The St. Louis Republic. [volume], June 25, 1905, SUNDAY MAGAZINE, Page 13, Image 63

About The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
13
SI WARMER'S GOLD MINE
SUNDAY MAGAZINE for JUNE 25. 1905
"My Belief's Tnet a
Man's Goiter Kinder
Keep on Tryin'"
By BERNARD W,
S. THOMSON
aaeHE TaaKa ' - aaalaT'""aaeriT
laB&aaMvffi&'ittfiaaHeK
FaaaU3Lu'- PROaV
Everyone Seemed " FlaiabuMcd
THET thar old Si Warner." KUnwcr Brown,
the store oracle of Endvillc. Xcw-Haniishire.
used to say. "Iictwcen his greens garden and
his tendin' the Sotitham's lace winters, lie oughtcr
to have ut by sotnethin considerable: lut he
ain't. Why? Because the first two minutes he
gets a piece saved up he goes lnm1i off'n the handle
and docs sotnethin" foolish. He's got a mighty
kittenish mind. Si has. Recollect his patent hay.
lioisjcr" And Elienezer would lead the laugh
that followed.
The Imister was a fixture in Endvillc annals.
Si years In-fore Si hail evolved an idea for hoisting
hav It assured a fortune, he said. He wrote to
a third-rate patent lawyer in Itoston. who cticour
aj'ol liuii. not mentioning that eight kinds of hay-ho-sters
already had lieen invetitel: and he pre
pared plans, and drew tin his two hundred dollars
of saving, and the ncighliorhood Kvame amused
over the jiroject. Si I icing acclaimed as a wizard
f invention. And finally lie went to Huston.
Here the lawver got the rest of the two hundred
dollars.
M tame back. "Things didn't go just haow I
n koniil they would." he said cheerfully; "hut
I kinder tackle .soniethin again one of these
1 1 I desay "
Ihc store coterie laugheil derisively. "Xot with
tN tvo hundred." suggested Oracle Hrown.
s"-t lung himself against a sugar barrel.
!. I ti'k a try anyhow. It's a pile more'n
s ! you'll do in a year of Christ mascs. Thet's
v . 1 guess'" And Si settled otie more to the
1 i- -iiMnc.
It 'he passion to make money had him in its
V . and when hy strimping co.nomy he had
. 1 omcthmg. lie would invariably esay another
v He invested money with advertisers in the
v .'v jsijn-r he iHiught stinks; oiue he hclnil
t'' .i ild-t-latcsrcc of . i hair restorer. All went
'n h.iv-hoistcr investment had done. Si. how -
was reer discourage!.
W. 'I kceji rieJit on a-trvin". M iria. and one of
t us we'll get thar," he would sav to Mr- Si
. ,. 'ile cars, however, liad ;ii-mi! si.;, t. tlJC
1 ti.'' when the Four Ace gold
cncs in Idaho !egan to eatih
; t. attention. The weekly :
'Vce u bole jiages to Four Ac
I ' s nlied the wonderful deposit-
' tg'- grade ore. it told cf von-
. -Ti4 three thousand dollars t
t' " it showed photographs ..'
-" "na Jrn." the "broke" pp.
p.- ' . t Pri-tott. and "I5'tM.i. k
I it'lo ! pokazu-. ii".lhiii.iir - u."' i.
the in.m'h
Si dcxoupsl t! e t-irii-s i-.M-jk-
moutheil. and scanned the m.-ttnvs wide-eyeil
Their cumulative effect was "great. An idea licgan
to genninate in his mind -an idea which astounded
him into uncommon quiet with its audacity A
second and a third weekly kit came. The Four
Ace excitement increased. At last his idea matured.
"By gum. Maria!" Si used "By gun!" for
cjiochs "By pun. Maria!" he burst out to his
wife, as he tossed down his jiajicr and looked across
at her. "I guess this time I hev got sotnethin
Mire. It lieats hay hoist in' or hair nrstorin'
Maria." Si spoke slowly, "what ails its kinder
takin' a try at goin' out thar' to Four Ace ami lindin'
a gold mine fer ourselves?"
The white sock his wife was darning tumbled on
the cat. She stared at him dully. Maria Warner
was. as Si said to himself. "Ilambttsted."
Finally she found tongue. "Well. Si Warner,
if you ain't the greatest!" she gasped.
Si's own heart was U-ating rapidly. "But I'd
lest IckW kinder nat'ral. I guess." lie thought.
"Why. what's the matter. Maria?" he asked.
"All we've gutter do's just go. It's as easy as
rollin off a log."
"But we ain't got the money, and what do you
know aliout lindin' gold mines?"
"()h. thet's ail right." returned Si confidently.
"I've read up on this thing. We've got fifty-four
dollars ourselves, and I'll get Elienezer Brown and
live other fif them fellers to put in twenty dollars
each. Then any gold mine we get we'll share even
with "cm. Omb-stakin". they call it out thar" West.
And as fer the gold mine, all you've gottcr do s
to get a piece of ground and dig Vr up good and
deep. Why. we might make ten thousand dollars
easv. Maria! We could take thet trip to New-York
then."
Maria's eyes glistened. Presently she nodded
her head and picked up the white sock. "Go ahead.
Si." said she. "I'd as soon own a gold mine, 1
reckon."
(Jo ahead! Si wa so fired with eagerness that
even the broaching of the subject to Elienezer
Brown and "them fe'lers" did not make him Hindi
an instant. That very night lie marched on the
store for the attack.
Pushing the wonders of Four Ace into the talk
and with a prefatory "By gum!" he detailed his
plan. Si"s KTonition was impressive. Two men
ojH-ned thtir mouths to sjieak. ,ut only gaped.
There was stillness. Everyone Mvtued as "llam-hu-tcd"
as Maria had liven. By a common move
ment all eyes gr.ulii.illy focused on Elienezer
Brown.
The oracle gazed at a calico remnant, yellow roses
oil blue. A H.tato-bug crawled up the cheese
. utter. The silence continued. At last Elicnccr
spoke.
"Si Warner."' said lie. "jon're the flightiest man
outside the State House, and Ixvatisc yen are mi
flighty it's jeM ossiblcyoi! might do.toniethin' with
the llighticsi idea xott've had to date. ' ve heerd
tell of this Four Ate. and gold's thar' sure. I'm
j.-st fool enough to risk twenty dollars to know
whether thar's anv thar" fer me or not."
Delphi had sfKiken. and a fortnight later the Si
Warners were in Four Ate. It had cost thctn miith
: .ore than they had estimated to get there, and
living was more ejcisive. Thcv v.ite lvnildcrcd
witl. t'le tin- :! ind hubbub, tin uit old and
KiJEiJ
IVWIJHHiiTrJjrL
IBSfl . ! KlB
IPH s3B IV 'Ivf
Si Watched Him With the Corner of
n Eye
weak amid that ingathering of the young and
strong. Yet their courage was unhesitating.
"A feller's gottcr keep kinder shovin" to get a
gold mine here. I guess." said Si. "ami I reckon
the fu'st thing's to get the lav of this here potato
patch." '
So for a week he went aliout the camp. He saw
mining claims U-ing worked; he learned the exist
ence of .such things as shafts and tunnels, and that
to "dig cr up good and deep" the rock had to U
broken by blasting. Finally lie saw some sicci
nicns of rich free-milling ore. with the free gold
sparkling all over it.
"It's the purticst stuff you cvir seen. Maria."
he told her, "and shines just like the lake to home
when the sun's on the ripples."
Anil this set Maria thinking of the home lake
and the maples K-sidc it and the daisied meadow,
and looking at the dreary Imanl shacks and the
rough men of the street U-fore her. a lump rose in
her throat that forbade her answering.
"Jest araound the town." went on Si. "all tin-proju-rty's
took tip. although they do say thet live
or si. miles out thar's some thet "ain't. But I met
a feller to-day thet kinder took a fancy to me. and
he says he's got a claim he'd let me have cheap,
and I guess we'd U-st take it. I was walkin" along,
kinder lookin' araound at things, when he comes
up smilin and lie says. "Hullo, t'nele Joshua!
What're you doin" out here?"
"'Hullo yourself, mister!' I says. 'My name
ain't Josluri. My name's Si Warner.'
"'Well. Si Warner." he says, "whafre .n; .l.-in"'"
"'(Mi." I says, 'mi' and Maria's come out lure to
get a il.-iim and dig fer a gold mine.
"'Well." he says, 'it's lucky you found me jest
naow
"l wasn't never lookin' fer you." I say
"'I.ook lure. Si." he says very nciglilior-likc.
'I've got a tlaim a little more'n live miles out o'
camp thet I'll let you !icv uamable. I'm kinder
lay and guess I don't want to work on her. But
you and Maria can go out thar' and sink a sh.ift
till you strike the 1. dge of gold ore." he says, laughin"
friendly "You wont hev" the trouble of locati:
a ilann ourslf. and I'll let vo:i hev' it fer a hun
dred dollars.'
"'By gum!' I says. 'I ain't got
thet much.'
""Well, haow mtii h'll you give
fer it?" he vas.
So we got kinder talkin this
way. and at last he says he'll take
fifty dollars fer it. I guess we
might's well get it. .Maria. I reckon
it's as giinl to dig on as another.
I'm to see the stranger in the
mornin" to Jet him know "
And the mt dav Si w-i the