Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-02-21

| ,,.itl a. We io,,k hong aa X eve urt g.
ii-,.,v. ring ne. b. aui e -
IA 320 acres at laud One ,is, il Wa
me Wild plumb bush s. he nFx'
one cottonwood trees in the san :
| raw aud then indications # coal, yer
ah,ch we grew quite excited. Nj,
| iuties are to bring water from the
spring and the fuel. cow chips. Thes'
dough nuts when dry, have no odor
and burn beautifully. We keep them
covered, aud neglect to ''fire up" be-
fore visitors, for il is hard to become
accustomed to their appearance us
ones fuel. For we do have visitors.
For instance Gabe, the character, a
cowboy who herds in this vicinity. A
very pleasant, harmless fellow he is,
not at ali like the traditional cowboy.
His respectful lie name is Charles Mont
gomery. We are just strange enough
to give a romantic interest to his
thoughts of us, and he brings our
mail and the news generally, and sits
in our presence on these occasions
rolling his great eyes. The gentlemen
of western Kansas do not remove their
hats, but consider it sign of respect
to tilt them back as far as possible.
The gallant Gabe hangs his hat on an
invisible peg in the back of his head
and proceeds to inform us that two
women should not live alone without
revolver, or, as he says, "six
shooter" He tells us of an aunt OF
his who lived alone year aud always
kept a revolver be- her side. Her chief
exploit seems TO have consisted in
having nearly taken the life of HARM
less deaf mute, who came to her house
in the night Oh an errand. The boy
was loudly rafting the door when the
aunt. who had been shrilly screaming.
"WhO's there!" from an upper win
dow. CHANGED to discern his familiar
Outilnts, anu tius HofHiCiuC was nap
PLY prevented. As am more afraid
of loaded revolver than burglar,
we decided against this weapon. We
have ba,chet, an ak, a spade aud a
hoe, having brought these latter I'M
plemenis with Horace Greeley's IA
nous work, hoping to do some anna
teur gardening. If any would-be burg
lar should chance to see me examining
one OF these weapons to see il the edge
is keen enough to cleave an individ-
ual in twaiu. and then LAYING them all
up against the door, in murderou-
ARA, each night, his h art would
sur " quail With him.
IL j. u ,hr who inform Il n ii tin
b. irkpin,-- %. the cai'l ni"D. ani ma"
much iand the, were holding. as he
SAID. under "con-umed' haine-. He
also old If some Young ladie- iivi"y
on ranch near, Who rep >euted
ihen-e vr- a. being graduates He
said h'y were alw vs. talning ab"u
their .ch,.in"- suppose he meant
diplom IS. H.. lived with his brother
who WAS an invalid. Gabe usually
spoke of him as great cripple. al
thoug1 he sick mans trouble was
with his lungs, not his limbs.
The days passed by mild and pleas
ant. The prairie lay brown and beau
tifnl in the winter sunshine, and the
cattle, provided with neither food nor
shelter, browsed contentediy on the
short grass. Ispent all my time out
Of-doors. After an unusually fair and
peaceful day there came on blind
ing, rushing snow. The very heavens
seemed to come down GU us. We
sould not see ten feet from the door
and the air was like some substance
which the wind whipped and cracked
as it tore along. If you put your face
out. the wind struck it like a thousand
singing needles. Water frozc near
the stove which was red-hof. Even
our sodden fortress could not protect
us from the fury of that storm which
ragged like a mad and bafiled world.
The wind was so penetrating and the
snow so fine, like powder. that it
drifted into the smallest crevice about
the windows or door. We put on our
cloaks and arctics but could not keep
warm and were obliged to go to bed.
l thought the end of the world had
come in wind and snow, instead OF
fire. but | was only experiencing a
severe western blizzard. Everything
had to be put to bed to keep from
freezing. AT our feet we had a bag
of apples and potatoes and at the head
some canned fruit and bread.
The bag burst loose in the.
night, and it was pleasant on stretch
ing under that mountain Of clothes, to
put ones foot on the bare, cold sur
face of an apple.
After twenty-tour hours the storm
stopped as suddenly as il had begun
We admired our house with its coat |
ing of snow. 1t was not laid on
but whipped and twisted ac-
cording to the fancy of the wind. All
along one corner was ridge extend |
ing into the air fooi:it was indeuted 1
almost regularly and looked like row
Of very fierce teeth. Our neighbor |
came over to see if we were alive, aud |
told us he took his horses into his dug
out to keep them from freezing. The
man said he felt one of the animals /
poking him in the night. The hungry
beast was trying 10 get bite of hay
out of the bed under his master There
are reports of seven persons at differ
ent places being frozen TO death.
Many cattle were fonnd dead here.
Que of our neighbors wine had herd
Of one hundred aud fifty, actually lost
fifty-three. How cruel and pi iless