Roughing it After Gold. By " Rux." (Sampson Low and
Co.)— The hero of this sketch is a rolling-stone of an Irishman who, having sold out of the Army and ruined himself on the turf, tries his fortune in America, where, indeed, he acquits himself after the fashion of that "sad, happy race, soon raised and soon de- pressed," to which he belongs. He certainly figures in almost every rSle that can be assumed even in America ; he is book- canvasser, courier, valet, muleteer, miner, soldier, and actually runs for tax-collector. He certainly sees life in sufficient "variety," and of adventures he has enough and to spare. The only fault to be found with " Rux's " story is that too much is crowded into it, and that he sometimes aims too obviously at being funny. The moral of the whole is told in this expression of belief : 'Had I exercised as much caution as I did perse- verance, there is but little doubt that I would have made an independent fortune ; but like many more, I was in too great a hurry to become rich, and was therefore continually killing the goose that laid the golden eggs."
Previous page
