284 TALKS OF THE TURF. 



The porter told me in substance that both Husband 

 and Redmon were celebrated characters ; both had been 

 prominent young actors in the stirring events of the trou- 

 blesome days — stage drivers, pony express riders, miners, 

 and, later, Indian scouts. Now one solicits for a rail- 

 road eating-house and the other is a grub stake prospector. 



"Husband has three men on his stick and Redmon 

 two, besides a lot of Indians — but Indians don't count 

 out here in these days," said the porter. 



Of Bret Harte's female characters — the Mlis'es and 

 Miggleses, etc., I saw a number. 



And I also saw the girl (name forgotten) from Pov- 

 erty Flat who wrote that charming love letter in poetry, 

 while sojourning in Paris (whither she'd gone, after her 

 father struck it rich, to acquire polish "and all that") to 

 her poor admirer back in the Gulch ; the conclusion being 

 to the effect that though she had 



"Danced with nobility and all that, 

 Still, some how Joe, I'm thinking 

 of you and the good old days 



For my heart is back there, and 



You've struck it, Joe, at Poverty Flat." 



They are all of a type, and can be seen at almost any 

 considerable stopping point from Laramie to Sacramento. 

 Untrammeled by corset, unembellished by pads, her 

 form's her own, not by reason of artificial appliances but 

 by right of nature's handwork and outdoor freedom. 

 Lithe, supple and graceful, slender and straight; great 

 black eyes, head thrown back, a white collar and im- 

 maculate cuffs ; neat and tasty in everything ; fresh and 

 sweet, without powder or "liquid complexion w r ash." She 

 is modesly free and independent and unaffected, calls a 

 Chinaman a Chinaman, and if she likes you she says so ; 



