Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1862-03-22
Romance Ct an O.d Couple.

ne iblloWlnI somewhat remafkahlt
narrative is related bv . western lady,
now on a visit To this city from Miri-
p,>:. She Is herself character.--
She crossed the plains twice-fir>t i'll
l849, during which her husband per-
iShe,l-ani is the first American lady
who returned to tn" east bv the way
OF the I>thmuS of Panama. She Is a
genuine heroine--a fine specimen of
stont-hcartcd western wumanhood-
and her adventures in the wildS of the
unproplel west have been numerous
an,l exciting. Ii the good people of
Maripn>a have missed Il lady from
their neiyhborhoo'l, they are hereby
appriSed that she is comfortably locat-
c ut the b"sr'ling house "f Mrs. Mes
hit: on Tie corner of Montgomery an!
Sntlcr streets, and will not return to
the mountains un,!. II dimes, of the Ga
zrtte, cea>cS to harrow the hearts of
Marip">a mothers by calling their little
babies ''hratS."
Well, y" hen the train of which this
lady MAS Il member was cnrampeA at
a point Oh the Humboldt, where the
Lessen train lmterSectS the Carson
track of travel. She visited Il tent of
family, consisting of an elderly couple
AMI one chill-;l lan.hter of fourteen
or fifteen years. The old lady was sit
ting Oh Il pile Of blankets. under the
ed attack of the 'sulk>,' while the
m,ls>.uine h"a! of affairs had planted
himself on his wooden tongue, ;iil;l was
sucking his pi pc rs is'isl;rrIv Y IS though
he rai,ucted 10 remain there forever. -
y sin gle glance developed the fact that
there WAS lifii"nlty in that little train
Of one wagon anI three persons, anl
that it bad attaint.,l u point of qni t
desperation cvun*l the reach Of peace
til. adjustment. farce days before
they hal pitched their tent 1T the forks
of the road, and as they could not
agree upon the route by whic|, t. eli
ter California, there they hal remain-
ed. The husband expressed a prefer
cncr for the Carson rnal-the wife for
the l-eSSen-anl neither would y,rll.
The wife declared She would remain
there all winter; the husband said he
should be pleased to lenythen the so
.j"uri through the Sn.nmvr t,llowiug
On the morning of the fourth day
the wife broke II stllcn silence of thir-
ty-six hours by proposing u division of
the property, which consisted Of two
yoke of cattle one wagon, camp fur
nltnr', Il small quantity of provisions,
and SI2 III silver. The proposal WIS
accepted, antl forthwith the "plun'er"
WAS divided, leaving the waG..ii tp the
Cd man and the !au litter to the mot!-
er. The latter exchanged with neigh
boring train the cattle brlon rim = to her
for Il pony AMI saddle, arii piling the
daughter AMI her portion OF the Iii
vitlca spoil upon the animal, she rps.,-
lutclv started across the desert by th;,
Lessen trail, while the old man silently
vokel the cattle, and took the other
route
Singular as this may seem, it is nrv-
erthelrSS true. 1t il amen : the many
occurrences Of llte stranger than tir
ti"n. OF course both parties reached
California i'll safety. We say 4" of
c"urSe,' for it is scarcely p '>>ible that
any obstacle, death included, could
have seriously interiirrd with the pro
grt>s OF StubbnrnnrSS SO sublim..
Arriving It Sacramento with her
daughter, the old lady readily found
employ ment-fpr women we're less
plenty Shan now-and subsequently
opened Il h"artling house, and in IL few
y .arS amaSSed a han lSnnle fortllnr.-|
Two years ago she went to San Jran-
cisco, and The si.u ,hter, whose e,lura-
ton had not been neglected was mar
ried to one Of the most substantial cit
lLpnS
And what has become of the cid
man? The wife had not seen or heard
OF hi II since they parted on the. Hum
h"ldt Thry ha.l lived happily torr.h-
er ;ls III III an,l wife FIR Years, Al she
sometimes rcpr"ach-l her>sit' for the
wilitulneSS that separated them after
so lon. pill yrina re t,sether through
this rough life.
But he WAS not 'lea |. We cannot
IL acc lliS t'tiI SS III Ns"lIil''iPlj, tith ~
er. All We know of INN is that f,r-
tune had not smiled Upon him, and that
for years he had toile,i without Lopc.
Finally, being scarcely able longer t.
WELD III. pick an shovel, he visited
San FranclSc" in the hope of obtain
ing employment better adapted to his
wasted strength.
1 II three Ia 'nthS he remained idle
after arriving here. and then fsr want
OF Occupation became the humble. re-
taller nf peaH'lt> Al ! oranges, with his
entire stock of traffic in Il basket up on
his arm. \ few weeks since, in pass
ing the open door Of cottaoA '~ - -
-. .i!e