TRUTHFUL JAMES AND THE KLONDIKER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 5, 2 February 1899, Page 15

TRUTHFUL JAMES AND THE KLONDIKER.

We woz sittin' free—like ez you an' me— in our camp on the Stanislow, armU bou a hh r ° arin fiteOf bFeSh an ' briar ' stirred U P b 7b 7 a pitch-pine And Jones of Yolo had finished his solo on Bilson's prospeotin' pan. r * And we all woz gay until Jefferson Clay kern in with a Klondike man. Now I most despise low language and lies, aa I used to remark to jNyCj But the soul of Truth— though he was but a youth-looked out of that stranger s eye, And ' t the Ba^ 8 he Wid X had fre( l uent read in the P a Pera down on And the words he choosed woz the kind that's used in the best tneayter play. HC SnOWS> and ° f whiske y wot froze in fche solidest kind Wh^£Tai JJ dd U rtnl PoUnd t0 g ° **** "^ When *» bo^ had And wXi^ a to:bio d ; mcd and with **>»** *»* *-«» F ° r Slow WUI bestrange when thermometers range to sixty degrees HH ° W «^nf:Z?in' Bh°c8 h°c: te - WhiCh ° ldeSt beßt BUitß - an da HOW 'rSnoo U ' k ° n VallCy * C ° rJ)Se dB ialhj mighfc ?et U P a fine BUt their Stule 16 n ° thin ' t0 Spare an> had finished No VoL^tSToS, true> and quite nateral t0 °- and then when he AUd told aU SOt UP> aDd refiUed hiS CUP) and thiß is the ****** Th "{;jud?ment D% aPB - bUt * k^> wiU ™ For it's very rare that 'a man geta there-and the man that is there must sttiy ! It's f thousand miles by them Russian isles till you come on to b ort (j et There (Which the same you are not if you'll look at the spot on the mapthat of g-old is bare), * Then a river begins that the Amazon skins and the big Mississippi knooks out, y * For it's seventy miles 'cross its mouth when it smiles, and— you've only begun your route. Here Bilson arose with a keerless-like pose an' he gazed on that Klondike youth, And he says : ' Fair sir, do not think I infer that your words are not words of truth, But I'd feimply ask why—since that all men must die— your sperrit is wandenn here When at Dawaon City-the mores the pity-you've been frozen up nigh a year .' r ' You need not care, for I never was there,' said that simple Klondike man. r ■ I'm a company floater and business promoter, and this is my little plan : J I show you the dangers to which you are strangers, and now for a sum you 11 learn What price you expect us— as per this prospectus— to insure your bate return. J Then Bilson stared, and he almost r'ared, but he spoke in a calmhke tone : 1 You'll excuse me for say in 1 you're rather delayin' your chance to insure your otr/i! For we're wayworn and weary, your style isn't cheery, we've had quite enough of your game.' But— what did affect us— he took that Prospectus and chucked it right into the flame ! Then our roarin' fire of bresh and briar flashed up on the Stanislow, * And Jetferson Clay went softly away with that youth with a downcast brow, And .lones of Yolo repeated his solo on that still, calm evening air. * And we thought with a shiver of Yukon River and the fort that was called • Get There '' — Buet Hakte, in The liidepouUnt.