The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-08-04
Litigions Mrs. Gaines.

Washington Correspondence Pioneer Press.
I met Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines, the
other day, and wondered, as l looked
at the ritiful-yet g~rotesquely pitiful
old figure, what good it would do
her now could she really come into
possession of the millions of dollars
which are hers in name only,
through a long sought, yet meaning
less verdict. Poor old lady! She
has been fighting for her rirhts for 80
many years that | doubt not she will
die when all is won and DC more
battles remain to be fought. In the
natural order Of things she will prob
ably die before many years anyhow,
being nearly eighty, though she has
apparently vitality and determina-
ton CROUCH to keep ner alive until
she is 100. l believe it is the correct
thing to compare this eccentric wo-
man to Miss Fife in BLEAK House"
correspondents having made the
comparison until it is hackneyed-
yet there is a marked difference be-
tween the patient h%opefulness OF the
waiter in Jarndyce 4 Jarndyce and
the logged determination Of Mrs.
Gaines. She only waited and watch
ed, the other has worked and fought.
This ~incessant warfare has left its in
dellible traces on the lineameAts of
Nrs. Gaines, who always wears an
eager, expectant look on her wrink-
led face that is almost more painful
to the behOlder than an expression
OF utter hopelessness would be. She
has a shrill, discordaDt, mirtbless
laugh that makes n shiver, because
it is net unlike the laugh of a lunatic.
She also has a certain air of vivacity,
which SON chow sits i'll upon her,
and a stranger is apt to puzzle him
self with the query: us she a young
old woman Or an old young woman"
Her eyes are still blue, and her COM
piexion fair and soft, in spite of the
network of wrinkles which overs it.
Ne one knows whether she has any
hair of her cwn or not. for many
years ago she put on a yellow, triz-
zled wig, and, judging from appear
ances, q has never taken it off. At
least no one eve GEES her without it,
nor does any n live who can swear
to having seen this queer old body
without her bonnet. She receives
visitors in her bonnet, and goes
bonneted to the dinner table, the
other boarders having a theory
among themselves that the wig and
bonnet are inseparably fastened to-
gether, and that she cannot remove
the once without the other. The
first thing Mrs. Gaines looks for in
the morning paper is the column
wherein cosmetics and complexion
washes are usually advertised. If
she finds anything new in that line
offered for sale, she generally buys q
bottle and discusses its merits or de-
merits before the other boarders with
perfect frankness. She has tried so
many ''beautiiers" on her dear old
face, that it is a wonder her skin is
a. good as it is. She always carries a
Parasol, no matter what the weather
may be, and l saw her one mid
winter day shielding her beloved
complexion from the LOT Overwarm
rays of the sun, while tiny icicles
were forming about her eyes and
nose. The fact is, Mrs. Gaines was a
hoted beauty in her day, and she has
not forgotten it. Look in Mrs. Ellet's
book ON 1.-The Beauties and Cele-
of the Nation" and you will
find a picture of Mrs. Gaines as she
when young. A trihe
naughty and scornful, perhaps, is
that pictured beauty, but it is a real |
beauty, nevertheless. 1t il related
that Mrs. Gaines once stopped Mrs.
DR.. Mary Walker and administered
2 sound rebuke to the latter for
dressing As she did, and ended by
asking:
What is your object, madame, in
wearing pantaloons??"
For my health" was the reply.
For your health! That cannot be,
for 1-continually exposed to the
weather-enjoy the best Of health,
and look younger to-day than you
10. Pardon me for saying that l
ear your only motive proceeds from
\ vulgar love of notoriety, to which
none of cur sex should ever descend"
Mrs. Gaines has lived for years in
he old Catacazy house, where Min
ster Catacazy and his beautiful
out indiscreet wife reid high carni-
and entertained Prince Arthur
the mansion was ever thought
# rs a genteel boarding house. It
vas in this house that the tragedy
occurred which left Mrs. Gaines
Without a son and in his place her
q murderer. You will
emember,, doubtless, how her testi-
nony justified her COMMUNICATING
vas acquitted-in his murderous
Iced; but there is reason to believe
hat it was not the mothers heart
hat spoke, but rather anxiety for
Ter grandchildren, whom she wish