| Show the prospector and his burro 1 I want to warn you said the prospector to his burro to fight shy of the loco weed I 1 see growing so profusely about our camp for it is poisonous notwithstanding that it looks so alluring and innocent loco is a bad dope for horses and cattle and for burros as well and is fatal in the end to the animal getting into the habit of eating it no just a bite or two will not have any serious effects but the appetite grows and is consuming and in the end the victim becomes a regular dope fiend as it were finally becomes a raving maniac and in the end whirls round and round like a spinning wheel and then drops dead the boy who with nervous trembling places a dime on the roulette table is not ruined if he stops then but if he keeps on he will end up as a regular gambler and faro fiend so it is with the loco plant dope which if a burro once acquires a taste for means a dead jack in due course of bf time aside from the vegetable plant loco continued the prospector there are many conditions connected with the mining industry which have the same effect morally as the loco weed has physically the claim owner who makes misrepresentations regarding his property is in a fair way to become locked he may not be conscious of the fact at first any more than you realize your lack of good horse sense and yet in the end he will become so saturated with the idea of wrongdoing that he loses all standing with honest men the fakir who bleeds the investing public has the loco in his blood he may succeed for a while but in the end the intoxicant goes to his head all reason and precaution is cast aside and the first thing he knows the strong arm of the law has him by the neck and seat of his pants and he winds up with stripes on his back the dishonest mining company also while seemingly prosperous for a while is in the same condition as the locked horse or burro and in due time drops out of sight with no one but its victims on the mourners mourners bench 1 I once knew a man who had the con of his neighbors and acquaintances he was active in church work and a leader in the Y M C A he was progressive and a rustler from way back in time he butted into the mining game secured a promising p rom ising piece of property and in the course of time had the mine well developed and equipped with a milling plant E everything very thing was coming his way but not fast enough to suit him and so he began nibbling at the loco weed on the threadbare argument of the drunkard that one drink would not hurt him little by little he began to doctor the ore samples from his mine the ore was good enough in the first place but hardly high grade enough to suit his get rich quick tendencies none whatever and so he went on and on until he had the local mining world excited over his prospective bonanza As a matter of fact he had a big sale on and a final examination was being made by the would be purchasers while this was vlas being bedink made the man in question sought to raise the grade of the ore iby by the injection of a solution of chloride 0 of f gold into the samples through a mistake the samples taken were small while the salting was overdone the high assays essays raised the suspicion of the buyers an investigation vesti gation was made and in the end the deal was declared off but this was not the worst feature of the transaction for the affair was given publicity but the mia mining man m an was not prosecuted because of his family connections but he was dishonored disgraced mortified but not repentant he left his home the loco serum still in his blood and from a mere tyro in wrongdoing he became a reckless bad man man and today he is regarded as the mere offal of the lowest dregs of society 1 I want to tell you old long fars ears concluded the prospector it is always the proper caper to steer clear of the loco weed good sagebrush is always safe even if it does not give you that high tension of the blood that the loco does even salt grass will not leave the evil effects an and d your moral tone will be unimpaired it is better to hump along at the regular four mile gait than to partake of pernicious weeds with the idea that they will give you the speed of a quarter horse it is better to make your living honestly than to appear for a while as a phe nom even if you die poor but respected and there you are and then some |
