

OWNERS of hogs within the city limits, are hereby notified that the City Pound had been moved to the alley in the rear of the Station House; and that sales of hogs that may be impounded, will take place every Saturday, at 11 o’clock A.M. — commencing on Saturday, the 3d day of March.

RENICK CONE, Pound Master.
City of Placerville, Feb. 24, 1855

Mountain Democrat, The (Placerville, California) Feb 24, 1855

From the Town Talk.

A Node to a Bank.

Oh, Bank, grate malstrom for koin!
How yew swaller up things. What
A maw yew hev got for Bull-Lion.
And when yu hev filled yourself chock
Full how yew luv to bust up
And brake things.

Yew grate malstrom for koin!
Grate bank! What air you good for
Eny how, yew overgrown cirtter, but
To chaw up all a feller has got
and then larf into his face and sa,
“Oncet I had koin but now eye’m
Bust and can’t do nothink!”

Grate malstrom for koin!
Yew are a ga deceiver — yew fell
Into a feller’s pocket for speshe and
Tickle him up ’bout keepin it safe
Wen you knowd yew warnt
Safe enny how. You’ve played H-ll.

Grate malstrom fur koin!
How du yew feel now, yew old buster?
Yew hev dun it — yew hev
Put your foot into it and
Yew hev split menny hopes.
Where do you Xpect to go tu,
Yew old buster? Hev yew
Kicked up sich a dust that
Yew can’t tell what its all
About? Hev yew?
You nasty, vile malstrom fur koin?

B. PEPPER.

Mountain Democrat, The (Placerville, California) Mar 31, 1855

From the Mountain Democrat

Part 2

*****

Auburn Ravine (Image from http://bancroft.library.ca.gov)

THE RAVINES.

One day last week three miners in prospecting a ravine emptying into the South Fork, opposite the mouth of White Rock Canon, took out a lump weighing twelve ounces besides other gold, amounting in all to near sixteen ounces, and have been making good wages since.

Would it not be a good idea in some of those who are lying around the taverns doing nothing, to start out with a pick and shovel and try their luck a little further in the ravines hereabouts?

There are many hillsides that have not been prospected at all, which, perhaps, are richer than any that have yet been opened in our vicinity. No miner is “hard up” long at a time who is industrious and persevering. Dame Fortune, like the rest of her sex, is capricious; and if she frown, to-day may relent to-morrow; and is sure to reward, with her choicest favors, continued exertion.

“Better luck next time” must be the miners motto if he would succeed; he must [keep at work] if he would make money. We were once a miner ourselves and know from experience, that loafing is a poor way to strike good diggings, and that playing seven up for the whisky won’t pay board bills.

Mountain Democrat, The (Placerville, California) Apr 22, 1854