Nothing of importance has happened since i last wrote you, except that i have become a miner. i can truly say that i am sorry i “learned the trade,” for i wet my feet, tore my dress, spoilt a pair of new gloves, nearly froze my fingers, got an awful headache, took cold, and lost a valuable pin in this, my labor of love. i myself thought . . that one had but to stroll gracefully along romantic stream . . and to stop now and then to . . carelessly rinse out a small panful of yellow sand in order to fill one’s work bag with the . . precious mineral. since i have been here, i have discovered my mistake. . . . to be sure, there are now and then “lucky strikes.” once a person took $256 out of a single basinful of soil. but such luck is as rare as the winning of a $100,000 prize in a lottery. we are acquainted with many here whose gains have never amounted to much more than wages: —that is, from $6 to $8 a day. --louise amelia clappe, letter of november 25, 1851 what is the purpose of the passage? use textual evidence to support your answer.