drew his aged limbs from the rugged banks famed in song,
and caused them to bear him industriously up and down the Ridge Road,
past Nathan's mother's house, until he saw all three of the bearded
Croesuses seat themselves on the piazza to smoke. Then he departed, his
good face affording an excellent study for a "Simeon in the Temple."

Even the peaceful influences of the Sabbath were unable to restore
tranquillity to Hardhack.

On Sunday morning the meeting-house was fuller than it had been since
the funeral services of the last pastor. At each squeak of the door,
every head was quickly turned; and when, in the middle of the first
hymn, the three ex-miners filed decorously in, the staring organist held
one chord of "Windham" so long that the breath of the congregation was
entirely exhausted.

The very pulpit itself succombed to the popular excitement; and the
Reverend Abednego Choker, after reading of the treasures of Solomon's
Temple, and of the glories of the New Testament, for the first and
second lessons, preached from Isaiah xlvi. 6: "They lavish gold out of
the bag and weigh silver in the balance."

But all this excitement was as nothing compared with the tumult which
agitated the tender hearts of the maidens at Hardhack.

Young, old, handsome, plain, smart and stupid, until now few of them had
dared to hope for a change of name; for, while they possessed as many
mental and personal charms as girls in general, all the enterprising
boys of Hardhack had departed from their birthplace in search of the
lucre which Hardback's barren hills and lean meadows failed to supply,
and the cause of their going was equally a preventive of the coming of
others to fill their places.

But now--oh, hope!--here were three young men, good-looking, rich,
and--if the other two were fit companions for the well-born and bred
Nathan--all safe custodians for tender hearts.

Few girls were there in Hardhack who did not determine, in their
innermost hearts, to strive as hard as Yankee wit and maiden modesty
would allow for one of those tempting prizes.

Nor were they unaided. Rich and respectable sons-in-law are scarce
enough the world over, so it was no wonder that all the parents of
marriageable daughters strove to make Hardhack pleasant for the young
men.

Fathers read up on Nevada, and cultivated the three ex-miners; mothers
ransacked cook-books and old trunks; Ladies' Companions were
industriously searched for pleasing patterns