Omaha daily bee., 1889-04-21
Only a Woman.
Written for The Bee.

Only a frail, delicate woman, but she
had faced the world in a thirty-years
war, and had been butfeted. jostled and
beaten. only to renew the attack in the
struggle for existence.
How many of the hundreds of men
and women who saw her pass dali y
along the street ever dreamed that be-
meath the faded shawl beat heart as
brave and true as any found on the
field of Gettysburg or Shiloh.
Men called her eccentric and odd
and women pronounced her peculiar
person." accompanying the remark
with Il sbrug of the shoulders and a
knowing smile.
Strange, is it not, how many volumes
may be contained in simple shrug
and a smile? Many an innocent person
has been made to suffer untold tortures,
has been cast aside by friends and
looked upon with disdain by those who
owed Them nothing but kindness and
love, and finally in the darkness of
night has ended the life, which God
had given, by one mad plunge beneath
the waters, which leave no trace of the
agony which they have stilled forever.
Only woman! but many pale face
lighted up and many a dull eye grew
brighter rs that slender, black-robed
form crossed the threshold bringing
morsels of comfort and sunshine into
homes that knew little save sickness
and want. And in the silent watches
Of the night when many Il suffering
mortal's lips grew pale with agony that
quiet figure stole here and there. ad-
ministering first a quieting potion,
then draught of water, and always u
gentle touch and kind word.
Her life was spent among the poor
and needy, but even the children of the
rich, forgetting the contempt for pow
erty which fond parents had taught
them at home, learned to speak kindly,
almost lovingly of the quiet woman
whose gentle hand had often raised
them from the pavement where they
had fallen, and whose low soft voice had
often soothed their fancied troubles
Children meeting her on the street in
stinctively came to her for comfort, nor
did they come in vain. One glance
into those calm blue eyes inspired trust
and confidence at once.
Only woman! but one day the hos
pital received dying patient, and soon
the tired hands were crossed over the
pulseless breast and the weary feet
rested from their wanderings. She had
saved the life of little child, but the
iron heofs of the frightened horses had
trampled out the life OF one whose heart
beat only for others. For years she had
come and gone among them-a verita-
BILE angel of mercy-save for the weary
years of the civil var, when many a
dying soldier blessed with his last faint
breath the sweet-voiced woman, who,
while ministering to their wants, had
sung TO them of home and mother.
Whence she came none could tell, ana
none felt that it would be right TO in
quire. Sufficient was it that her pres
ence brought sunshine and JOY to a IL
alike.
Who was she? God alone knows. She
died twenty years ago in the city oi
New York. She died unknown but not
uncared for. Kind hands wiped the
death damp from her brow and children
of poverty followed weeping to the
grave.
Smart Texas "Cow-W oman"
SO much has been written recently
about the exploits of Belle starr and
other daring women on the western
ranches that il is only fair to say