Omaha daily bee., 1883-07-30
THE FIRST WOMAN IN CAMP.
A Warm Welcome to the Arrival of q
Wife from the East.

Denver lrlDunc,
June 80 was a day of Notification at
Carbonate, Col, being the advent of the
fist wagon, the first woman, and the
first board from the mill. 1t would have
been interesting to the reader to witness
the electrifying effect on the men in the
camp when word was passed along the
line that a woman was coming. Long be.
fore she was within a mile of the camp
knots of men were gathered here ant
there, watching, looking in the direction
from whence the wagon was to come. As
she hove in sight each n gath.
cred around his camp, as
when an alarm had been sounded
in a prairie-dog town. When within a
few yards of the outside habitation the
woman alighted and, accompanied by her
husband, proceeded to the county clerks
office. Ut had been advertised that the
donation of a town lot would be given
the first woman who came in.) Curious
eyes were watching her every step ms
she approached the clerks quarters. But
the crowd which had gathered around the
office for mail receded respectfully each
side of the entrance. AS she passed in
Col. Ferguson serenely doomed up and,
sailing out among the boys, agitated q re-
ception.
Seized by the inspiration a hundred
hats were removed from heads of noble
structure and design, siluriatedsomewha
perhaps, and a hundred horny palr
passed over the unkempt locks to smoos4
them down; vests were pulled down and
a hundred pair of eyes ran down the re.
spective owners digging clothes, ,
proudly inspecting the inevitable ''ball
stitch" which rejoined the dismembered
seam or held in place the patch of con.
spicuous dimensions. BY a look of com.
selected to make the reception speech.
Uneasily pluming his mustache with car.
Donate stained fingers, the colonel ap.
preached her and, followed by the un.
covered heads, he inadvertently yanked a
frog from his throat and began:
Respected madam" and a hundred
heads nodded assent. Appealing again
to his n o lstache for the needed insl ira.
ton, tie Colonel resumed again: IRE.
spected madam-the Illuminating spectre
of this most fascinating OCCASION" And
a hundred heads bobbed serenely agar
in assent. Pluming again the source Of
insdi. Jon, the hating Colonel staggered
on: Footprints of thine, which have
first fu.llen on u carboniferous soil W,
welcome thee. Mercury in her aeric
flight trails through the starry architravc'
of heaven, to trail over the s~ilurian on
crops of Garfield county, which has be
con g s.,cred TO us from toll, vicissitudes
and priva,ions. 1t is ours by right of dis
covery, ard you are welcome. We ar,
CO w. SAINT with your sex and some of u
ha. been vietimized. We have Learned
to love and cherish in memory the tin,
fingers which wererubbed over ourbiscuit
in other days and we languish for tn,
same. The delicacy Of sewing on but
tons (thimbleless) is ours, and our toll
stained robes bear the traces of tn
s~ilurian outcrop. For months we hav,
been here surrounded by the beautiful
crystalline pearls of heaven, which hav,
banked about and a.ound us, and on
only solace has been the chirp of tn
camp bird and the weird wailings of tn
metamorphic blasts. We have long an
ticipated the daisy, struggling through
the snowy depths to comfort us, as tn
day drew near when we laid by our snow
shoes on the limestone lodges, but thi
occasion is most sublime, undreamed of
and unprecedented in the history of GU
new country. Thou has come upon u
like a perfumed- freighted breath of tn
gentle springtime, and thou art t.
shrine to which we bow and bri =
tribute, and, in behalf of these, my pal,
ners in the struggle, who stand befor
you with uncovered heads, some of then
g~listening like a FURNISHED disc in tn
s%ilurian sunlight, heads which have beef
robbed of capillary traces from inevitable
contact, | again say, welcome.