The News—Looking Forward—The Start.
IN the winter of ’48 I resided in New Bedford, Mass. I had a chum. What boy has not? My chum’s name was Bill. He had been absent from New Bedford for a few months, and on meeting him, a few days after his return, I greeted him with:
“Hello, Bill! Have you heard the news?”
“No; what is it?”
“Well; while you were away, the news came that a man in California, named Marshall, has made the discovery that there’s lots of Gold out there. He found a big chunk of it where he was at work.”
“You don’t say so! What’s he going to do with it; did he say?”
“That has nothing to do with the case. There’s the greatest excitement here, you ever heard of. Not only here, but all over the country, on account of the discovery. Thousands of men are getting ready to go out there. A lot of ships down at the wharves are being fitted out for the voyage, and they are going to take passengers cheap. Now what do you say to going along?”
Bill did not seem to enthuse nearly as much as the occasion would warrant, for said he,
“Well, now; I don’t see what reasons you can give for supposing that there’s more gold there, simply because this man found a chunk of it.”