However, these
deficiencies were to be discovered only after entering. Without, the
Miners' Home put up a good front,--which along the border is considered
the chief matter of importance,--and was in reality the most
pretentious structure gracing the single cluttered street of Glencaid.
Indeed, it was pointed at with much civic pride by those citizens never
compelled to exist within its yawning walls, and, with its ornament of
a wide commodious porch, appeared even palatial in comparison with the
log stable upon its left flank, or the dingy tent whose worm-eaten
canvas flapped dejectedly upon the right. Directly across the street,
its front a perfect blaze of glass, stood invitingly the Occidental
saloon; but the Widow Guffy, who operated the Miners' Home with a
strong hand, possessed an antipathy to strong liquor, which
successfully kept all suspicion of intoxicating drink absent from those
sacredly guarded precincts, except as her transient guests imported it
internally, in the latter case she naturally remained quiescent, unless
the offender became unduly boisterous. On such rare occasions Mrs.
Guffy had always proved equal to the emergency, possessing Irish
facility with either tongue or club.
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