Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-31

Queen" you have heard so much about, you
will 20 ten or twelve miles out over the
dusty road, under the all-too-ardent New
Mexican sun, to meet her upon her own
ground, amid her appropriate surroundings,
on the Three Rivers ranch.
The strong Coiors,or the oricnt.
Every view here in New Mexico takes
the form of an aquarelle, from the hand of q
master who is fond of washing in strong
primary tints, and the low, white-walled
ranch house smothered in gay blooming
vines and flowers, with its great, deep green
cottonwoods about it, and the glowing,
speckless blue sky above it, is a picture
almost Japanese in its gay, unshaded vivid
ness
It, and everything about it, and the pros.
perity that supports it, are the creation OF
Mrs. Barber's strong, slender fingers, and
her alert, active brain. An almost girlish
figure she is, with handsome dark hair, q
pair of great black eyes under full heavy
lids, a mouth that reveals q flashing row OF
white teeth when she smiles-which is not
unfrequently, for she has all the good fell
lowship, and good-natured liberality of q
man-and Western, man at that-along
with the tender heart, quick sympathies
and intuitions of her sex She sings charm
inely, and is fond of her piano and guitar,
though she complains that the hands that
drive a lively team and hold the rein on an
enthusiastic saddle pony, for thousands of
miles yearly, which are liable to handle all
sorts of tools and Implements, from a very
small needle or q delicate water color brush,
to an adj, Q saw or q jack plane, will be a
little clumsy and 'sbronco'' sometimes at
corrallIng the guitar strings or ''cutting out"
the ivory keys.
Her Hu>band Murdered Before Her Eyes.
Mrs. Barber came to Lincoln county, a
very young bride, in 1S74-which gives the
inquisitive minded and automatically in
clined q coniectural sum in addition BY
which to fix upon her present age. She
has been twice married, her first husband,
Mr.. McSwayne. having been murdered be-
fore her eyes in that bloody struggle be-
tween law-abiding citizens corrupt officials
and horse and cattle thieves, which is known
in the history OF New Mexico as the Lin
coin county war
In that desperate time her house was
burned from over her head and she went
through such heart-breaking and horrifying
experiences, and endured such hardships
and anguish of mind as would have cowed
the spirit of most women, and sent them,
old and broken before their time, to finish
the remnant Of their days as .pitiiul de-
pendants in the homes of relatives. But
she was made of sterner-and brayer-stuff,
and in '83 widowed and thrown entirely
upon her own resources, she come to White
Oaks and embarked in cattle ranching. 1t
was in that year the pretty white-walled
ranch house was built, and its construction
was most unique. We often hear it said
hat ic he hnit of ba
Mrs. Barber is home-builder in literal
sense, as the skilled work on this house was
done mostly with her own small hands
Help was very hard to get-none but Me1i-
can labor could be obtained; she had the
choice between their clumsy work and her
own, and she chose the latter.
Made Her House With Her Own Hands.
The house is built on the plan of Mexi-
can jacal, of upright poles set close together,
plastered on the outside with adobe, having
an adobe roof, and being plastered inside
and finished with q coat of gypsum, as
white and hard and smooth as plaster of
paris. Mrs Barber laid every floor, hung
every door. made every door casing, and, in
short, was the only carpenter employed on
the house-the Mexicans being only rude
helpers-and when it was finished she gath
cred within it, as her means permitted and
opportunity served, all the softness and re-
fnements a woman loves to surround her
self with-pretty carpets, rich curtains and
hangings, books, pictures, music, dainty
china and silver.
The ranch itself lies at the foot of the
White Mountains, out from which flows
the Three Rivers, running directly through
the ranch and losing itself away to the
southwest in the wonderful shifting sands.
1t is an unfailing supply for irrigation and
there are fields green with corn, oats, and
alfalfa; vineyard, an orchard, . garden,
making the house very different from the