THE DYING DIGGER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 260, 14 January 1879, Page 3

THE DYING DIGGER.

Billy is dying, and implores some one to pray ; and here comes one of vthe most painfully humorous scenes within 1 our knowledge, a scene in which this especial type of American humor is exhibited in its perfection:—

" The boys looked sorrowful; if golddust could have brought prayers, Billy would have had a _rst-class assortment in an instant. ' There's Deacon Adams over to Patting,' suggested a bystander; ' an' they do say he's a reg'lar rip-roarer at prayin'! But 'twould take four hours to fetch him. ' Too long,' said the doctor. ' Down in Mexico, at the Cathedral,' said another, 'they pray for a feller after he's dead, when yer pay'em for it, an' they say it's jist the thingsure pop. I'll give yer my word, Billy, an' no go back, that I'll see the job done up in style fur yer, ef that's any comfort.' ' I want to hear it myself,' groaned the sufferer ; I don't feel right; can't nobody pray-—nobody in the crowd ?'

" Finally matters were brought to a crisis by Mose—no one knew, his other name. Mose uncoyered a sandy head, face, and beard; and remarked: ' I don't want to put on airs to this crowd, but ef no one the Lord about Billy Bent, I'm, going to do it myself. Its a biznelgs I've never bin in, but ther's nothin' This meetin' '11 cum to order toLwimst.'' Hats off in church, gentlemen I',..expanded Pentecost., Off came every* and some of the boys knelt down, 'as' Mose knelt beside the bench,"and 'Said : ' O, Lord, here's -Billy Bent needs 'tendin' to! He's panned, out his last dust, an' he seems to hey a purty,clear idee that this is his last chance. He wants you to give him a lift, Lord an' itV the. opinion of this house that; he heeds it. Taint none of our bizness what he done, an' ef it waz, you'd know more about it than we cud tell yer :< but it's mighty sartin .that cuss that's .been in the diggin's fur years needs a sight of mendin' up before he kicks the bucket.' 'That's so,' responded two or three very emphatically. 'Billy's down, Lord, an' no decent man

believes that the Lord'ud hit a man when he's down, so there's one of two things got to be done—either he's got to be let alone, or he's got ro be helped. Lettin' him alone won't do him or anybody else enhy pood, so helpin'e th" holt, an* as envy one uv us t.«ugh fello; - would help ef we knew how t<v it's on!y fair to suppose tliet the Lord '11 do it •• mighty sight quicker. Now. »vhat Billy needs is to see the thing.in th"t light, an' ydu can make him*do it a _r«w>d dcnl j better than we ken: It's mighty little fur the Lord to do, but it's meat an' drink an' clothes to Billy just now. Wen we wus boys, sum uv us read sum proutises of you'rn in Ihct Book thet was writ a spell ago by chaps in the Old Conntry, an' though Sunday school teachers and preachers mixed the matter up in our minds, an' got us all tangle-footed, we know they're thar, an' you'll know what we mean. Now, Lord, Billy's jest the boy—he's a hard case,. so you can't find no better stuff to work on—he's in a bad fix, thet we can't do nuthin' fur, so it's jest yer chance. He ain't exactly the chap to make a Number One Angle uf, but he ain't. the man to forget a friend, so he'll be a handy feller to have aroun'.' 'Feelany better, Billy V said Mose, stopping the prayer for a moment: ' A little,' said Billy, feebly ; ' but you want to tell the whole yarn. I'm sorry for all the wrong I've done.' 'He's sorry for all his deviltry, Lord' 'An'l ain't got nothin' agin the Judge,' continued the sufferer. 'An' he don't bear no malice agin tiie Judge, which he shouldn't, seeing he generally gin as good as he took. An' the long an' short of it, Lord, is jest this—he's a-dyin', an'he wants a chance to die with his mind .easy, an' nobody else can make it so, so we leave the whole job in your hands, only puttin' in, fur Billy's comfort, that we recollect hearing how yer forgiv' a dyin' thief, Rn' that it ain't likely-yep a-goin' to be harder on a chap thet's alwas paid for what he got. Thet's the whole story. Amen.' Billy's hand, rapidly growing cold, reached for that of Mose, and he said, with considerable effort, ' Mose, yer came in ez handy as a nugget in a gone-up claim. ; God bless yer. Mose. I feel better inside. Ef I get through the clouds, an' hey a livin' chance to say a word to them-_s is the chiefs thar, thet word '11 be fur you Mose. God bless yer, Mose, an' ef my blessin's no account, it can't cuss yer, ennyhow. This claim's washed out, fellers, an' here goes the, last 'shovelful, to see if there's enny gold in it or not.' And Billy departed this life, and the boys drank to the repose of his soul."