Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1890-05-03
THE "rIRsr LEDDY."
Mrs. Nora Finn in . Rocky
Mountain Mining Camp.
Youths Companion!

ing camps of the west. Nearly al
of themla are drawn thither by tn
hope Of gain, but now and then on
meets some forlorn, nomadic crea
ture wandering around as thouel
driven from place to place by
spirit of unrest. Such seemingl,
purposeless wanderer was Nor;
Flynn, IN elderly Irish woman
who some years ago suddenly ap
peared in a Rocky Mountain min
ing camp, which was just ther
coming into notoriety.
Mrs Finn was the first woman
who reached the camp, aud in tht
months that followed, wien tht
camp had grown to be ,,$opulou:
city, she did not allow he:.neigh
bors to forget the fact
Il was the first Teddy that ivc1
sthruck this town." she was fond
of saying. 'Indade an I was
that! there's p]inty come since, but
mine was the first female feet that
iver walked these strates!"
Mrs Finn claimed for herself the
further distinction of having walked
fifty miles to reach the camp in
which she held this queenly posi-
ton. .... '-@
"Td not been here if hadn't"
she said frankly, "for I'll not a
cint to me name to pay me fare
wild, an it was walk or sltay wild
me-"
Mrs. Finn seemed to be a woman
without past or future, since no
one ever herd her speak about the
one or the other.
Being a good cook she found i'm
mediate employment at one Of the
large mines us mistress Of board
ing house where there were thirty
five men. Her good humor was as
unfailing as her industry, and 81 e
always had bright smile and a
cherry word for the "bycs" when,
tiarcd and hungry, they came home
from the mines to the neat and
well.kepts cabin b u.
Her jokes and ringing laughs
were so constant that there did not
seem to be much depth to her
character, but time proved that she
had warm and true heart that
could be relied upon in time Of
need.
The winter was severe and pncu-
nonia ragged like a scourge in the
camp, it's attacks always being Sc
we're and often fatal at such high
altitude.
"Have care nov byes, or you
will be comm down wild it," Mrs.
Finn often said to the men at the
cabin. ''Don't go to carousin' round
aoights an w'akining yerselves wild
strong drink an loss Of slape.
Moinl that p
But some Of the "bycs" did not
'moind that and more than one
9f them was brought home with the
lreded disease.
Then Mrs. Flinn's force of charac-
er displayed itself. Night and
lay she watched by the sick, one
If the most patient and tender
md faithful of nurses.
Some of her patients died, but
many Of them were saved by Mrs. |
7linn's wise and faithful care.
'sBrace up, me bye, an I'll pull
'e troo all roight," she would say,
;heerily; and SO she did.
The last one of them was able to
walk around feebly in the sunshine
when Mrs. Finn dropped verify
nto a chair one evening, and said I
n her usual bantcring tone:
"Well, bycs, ye're not goin' to
lave all the sport yersclves. It's
ne own turn now to have round
gid the pneumonia, an ye can have
he enj'yment Of takin' care o me.
How'll ye loike that, ye rascles?'
Four days later a little procession
+ roughly dressed men, not
shamed of the tears in their eyes
nd on their rough checks, walked
lowly out of the cabin and down
he rocky mountain side. Four of
hem carried cheap, stained pine
ot1in, the best the place aforde |,
n which was all that was mortal
f the ''first Teddy in the camp
Carnegie to the Authors.
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