In Bret Harte's story of "The Luck of Roaring Camp," he describes
Story★★★★In Bret Harte’s story of “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” he describes a camp of gold diggers. Some of them were fugitives from justice, some were drunkards and gamblers. Even in a district where a reputation for evil was hard to make, Roaring Camp was famous for its crimes. Into that camp a woman strayed, gave birth to a child and died.
The child lived and then the change began. In the presence of this helpless child rough men shed their roughness and became strangely tender. The cabin in which the child lay was first boarded and papered, then instead of the usual untidiness it was kept scrupulously clean.
Flowers were planted around it, and a new sense of beauty was born in the camp, and spread to other cabins. Shouting and yelling were not permitted. Profanity was strictly forbidden. And after the day’s work men formed the habit of lounging in to see the little one, and to hold him in their arms.
The point
Hardened miners in a lawless camp are transformed by the arrival and care of an innocent child, discovering beauty, cleanliness, and tenderness within themselves.