The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-02-21
OLD MRS. DILL.

When all the other women in Camp
Paradise went away cd Mrs. Dill stayed
on.
II come to the mountings in fifty -
nine" she often said, "an' I've lived in
the mountings ever sence, an it amt the
fust time I've been left the only woman
they was in mimi camp l've lived
long eA year 'thout seem the face of
no woman 'ceptin' my own when looked
in bit of lookin'-gIass. was the fust
woman in Camp Paradise, an l reckon
I'll be the last to leave 'er."
Her many years Of life in the "mount.
lngs' had told on Mrs. Dill. She was
bent and gaunt with lcathery,
wrinkled face, and bony, calloused
hands. Her face and Voucher whole
manner-was masculine. The few graccs
that old age vouchsafes its chosen ones
had not been given to Mrs. Dill. She
was uncouth and rcpclling in ap-
pearance, the result OF years of strug
Cling against adverse fates amid the de-
moralizg influences of mining camp life.
"Ihey amt no kind o. roughinr it
that | amt used to-" she often said.
~ ord if ain'troughcd it don't know
who has: They amt gulch in this
part O. the mountings | amt been in or
trail amt been over I've lived in
tents an log cabins an sometimes under
nothin' but the trees. for most thirty
year. Dill he never once struck it rich
IN all that time, an he died poorer n he
as wGen we come out here from old
issouri.
"We'd a good farm back there, but
i'll he got the gold mlnin' craze, an we
ID out an come out here with an OK
am an put our farm into a hole in the
ground, ez body might say, an we've
never got it out ag'in. Talk bout hard
times and roughin' it. You might saw
so If you'd went through all have!n
Mr.. Dill had been dead six years, leav-
ing his widow homeless and penniless
Some OF the miners in the camp in which
old man Dill died offered to raise fund
to send her back to her friends if she
cared to go, but she had declined the
offer.
1--WE lived in the mountings too long
to live any place else now," she said !;
land, anyhow, | hain't got no friends to
60 to. pll stay here and rough it out to
the end"
She had been among the first corners
to Camp Paradise in the days of that
camps short-lived prosperity. 1t was
supposed then that the camp would be
come second Leadville. Two or three
promising strikes had been made, and
willy spectators got up carefully
planned 'boom' solely in their own in
terests. In one summer nearly three
thousand people came to Camp Paradise.
Most of them went away again before
the year was out.
Old Mrs. Dill came YEARLY up the
steep and narrow trail one day, walking
slowly behind an aged and dminutiye
burro, which carried her worldly all on
its back. She began her Camp Paradise
career as a laundress. Some of the
miners had known her in other camps,
and number of them got together one
day and built her a little cabin, and
afterward gave her their rough gar
ments to wash and mend. They paid
her well, and her wants were few.
When nearly all the other cabins in
the gu!ch were deserted, and when all
the little white tents had been folded up
and gone away with their owners, Mrs.
bar Co. vi. then iather likeu
1oroltu ~ ~ 81. l. eIo"eo CERTAIN
; ~ ths. ,, ino uiu camp ana lai' II IN
st,na1 a' pno"eeu :neh' lor those whc
.hc,o moao nln IN the convictlon that
:n0iH "eie SIea. treasures hidden away
IN the secret depths of the granite
mountain towering above the little town.
And they We're determined to find
thon. ',sa asa % anouI ."ehly-hve OF
fau, na n.a,.e ooi'lion property OF theil
"o'u,y possessiols anu moved lntc
a. hsd low, ianlDiihg mouse OF logs,
49, TN M ~, oeon notel' ior inc WIN
Mn o bonoo ,r;.h t tha 'ney gave oio MRS.
III ~ a non,u n.y. WIN vi .ne'n. :,
;,. I;.., ""' =. eno ehu VI the puilo
nS h.',e r om lor WI en- the men hao
u.s. ~ sfe a.eh, USE aAa ms ,hey MADE very
,nonn 49, o FL III ~ oiu Mother Dili, as
m;m ~, VI .. .l oaileI ner' IN return Mrs.
IN hcPI 'nelf Iough garments IN order,
" osit apoul .ne COOK ing ana made her
oon Isoiui ~ o'let ways. mere was MOI
81 Ca WINS" U5: within ,mehty.nVe miles
VI lamp a'auise, out Mrs. Dlll old moi
'". ..p ~ Ina, ma. :.
m III ueeu " ~ SIG salo,
p.na NJ WILT Th see IN early IN camp
- notoSor in aad was vas, snow on the grouna
IN oc.ooer' anu early IN november The
n loain 9ioPes anu 9uiches were
tbseie vi, un ne 1901 or more OF snow
mnnld W. 'n' suns Vi Tue com hg 5un'
w Tha o' ,..
snd 49, Nh oouiu uo ii'tie prospecting
a aLG no tLg toward developing the
no shey r., nau staheo OUT curing the
IN hunt;na ,nes spent ;.! most Oh tneir me