The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-02-18
"OLD HOPELESS"
He Tells the Pathetic Story of
Poor Nancy.

Poor Nancy.
Two great rocky cliffs in Southern
Colorado form the walls of dark abyss
something like fifteen feet wide, from
the bottom of which comes up the
eternal moan of waters as they rush on
in the solemn darkness over their rough
course to the Rio Grande. The walls
of this chasm are over hundred feet
high, and almost perpendicular.
The place is called PurgatorY, and
not altogether appropriately, for,
standing near its forbidding edge, with
the waters seething and moaning far
below, it is not improbable that
thoughts of the final resort of sin is
suggested to the mind of the awe
struck visitor, and cause him "to shud-
der and grow sick at heart. "
To within ten feet of the edge leads
well-worn trail, which abruptly ends
at a grave. The latter is marked by
neither rough stone nor slab, and the
many visitors to the spot are told, by
the loquacious mountain guides, of a
romantic incident of which this lonely
mound is the fatal outcome.
One day in the beautiful summer
time in company with my guide. l
halted my steed near the edge of
Purgatory and took in the widely
picturesque scene.
My guide was hunchback, horribly
disfgured in form, and his dress and
manners were rough in the extreme.
His coarse, iron-gray hair was long and
unkempt, and his distorted face was
covered with repulsive shock of beard.
From out this growth shone his great
dark eyes, whose uncertain expression
bespoke half-v&cant mind.
."Qld Hotaalesssn he had been called in in
my presence, and the landlord of the
Colorado House had told me that he
was q character of the region, almost
entirely insane at times, rational at
others. but never dangerous and al
ways good guide. So, for want of a
better, he had been engaged for that
day.
When, in the course of our ramhles,
we drew up at Purgatory, he suddenly
burst out in tumult Of incoherent ex-
pressions, in which l caught the word
Nancy" Ispoke to him. He Gained
himself, as if his mind were all at once
strengthened by visitation of reason,
and began talking to me in an earnest
tone.
"1'll tell We all about Nancy-Nancy
Summers, Felix" he said, in the char
acteristic dialect of the mountains.
Long years ago she war knowed all
over Colorado, an no one ever said
tibet her name warn't spotless. Beauti-
ful?-yas, vas, more'n tibet. She was
ez fair as a May-day moon, ez fresh ez
dew-kissed flowers. Her face war a
trife brown from exposure to Their sun,
but it war perfect in outline frum fore
head ter neck. 1t war full of tirmness.
an tenderness, too, sometimes. Her
ewes war rich. dark brown, an when
Teller looked into 'em, he war her
slave forever. Her hair war of the same
color, an long an wavy. Thar never
war better igger ner hers, an she
knowed how ter dress ter set it off.
She lived with her parents, who KEEP
Their Colorado House, Their hotel we
left this mornin', Felix. Even at tibet
day there war good deal O travel
along hyar, an they war maxim money.
'Mebbe Their travel war on Nancy
account, for she counted her lovers by
Their score, an she used ter hev . pro-
posal bout ever day in Their week.
Ever young fellow in the Southwest
tried his charm on Their purity Nancy,
fer gals war gals them days; but they
gener'ly drew off mighty quick wher
they found they made no impression
an got firm mo- in Their teeth.
"One day thar come along a quiet
dispositioned, good-lookin' young fell
ler, who he'd little sheep ranch all hi.
own, not a hundred miles from Purga
tory, and he put up at ther Colorado
House, and began ter make love tel
Nancy. He war happy in Their prom
ISM name of Luke Golden, an he wa
head an years in love with Their LITTLE
gal. An, Felix, it warn't long afOr'
it war noised all over the kcntry the
he he'd succeeded in winnin' Nancy
heart. 1t war plain ter all tibet seel
them together tibet Nancy liked hin
mighty well, an her old man had NJ
objections ter him on account of hi
character.
Ever mornin' thoy used ter go fe
ride. an sometimes hey would gallol
side by side fer hours through the
mountains. Often they would visi
Purgatory, an one pleasant day ik