Mr. A. Ward - Dear Sir: Well, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, and I inquired after your friend Leonidas W. Greeley, as you requested me to do, and I hereunto append the result. If you can get any information out of it you are cordially welcome to it. I have a lurking suspicion that your Leonidas W. Greeley is a myth - that you never knew such a personage, and that you only conjectured that if I asked old Wheeler about him it would remind him of his infamous Jim Greeley, and he would go to work and bore me - nearly to death with some infernal reminiscence of him as long and tedious as it should be useless to me. If that was your design, Mr. Ward, it will gratify you to know that it succeeded.
I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the barroom stove of the old dilapidated tavern in the ancient mining camp at Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up and gave me good-day. I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Greeley - Rev. Leonidas W. Greeley - a young minister of the Gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of Angel's Camp. I added that if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Greeley, I would feel under many obligations to him.
Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair - and then sat me down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned the initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm - but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that so far from his imagining that there was anything ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendent genius in finesse. To me, the spectacle of a man drifting serenely along through such a queer yarn without ever smiling was exquisitely absurd. As I said before, I asked him to tell me what he knew of Rev. Leonidas W. Greeley, and he replied as follows. I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once:
There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Greeley, in the winter of '49 - or maybe it was the spring of '50 - I don't recollect exactly, some how, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume wasn't finished when he first come to the camp; but anyway, he was the curiosest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side, and if he couldn't he'd change sides - any way that suited the other man would suit him - any way just so's he got a bet, he was satisfied. But still, he was lucky - uncommon lucky; he most always come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn't be no solitry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it - and take any side you please, as I was just telling you: if there was a horse race, you'd find him flush or you'd find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, held bet on it; if there was a chicken-fight, he'd bet on it; why if there was two birds sitting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first - or if there was a camp-meeting he would be there regular to bet on Parson Walker, which he judged to be the best exhorter about here, and so he was, too, and a good man; if he even see a straddle-bug start to go any wheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to got wherever he was going to, and if you took him up he would foller that straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road. Lots of the boys here has seen that Greeley and can tell you about him. Why, it never made no difference to him - he would bet on anything - the dangdest feller. Parson Walker's wife laid very sick, once, for a good while, and it seemed as if they warn't going to save her; but one morning he come in and Greeley asked how she was, and he said she was considerable better - thank the Lord for his inf'nit mercy - and coming on so smart that with the blessing of Providence she'd get well yet - and Greeley, before he thought, says:
Well, I'll resk two-and-a-half that she don't, anyway."
Thish-yer Greeley had a mare - the boys called her the fifteen-minute nag, but that was only in fun, you know, because, of course, she was faster than that - and he used to win money on that horse, for all she was so slow and always had the asthma, or the distemper, or the consumption, or something of that kind. They used to give her two or three hundred yards I start, and then pass her under way; but always at the fag-end of the race she'd get excited and desperate like, and come cavorting and spraddling up, and scattering her legs around limber, sometimes in the air, and sometimes out to one side amongst the fences, and kicking up m-o-r-e dust, and raising m-o-r-e racket with her coughing and sneezing and blowing her nose - and always fetch up at the stand just about a neck ahead, as near as you could cipher it down.
And he had a little small bull pup, that to look at him you'd think he warn't worth a cent, but to set around and look onery, and lay for a chance to steal something. But as soon as money was up on him he was a different dog - his underjaw'd begin to stick out like the forecastle of a steamboat, and his teeth would uncover, and shine savage like the furnaces. And a dog might tackle him, and bully-rag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jackson - which was the name of the pup - Andrew Jackson would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadn't expected nothing else - and the bets being doubled and doubled on the other side all the time, till the money was all up - and then all of a sudden he would grab that other dog just by the joint of his hind leg and freeze to it - not chaw, you understand, but only just grip and hang on till they throwed up the sponge, if it was a year. Greeley always came out winner on that pup till he harnessed a dog once that didn't have no hind legs, because they'd been sawed off in a circular saw, and when the thing had gone along far enough, and the money was all up, and he come to make a snatch for his pet holt, he saw in a minute how he'd been imposed on, and how the other dog had him in the door, so to speak, and he 'peared surprised, and then he looked sorter discouraged like, and didn't try no more to win the fight, and so he got shucked out bad. He give Greeley a look as much as to say his heart was broke, and it was his fault, for putting up a dog that hadn't no hind legs for him to take holt of, which was his main dependence in a fight, and then he limped off a piece, and laid down and died. It was a good pup, was that Andrew Jackson, and would have made a name for hisself if he'd lived, for the stuff was in him, and he had genius - I know it, because he hadn't had no opportunities to speak of, and it don't stand to reason that a dog could make such a fight as he could under them circumstances, if he hadn't no talent. It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his'n, and the way it turned out.
Well, thish-yer Greeley had rat-tarriers and chicken cocks, and tomcats, and all them kind of things, till you couldn't rest, and you couldn't fetch nothing for him to bet on but he'd match you. He ketched a frog one day and took him home and said he cal'lated to educate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet he did learn him, too. He'd give him a little punch behind, and the next minute you'd see that frog whirling in the air like a doughnut - see him turn one summerset, or maybe a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat. He got him up so in the matter of catching flies, and kept him in practice so constant, that he'd nail a fly every time as far as he could see him. Greeley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do most anything - and I believe him. Why, I've seen him set Dan'l Webster down here on this floor - Dan'l Webster was the name of the frog - and sing out, "Flies! Dan'l, flies," and quicker'n you could winks he'd spring straight up, and snake a fly off'n the counter there, and flop down on the floor again as solid as a gob of mud, and fall to scratching the side of his head with his hind foot as indifferent as if he hadn't no idea he'd done any more'n any frog might do. You never see a frog so modest and straightfor'ard as he was, for all he was so gifted. And when it come to fair-and-square jumping on a dead level, he could get over more ground at one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see. Jumping on a dead level was his strong suit, you understand, and when it come to that, Greeley would ante up money on him as long as he had a red. Greeley was monstrous proud of his frog, and well he might be, for fellers that had travelled and been everywheres, all said he laid over any frog that ever they see.
Well, Greeley kept the beast in a little lattice box, and he used to fetch him down town sometimes and lay for a bet. One day a feller - a stranger in the camp, he was - come across him with his box, and says:
"What might it be that you've got in the box?"
And Greeley says, sorter indifferent like, "It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, maybe, but it ain't - it's only just a frog."
And the feller took it, and looked at it careful, and turned it round this way and that, and says, 'H'm - so 'tis. Well, what's he good for?"
นาย A. Ward - รัก: ดี ฉันเรียก good-natured, garrulous ล้อ Simon เก่า และทูลหลังจากเพื่อนมากที่สุด W. Greeley คุณร้องขอฉันจะทำ และ hereunto ผนวกกับ ถ้าคุณสามารถได้รับข้อมูลใด ๆ จากนั้น คุณจะยจะ ผมมีความสงสัย lurking ที่ว่าของคุณมากที่สุด W. Greeley ตำนาน -ที่คุณไม่เคยรู้เช่น personage ที่ คุณเท่านั้น conjectured ที่ถ้าถามล้อเก่าเกี่ยวกับเขามันจะเตือนเขาของเขาอับอายจิม Greeley และเขาจะไปทำงาน และแบกฉัน - เกือบไปตายกับอะไรบางอย่างสองคมของเขายาว และน่าเบื่อควรจะไม่ให้ฉัน ถ้าที่มีการออกแบบ นาย Ward มันจะ gratify คุณจะรู้ว่า มันประสบความสำเร็จพบล้อ Simon dozing สบาย โดยเตา barroom ของทาเวิร์นศัทธาเข้าไปเก่าในค่ายทำเหมืองโบราณที่เป็นเทวดา และสังเกตว่า เขาอ้วน และหัวล้านหัว และมีค่าของความเรียบง่ายและมนต์เสนห์ชนะเมื่อเขาสนับสนุนเงียบสงบ เขา roused ขึ้น และให้ผมวันดี ผมบอกเพื่อนของฉันได้มอบหมายอำนาจหน้าที่ให้ทำการสอบถามบางอย่างเกี่ยวกับเพื่อนหัวแก้วหัวแหวนของ boyhood เขาชื่อ Greeley W. มากที่สุด - ย้อนหลังมากที่สุด W. Greeley - รัฐมนตรีหนุ่มของพระกิตติคุณ ที่เขาได้ยินหนึ่งเวลาถิ่นที่อยู่ของเทวดาค่าย เพิ่มว่า ถ้านายล้อสามารถบอกอะไรเกี่ยวกับนี้รายได้มากที่สุด W. Greeley จะรู้สึกภายใต้พันธกรณีหลายพระองค์Simon ล้อสำรองฉันเป็นมุม blockaded ฉันมีพร้อมเก้าอี้ของเขา - แล้วนั่งฉันลง และ reeled ปิดเล่าเรื่องน่าเบื่อซึ่งตามย่อหน้านี้ ไม่เคยยิ้ม ไม่เคย frowned เขาไม่เคยเปลี่ยนเสียงของเขาจากที่เขาปรับประโยคเริ่มต้นสำคัญไหลเบา เขาไม่เคยทรยศความสงสัยเพียงน้อยนิดของความกระตือรือร้น - แต่หัวใจเล่าเรื่อง interminable มีวิ่งหลอดเลือดดำ earnestness น่าประทับใจและความจริงใจ ซึ่งแสดงให้เห็นฉันเถิดที่ห่างไกลจากเขา imagining ว่า มีอะไรไร้สาระ หรือตลกเกี่ยวกับเรื่องของเขา เขาถือเป็นเรื่องสำคัญจริง ๆ และชื่นชมของวีรบุรุษทั้งสองเป็นคนอัจฉริยะดารในชั้นเชิง ฉัน น่าตื่นเต้นของมนุษย์ไปอย่างสงบตามผ่านด้ายแปลก ๆ ไม่เคยยิ้มได้ประณีตไร้สาระ ผมกล่าวมาก่อน ถามเขาบอกว่า เขารู้เรื่องรายได้มากที่สุด W. Greeley และเบิกบานดังนี้ ฉันให้เขาไปในทางของเขาเอง และไม่เคยขัดจังหวะเขาครั้ง:There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Greeley, in the winter of '49 - or maybe it was the spring of '50 - I don't recollect exactly, some how, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume wasn't finished when he first come to the camp; but anyway, he was the curiosest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side, and if he couldn't he'd change sides - any way that suited the other man would suit him - any way just so's he got a bet, he was satisfied. But still, he was lucky - uncommon lucky; he most always come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn't be no solitry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it - and take any side you please, as I was just telling you: if there was a horse race, you'd find him flush or you'd find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, held bet on it; if there was a chicken-fight, he'd bet on it; why if there was two birds sitting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first - or if there was a camp-meeting he would be there regular to bet on Parson Walker, which he judged to be the best exhorter about here, and so he was, too, and a good man; if he even see a straddle-bug start to go any wheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to got wherever he was going to, and if you took him up he would foller that straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road. Lots of the boys here has seen that Greeley and can tell you about him. Why, it never made no difference to him - he would bet on anything - the dangdest feller. Parson Walker's wife laid very sick, once, for a good while, and it seemed as if they warn't going to save her; but one morning he come in and Greeley asked how she was, and he said she was considerable better - thank the Lord for his inf'nit mercy - and coming on so smart that with the blessing of Providence she'd get well yet - and Greeley, before he thought, says:Well, I'll resk two-and-a-half that she don't, anyway."Thish-yer Greeley had a mare - the boys called her the fifteen-minute nag, but that was only in fun, you know, because, of course, she was faster than that - and he used to win money on that horse, for all she was so slow and always had the asthma, or the distemper, or the consumption, or something of that kind. They used to give her two or three hundred yards I start, and then pass her under way; but always at the fag-end of the race she'd get excited and desperate like, and come cavorting and spraddling up, and scattering her legs around limber, sometimes in the air, and sometimes out to one side amongst the fences, and kicking up m-o-r-e dust, and raising m-o-r-e racket with her coughing and sneezing and blowing her nose - and always fetch up at the stand just about a neck ahead, as near as you could cipher it down.And he had a little small bull pup, that to look at him you'd think he warn't worth a cent, but to set around and look onery, and lay for a chance to steal something. But as soon as money was up on him he was a different dog - his underjaw'd begin to stick out like the forecastle of a steamboat, and his teeth would uncover, and shine savage like the furnaces. And a dog might tackle him, and bully-rag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jackson - which was the name of the pup - Andrew Jackson would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadn't expected nothing else - and the bets being doubled and doubled on the other side all the time, till the money was all up - and then all of a sudden he would grab that other dog just by the joint of his hind leg and freeze to it - not chaw, you understand, but only just grip and hang on till they throwed up the sponge, if it was a year. Greeley always came out winner on that pup till he harnessed a dog once that didn't have no hind legs, because they'd been sawed off in a circular saw, and when the thing had gone along far enough, and the money was all up, and he come to make a snatch for his pet holt, he saw in a minute how he'd been imposed on, and how the other dog had him in the door, so to speak, and he 'peared surprised, and then he looked sorter discouraged like, and didn't try no more to win the fight, and so he got shucked out bad. He give Greeley a look as much as to say his heart was broke, and it was his fault, for putting up a dog that hadn't no hind legs for him to take holt of, which was his main dependence in a fight, and then he limped off a piece, and laid down and died. It was a good pup, was that Andrew Jackson, and would have made a name for hisself if he'd lived, for the stuff was in him, and he had genius - I know it, because he hadn't had no opportunities to speak of, and it don't stand to reason that a dog could make such a fight as he could under them circumstances, if he hadn't no talent. It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his'n, and the way it turned out.Well, thish-yer Greeley had rat-tarriers and chicken cocks, and tomcats, and all them kind of things, till you couldn't rest, and you couldn't fetch nothing for him to bet on but he'd match you. He ketched a frog one day and took him home and said he cal'lated to educate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet he did learn him, too. He'd give him a little punch behind, and the next minute you'd see that frog whirling in the air like a doughnut - see him turn one summerset, or maybe a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat. He got him up so in the matter of catching flies, and kept him in practice so constant, that he'd nail a fly every time as far as he could see him. Greeley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do most anything - and I believe him. Why, I've seen him set Dan'l Webster down here on this floor - Dan'l Webster was the name of the frog - and sing out, "Flies! Dan'l, flies," and quicker'n you could winks he'd spring straight up, and snake a fly off'n the counter there, and flop down on the floor again as solid as a gob of mud, and fall to scratching the side of his head with his hind foot as indifferent as if he hadn't no idea he'd done any more'n any frog might do. You never see a frog so modest and straightfor'ard as he was, for all he was so gifted. And when it come to fair-and-square jumping on a dead level, he could get over more ground at one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see. Jumping on a dead level was his strong suit, you understand, and when it come to that, Greeley would ante up money on him as long as he had a red. Greeley was monstrous proud of his frog, and well he might be, for fellers that had travelled and been everywheres, all said he laid over any frog that ever they see.ดี Greeley สัตว์เก็บไว้ในกล่องโครงตาข่ายประกอบเล็กน้อย และเคยนำตัวเมืองบางครั้ง และวางสำหรับการวางเดิมพัน วันหนึ่งได้ feller - คนแปลกหน้าในค่าย เขาถูก - เจอเขากับกล่องของเขา และกล่าวว่า:"อะไรอาจจะให้คุณได้ในกล่องหรือไม่"และ Greeley กล่าว ว่า เช่น อาจเป็นนกแก้ว หรืออาจเป็นคานารี่ อาจจะ แต่มัน ain't - เป็นเพียงกบ "สนใจตัวเรียงลำดับและ feller ที่เอา และมองที่ระมัดระวัง และเปิดรอบวิธีนี้และที่ กล่าว ว่า, ' H น. - นั้น ' มอก. ดี อะไรคือเขาดี
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