Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-17

hair. 1t was Luke Wilson, or Squire Will
son. as he was generally called. He had a
firm, intellectual head, and when he spoke
his language was correct and well spoken.
"The widow Lockery," he began, has
disclaimed all right to the title of heroine.
Do not let the verdict be rendered till
have finished what | am about to relate.
Ny friend and neighbor for forty years
will, | know, pardon me if | for once lift
the veil from the passage of her experience
to which she seldom alludes, and of which
many in this audience have never heard.
Nothing has been told here to-day, nothing
could be told, more strongly illustrative Of
the courage and endurance of the pioneer
spirit, at least of the spirit of one brave
pioneer.
cone winter evening, many years ago,
stranger presented himself at the cabin of
Thomas and Ruth Lockery and begged a
nights lodging He was Canadian, COM
pletely tired out, and far from well. Lock
cry nor his wife had it in them to turn a
sick stranger from their door; so they gave
him supper and bed The next day he
was unable to rise, and before night be
broke out with the smallpox.
"The following morning when | went
ont to feed my cattle | happened to look
towards Lockery's, and saw on sharp rise
of ground, half way between the two
houses, a woman standing and reckoning
to me. 1t was my neighbor here. ! went
toward her but while | was some distance
away she halted me and told me in few
words about the man with the smallpox,
and charged me to watch the road and
warn the community. She said she had
been inoculated and would not take the
disease, but she feared for her husband and
children. That day rode eleven miles to
the nearest doctor. His wife cried and
would not let him go. He read his books
for an hour while my horse rested, and then
made up a package of medicine for me,
and | started back. | left the medicines
and stimulants on the Scrub-oak hill, and
Tom came and got them.
LAS Ruth had feared, her husband and
two children were taken down. Several of
the nearer families then offered to take all
risks and help her nurse her sick, but she
firmly refused their assistance.
- i can get along alone she would say
from her post en- the hill The Lord gives
me strength for all | have to do, and this
horror must not spread Everything she
needed was furnished promptly and abun-
dainty, and this was all she would suffer us
to do. The stranger had the disease in its
mildest form, but Lockery and the little
bows, Amos and Willy, were hopelessly bad
from the first. One morning the poor wo-
man called to me that both the children
were dead, and told me to have two collins
brought to the hill that evening at dark.
George Giles and dug a short, wide grave
at a spot on the place where she desig-
mated; and that night she took those cot
fms to her cabin, put her children into
them, and buried them with her own
hands One morning some three weeks
later, as | went out of my house just at
daybreak, saw Mrs Lockery waiting on
the hill She looked changed and bent,
and her hair was loose and flying in the
wind. | can see it all now. The sky was
such clear, pale gray, and she looked 50
dark and wild against it ! ran to my old
post, from which | had hailed her daily for
weeks
Thomas died at midnight she called
Make his coffin as light as possible to
have it strong enough
"Then | shouted back
80 Ruth Lockery, you have done enough!
Giles and ! will come to-day and bury your
dead At this she threw up her arms and
uttered an awful cry.
90 Don't do it, for the love of God! I've
gone through all this alone, that no other
place need be desolated as mine has BEEN
Don't let it be for nothing 1t shall not
be for nothing If man or woman dares
to come near that awful house I'll draw
my rifle on themp
''The Canadian was by this time well
enough to render her some assistance, and
together they coffined and buried poor
Tom. They drew the body on a stone sled
over the snow, and laid it in the new grave
beside the other. The next day we saw 4
red flame shoot up through the timber, and
we knew Ruth had fired her cabin and all
the little effects it contained. There
wasn't much, to be sure-nothing that she
valued after what had gone before. We
left pound Of sulphur and two suits of
clothing on the hill by her order. The
stranger got into fresh garments after Ruth
had smoked them well. Then she cut his
hair short, and rubbed his head with sui
phur till, she said afterward, she knew he'd
carry the Stcnb llil' Llit iAtAC hDl ~ WIN
him He took a gun and 4 pouch Of pro-
vision and went away, promising solemnly
to enter no human habitation for at least
q month.
"The weather had turned very mild
it was the last of March-and Mrs. Lock-
cry begged us not to ask her in for a little
while longer She built herself a wigwam
of poles and bark: we took her some bed
ding, and for three weeks she lived out Of
doors. Then she changed her clothing
again and came among us, pure enough,
we thought to mingle with the angels of
heaven. The people got together and
built her another house, and furnished it
with everything for her comfort. She
lived alone for years, a brave, cheerful,
actively helpful life; then she adopted
friendless babe, whom she reared to woman
hood, and who is now well married, and
gives 70 Mrs Lockery in her old age a
child's love ard duty Angelina Teal,
in Our Continent