miles among fantastic rocks but i lost my way and came to an end of all tracks in a wild about six miles i took another track and rode about eight miles without seeing a creature i then came to strange with wonderful upright rocks of all shapes and colours and turning through a gate of rock came upon what i knew must be as wild and romantic a as imagination ever pictured the track then passed down a valley close under some ghastly peaks wild cold awe inspiring scenery after a creek several times i came upon a decayed looking cluster of houses bearing the name of city and two miles farther on from the top of one of the foot hill i saw the bleak looking scattered houses of the ambitious watering place of springs the goal of my journey of miles i got off put on a long skirt and rode though the settlement scarcely looked like a place where any deference to prejudices was necessary a queer looking place it is out on the bare plains yet it is rising and likely to rise and has some big a lady s life in x hotels much resorted to it has a fine view of the mountains specially of s peak but the celebrated springs are at three miles off in really fine scenery to me no place could be more than springs from its utter i found the s living in a small room which served for parlour bedroom and kitchen and combined the comforts of all it is inhabited also by two dogs a and a it was truly mrs cooked an excellent and her husband got the tea ready they dispense with the comfort and certain discomfort of a hired girl mrs walked with me to the boarding house where i slept and we sat some time in the parlour talking with the landlady opposite to me there was a door wide open into a bedroom and on a bed opposite to the door a very sick looking young man was half lying half sitting fully dressed supported by another and a very sick looking young man much resembling him passed in and out occasionally or leaned on the chimney piece in an attitude of extreme soon the door was half closed and some one came to it saying rapidly quick a candle and then there were about in the room all this time the seven or eight people in the room in which i was were talking laughing and playing and none laughed louder than the landlady who was sitting where she saw that letter x the rocky mountains mysterious door as plainly as i did all this time and during the in the room i saw two large white feet sticking up at the end of the bed i watched and watched hoping those feet would move but they did not and somehow to my thinking they grew and and then my horrible suspicion deepened that while we were sitting there a human spirit and desolate had passed forth into the night then a man came out with a bundle of clothes and then the sick young man groaning and sobbing and then a third who said to me with some feeling that the man who had just died was the sick young man s only brother and still the landlady laughed and talked and afterwards said to me it turns the house down when they just come here and die we shall be half the night laying him out i could not sleep for the bitter cold and the sound of the sobs and groans of the brother the next day the landlady in a made black dress was bustling about proud of the arrival of a handsome coffin i went into the parlour to get a needle and the door of that room was open and children were running in and out and the landlady who was sweeping there called cheerily to me to come in for the needle and there to my horror not even covered with a face cloth and with the sun blazing in through the window lay that thing of terror a corpse on some chairs which were a lady s life in not even placed straight it was buried in the afternoon and from the looks of the brother who continued to sob and moan his end cannot be far off the s say that many go to the springs in the last of consumption thinking that the climate will cure them without money enough to pay for even the board we talked most of that day and i equipped myself with and warm gloves for the mountain tour which has been planned for me and i gave the sabbath she was entitled to on tuesday for i found on arriving at the springs that the day i crossed the divide was sunday though i did not know it several friends of miss called on me she is much remembered and beloved this is not an expensive tour we cost about ten shillings a day and the five days which i have spent en route from have cost something less than the fare for the few hours journey by the cars there are no real difficulties it is a splendid life for health and enjoyment all my luggage being in a pack and my conveyance being a horse we can go anywhere where we can get food and shelter great of the october this is a highly picturesque place with several springs s ill and the virtues of which were well known to the indians near it are places letter x the rocky mountains the names of which are familiar to every one � the garden of the gods s peak monument park and the pass it has two or three immense hotels and a few houses situated it is thronged by thousands of people 