April is poetry month, so who better to give us a poem than our own Bard of Butte and Poet of Helltown, Pres Longley. Here is one that was published in the Oroville Mercury on September 17, 1875.

 “SHE RUNS IN THE COLD”

If the angels don’t want you, my darling,
	And think you too saucy and bold—
A fond heart in Helltown is waiting
	To take you in out of the cold.
	
I have beautiful beds in lava,
	The mountains are gleaming with gold—
The Modocs have kindly “skeedaddled,”
	So darling, come out of the cold.

But I ask not a love that is lukewarm,
	The kind that can be bartered and sold,
But give me your heart’s pure devotion
	And come to me out of the cold.

Don’t bring me a kiss “paroxysmal,”
	If you do I will surely be sold,
And betrayed, a la Henry Ward Beecher—
	O, darling, come out of the cold.

I never have seen you, my “Dulci,”
	But I’m dreaming, from what has been told
That to me you’d be perfectly splendid—
	Then, darling, come out of the cold.

You must be my loving “Bonanza,”
	My treasure, untarnished with mould,
And I’ll love you intensely forever—
	Then, darling, come out of the cold.

And then we’ll write songs for the nation,
	Sweet songs that have never been told,
And thrill all the hearts in creation,
	And lift them up out of the cold.

I am not sure why the title “She Runs in the Cold” is in quotation marks. It may have been a catch phrase of the time. Some of the other references are easier to figure out.

The Modoc War by the U.S. Army against the Modoc Indians of northeastern California was much in the news at the time, having taken place in 1872 and 1873.

The term “paroxysmal” indicates a sudden, intense, but intermittent symptom, the opposite of an enduring constancy.

Henry Ward Beecher, according to Wikipedia, “was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God’s love, and his 1875 adultery trial.” It was the latter scandal that Pres had in mind.

“Dulci” is short for Dulcinea, the object of Don Quixote’s idealistic devotion.

“Bonanza” was a popular name for a mine — there was more than one Bonanza Mine in California, including one in Placer County and one in Sonora, Tuolumne County. Millions of dollars in gold were taken out of the one in Sonora.

So remember, “a fond heart in Helltown is waiting.” See if you can find him (or her).