The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-18
OUR LADY OF THE NINE.


The Blue Horizon wuz a mine us fellers all
thought well NV,
And there befell the episode l now propose to
tell NV:
'Twuz in the year NV '69-somewhere along in
There hove in sight one afternoon a new and
curious conner;
His name wUz Silas PettilDne-a artist by per-
fession--
With kit of tools and big mustache and a
pipe In his possession;
he tolo us, by our leave, he'd KIND Nv Ike to
make some sketches
Wv the snowy peaks, nd the fosmin' crick, nd
the distant mountain stretches.
you're welkim. SIR, SEE we, although this
scenery dodge seems TO US
A waste NV time where scenery wuZ already
sooper- FOCUS.
All through the summer Pettibone KEEP busy at
his sketcbin'--
At daybreak off for Eagle Pass, ana home at
That everlastin' book NV his with spider lines
all through II;
Three Fingered Hoover used to say there warn't
sGol durn man" seq he to him, '.whose shift
less hand is sot at
drawn hills that's full of quartz that's pinin
$50 on SEE Pettibone, Ego on, if joshn' graft
fes We;
But one nv these fine times III show ye sum-
thin will surprise ye!'
The which remark led us to think-alrhough he
didn't say it
mat fetllpone WIZ OWN us a SreuSe M meant
to pay it.
One eyenin' as we sat around the Restaurant de
Casey,
singin songs an tellin' yarns the which wa
In come that teller Pettibone, md SEE, with
your permission,
I'd like to put picture have made on exhibit
tion.'
He sot the picture on the bar nd drew aside its
curtain,
Sayin', 81 reckon you'll allow as how that's art,
fer certain.'i
And then we looked, with jaws agape, but nary
word was spoken,
And fr likely spell the charm nv silence was
unbroken--
Till presently. as in dream, remarked Three
Fingered Hoover:
confess am mistaken, this is Pettibone's shelf
doover,'
1t wuz face-a human face-a woman's fair an
sot gracefully upon neck white as a swans,
and slender
The hair WIZ kind NV sunny, nd the eyes wuz
The mouth wuz half a smiliE, nd the cheeks
wuz soft nd creamy:
1t seemed like she WIZ lookin' off into the west
out yonder,
And seemed like when she looked, we saw her
eyes grow softer. fonder--
Like, lookin' off into the west, where mountain
mists wuz falln',
She saw the face she longed to see and heard
his voice calm:
"HooIay!'' we cried-"a woman in the camp NV
Step right up, Colonel Pettibone, md nominate
your pizen!
pity
No human livin' female this side OF Denver
City
But just lot of husky men that lived on sand
nd bitters-
Do you wonder that that woman's face consoled
the lonesome critters?
And not q one but what 1t served IN some way to
remind him
OF mother or a sister or a sweetheart left be-
hind him:
And some looked back on the happier days and
saw the dear old-time faces
And heard the dear familiar sounds in old IA
miliar places
A gracious touch of home. 'Look here" seq
Hoover, feverb body
Quit thinkin' md at once perceed to name his
favorite toddy!'
1t wuzn't long afore the news had spread the
country over,
And miners came a-fockin' in like honey bees
1t kind Nv did em good, they said, to feast their
hungry eyes on
That picture OF Our Lady in the camp Wv Blue
Horizon.
But one mean cuss from Niger Greek passed
criticisms on 'er-
Leastwise we overheers him call her Petitioners
maddoner.
The which we did not take to be respectful to
lady,
80 we hung hlm IN quiet spot that was cool nd
dry md shady;
Which same might not have been good law, but
it was the right maneuver
To give the critics due inspect for Pettibones
shef doover.
Gone is the camp-yes, years ago the Blue Hori-
zon busted,
And every mothers son NV us got up one day
nd busted,
While Pettibone preceded east with wealth in
his possession,
And went to Yurrup, as 1 heerd, to study his per-
fession:
So, like as not, you'll find him now a-paintin'
heads nd faces
At Venus, Billy Florence, and the like I-taliun
places.
But no sech face he'll paint again as at old Blue
Horizon,
For I'll allow no sweeter face no human soul
sot eyes on:
And when the critics talk so grand NV Paris md
the Loover,
Isay, "Oh, but you orter seen the Pettibone shef
doover! Eugene Field.