The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-04-10
PRICE THREE CENTS.

ady from which she was suffering, had
robbed her OF most of her beauty. She
had a sweet temper, that won for her
friends wherever she went. She was
also perfectly resigned to the inevitable,
and knew that her pilgrimage on earth
was short. But she bore up with the
greatest fortitude.
"They had been at the cabin about
week, and everything about it had been
changed. Alice-that was the woman's
name-had remodeled the place, and all
things showed the touch of woman's
hand. Well. one evening after supper
we were sitting in front of the cabin.
enjoying the beauties of an August even
ing, when the husband, Alfred, told me
what brought him to that section of
Colorado. His story was brief. He
stated that after being married in the
east for two years, his wife had shown
unmistakable signs of consumption, and
the doctors had advised him to take her
to California, and, if possible to go across
the plains by wagon, as he would find
that journeying that way she would gain
strength. They found party of emf.
grants at small town in Nebraska, who
were going to the coast and engaged
their passage For the first week out
Alice gained strength, but one evening
she caught cold and this malady in
creased with awful rapidity. When
Laramie City was reached she could go
no farther and the trip had to be aban-
doned. AT that town they were ad-
vised to go into the mountains, as the
fresh air ladened with the perfume of
pine was beneficial to consumptives. A
wagon was procured that took them to
North Park, and by easy stages on horse
back they had reached my cabin. 1t
was by the merest chance that they
found it, and | was glad they did.
THE LAST FAREWELL
"A month passed, the happiest in my
life, but saw that gradually Alice was
sinking, and that she would never leave
the gulch. Her husband noticed the
change and was unconsolable. He ad-
ministered to her every want, which were
not many, and realized what an awful
change it would be when she was taken
from him. One night the end came. She
called me into the little room that / had
partitioned off for their use, and in
feeble voice thanked me for all my kind
ness to her, and hoped that when my time
came to cross the mysterious river that
she would meet me in that land where
sorrow is unknown. She told Alfred it
was hard to leave him. but that he must
be strong and bear the affiiction that
wise master had in his just wisdom sent
him to carry, and that all things were
done for the best. 1t was a scene the like
of which wish never to witness again,
the feeble girl, full of hope for the future,
bidding good-by to the man she loved,
and the strong, powerful man, bowed
down with grief at the thought of losing
her who was the only tie which bound
him to this world The end came; with
her head pillowed on the breast of her
protector. her spirit winged its flight to
eternal rest. Underneath one of the pine
trees we laid her, and carved her name
and the date of her death on its trunk.
ALFRED was broken hearted, and wan
dered about the hills like one lost. He
had no purpose in life, SO | used to ask
him to do the chores about the place to
engage his mind with something. One
day asked him to 60 out and kill deer,
as we were out of meat. Whether he
committed suicide or whether the gun
was accidentally discharged shall never
know, but found him the following
day, about two miles from the cabin,
with bullet through his brain. The
gun could have been accidentally dis
charged, as found the body in small
thicket of willows, and while passing
through it, the hammer might have
caught on twig, and SO discharged the
gun.
81 got assistance and carried him to
the cabin, and he was buried alongside of
his beloved wife, at the foot of the other
pine tree, and today the place is known
as Lonely Gulch.'
"After the tragic death of Alfred,
could remain no longer in the place, SO
left. returned to it a few years ago,
and looked upon the two lonely graves
and thought of the few happy days that
the three of us spent there in the August
of 1872. By reading the article on lonely
graves, thought the first time | came
to Leadville that would tell you the
story about the two graves in Lonely
Gulch Few people know the history
of those that lie sleeping in that little
ravine in Routt county. Now you
know it, and it will, in measure, clear
up any mystery that may have been
woven around them by those who may
have happened to stumble against them"
Thanking the gentleman for his kind
less, the scribe left, meditating over the
uncertainties of life.-Leadville Demo
rat.