(I think 1917 had nothing on 1851 when it comes to divorces in Nevada.
Author.)
"The judge continued: 'I cannot excuse you but I think you can get away in time to return to your camp tonight.' So I had to submit though I did not like it. I then prepared the jury room for use by conveying to it a demijohn of whiskey, a bucket of water and twelve tin dippers. As foreman of the jury I wrote the verdict as follows: 'We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of extreme cruelty.' We returned the verdict to the court, heard the next case, and continued until we had disposed of the ten cases. There were ten weddings that afternoon and evening.
"I then thought and still think that we did the best thing that could have been done. These women had separated from their husbands, and if they had not been allowed to marry the men who had parted them, they perhaps would have done worse. Some of them made good citizens and raised families, and when they grew rich became very aristocratic."
So much for the pioneer days, and they are really not so far away.
Don't take an umbrella with you, you won't need it; it never rains; but I wish someone would write a poem to take the place of "Mispah." I received that poem from four different people on my departure from Reno, and I feel that it is overworked, though it is beautiful indeed, and I have quoted two verses of it below:
MISPAH
"Go thou thy way and I go mine
Apart, yet not afar.
Only a thin veil hangs between
The pathways where we are;
And God keep watch 'tween thee and me
This is my prayer.
He looketh thy way, he looketh mine,
And keeps us near.
I sigh ofttimes to see thy face,
But since this may not be,
I'll leave thee to the care of Him
Who cares for thee and me."
PART 5
RENO AND ITS PEOPLE
Reno is named after General Reno, who died in the battle of South
Mountain. It is about two thousand nine hundred miles from New York
City; it takes nearly four days to reach it by train. From Reno to San
Francisco is only about two hundred miles. The altitude is about 4,419
feet: the population twelve thousand. This "big little city" in the
West is modern in every respect: it is the county seat of Washoe
County and the largest city in the State of Nevada.