Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1882-09-07

! into the tCnt On the buffalo SKIN lay
the woman, or girl, for she WAS quite
/ young, and the child near her, sound
asleep. jim had stuffed his coat be-
| tween them, to draw a line between the
! hVin' and the dead, rs he put it,
We sat down and talked in sort of
| whisper about the time when the ones
! loved went away from us forever. First
! thing we knew Il streak of light shot up
in the east, thea 4 couple of us went out
| to prepare the grave, while others It'd
| led up the tent. No one thought of
| breakfast; at least 10 one had the heart
to speak of it.
"Look here, boys" says jim, coming
| over to our new cemetery. "Do any of
you know what them preacher fellows
say at a huryin. It's something bout
He that believes in Me shall live even
though he he dead.'"
We shook our heads and Jim went on:
at isn't Christianlike to drop her
inter that hole without word. vote
that we all kneel down and say the
Lords prayer atore We dump her in"
The boys agreed to this, and we filed
back to the tent. A couple of us lifted
the purity little critter, as keerfully as Il
mother md lift n baby, and carried her
ont. Abe took the mite in his arms, and
the rest followed, like sure enough
procession.
Here, yonker, wake up, and take
last peep at yer ma" saws Abe. Then
we knelt down, and 1 reckon We looked
about as sheepish as any half dozen
fellers We ever seed. You can jest bet
our hearts was thumpin' agin our sides,
and if we didn't cry it wasn't cause we
didn't wanter. At last | sed, Jim,
you're runnin' this thing s'pose you be-
and and we all lined in, some some
peared to forget the words, but we got
through after a fashion, then dropped
the body into the grave as tenderty as
We could. AS Jim threw the first shovel
full of dirt in he said in choking way,
"Rest in Peace" Each of us took
hand at it, repeating the same words.
There warn't any blubberin' at that fun
eral, but you bet twas awful solemn. 1t
took us whole week to get Strengthened
up agn, and get the kinks out of our
hearts.
The little critter the dead woman left
! us was a living sermon to all on us.
P'raps we didn't love her; and p'raps
we didnd try not to swear when she was
around. We all Clipped in and sent
Abe to Cheyenne to buy black frocks for
her. All claimed share in her, and
nights when she was sleeping like kit
ten we'd tell what we'd do when she was
big enough to begin larnin. When we'd
go to bunk we'd take turns holding
her in our arms so as TO keep her
warm. Ali she was the cuteSt, lOvinest,
little thing you ever see. We never
knew her name, so we always
called her unite" When
we went up Mountains we'd take her
| along, and she'd play round till she got
tired, then some one 'ud put her to
! sleep. Each man had his own pet name
for her. She was Abe's sunshine, Jim's
/ blossom. and my birdie. l s'pose you'll
smile at my tears, but can't keep them
back when l think of her. You see
| there was lot of love 'cumulatin' as it
! was, in our hearts when she dropped
, into camp, and we poured every bit oft
/ right out onto her.
| The next winter she took cold, no one
! could tell how it happened for we were
! very keerful of her. Itwas terrible sud-
J den-Only lasted three days-then she
! just skipped into the open gate after her
! mother. Well maybe there wasn't blub-
/ BERN at that funeral! If you'd been
| thar you'd a thought the queen of Eng
/ land an all her ancestors was dead. We
! dressed our mite in little black frock
so her mother 'ud know we'd done
| jim was the hearse, and when
we reached the cemetery each man took
! her in his arms an held her till the next
had to take her from him almost by force.
Last Of all Abe got her. He kissed the
| dear little face bout twenty times, then
! said all in a tremble, II can't do it, boys;
! some one else ill have to put her in."
"Ill do it, Abe, says l." reachin' for her;
! for tween you an me [ was glad to get
! her IN my arms once more. He walked
| away sobbng like a woman.
! We sed the Lords Prayer same as at
| her mothers buryin'; then lowered her
! into the tiny grave with our hands. We
! covered the innocent little face, so dear
to every man of us, with clean hand
! kerchlef: twas Abe,s best; and jim
! Turned his head aside when he dropped
the earth on her, SAYING ina shaky voice:
| Now | lay me down to sleep" Some
! how, Jim could always think Ofthe right
kind Of prayers. You bet there wasn't
no stones in the earth that covered her
little body, for every grain of it was
passed through fine selve before twas
! used for filling up. Abe made cross of
| wood, an carved on it.
Sacred to the Memorylof Our Little Mite"
and planted it at the head of the grave.
Jim made one like it, and jest put the
words
Mites Mother"
on it. We made a fence of logs for our
cemetery, and used to sit on them at
| night, smoking our pipes an talking
about our baby. But we couldn't stand
| the lonesomeness after she was gone, so
we pulled up stakes and left. Before
going, each man laid bunch of ever
green's on the graves of Mite and her
mother. and 1 wouldn't like to swear
! that our eyes were fearless, when we
left them to their everlasting rest.