Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1893-06-17

Whitson. the proprietor 81 The Beck
/ farm sued for her hand ia ma rriage.
I The man was ten years older than
4 Mary. but the girl accepted his suit
with favor and they became betrothed.
Z Two weeks before they were to be
married tree fell on Mhitson. while
Z he was in the woods chopping and
killed him outright The blow tenn
/ porariiy affected Mary's mind. hut she
eventually recovered
Among MhitSon's effects q viii was
found bequeathing to Mary Beck all of
his real and personal property. There
were no relatives TO oppose the viii.
but there was a mortgage of s.. 0o0 on
the farm that must be satisfied. Per-
haps one reason why Mary - readily
promised 10 become the wife Of Whit
son was that she had always had an
ambition TO some day return 10 her
old home. This desire She frequently
expressed 70 her acqnaintanceS
When Mhitson died. 1t looked as il
the girl would fail to accomplish her
purpose: but she rose equal To the
emergency She arranged with the
mortgawee to assume the payment Of
the obligation, and took up her resi-
dence on the farm. The Young woman
had no ready money to carry out her
plans, so She placed second mortgage
on the place and by that means se-
cured $500. With an indebtedness of
81, 500 on her shoulders she went at
work TO redeem the old homestead
For two years she burned charcoal aud
sold IL in the towns in the county ac-
ceSsible to her with a team.
Charcoal burning is work that has
Beck employed choppers to cut the
wood. and, under her superintendent.
they built the coal pits. When the
coal pit is fired it requires attention
day and night until the wood is all
charred The coal pit cannot be left
to itself longer than four hours with
out great danger of its being rendered
worthless through the charcoal and the
wood getting ahlaDe, in which case it
is burned To ashes, Miss Beck en-
ploycd boy to attend to the stock and
do the chores, She went into the
woods two miles from any habitation
and watched the coal pits.
II requires from a week to ten days
10 burn the average coalpit, and she 50
arranged il that as soon as one was
finished another one was ready to be
fred. In the spring, when the roads
become paSsable. she took the charcoal
to town and sold 1t for IL cents a
bushel. The average coalpit yielded
100 bushels of coal, for which She re-
ceived SIS.
The woman's only companion during /
these long, lonesome weeks. is a dog /
that shows wonderful sagacity When 1
his mistress is asleep he keeps an eve I
ON the coalpit, and IL there Is any sign 4
of break OUT he arouses her with /
his bowls.
On last New Years Miss Beck paid 1
the last dollar of the encumbrances on |
her place. In three years she had, by I
her own energy, redeemed the Beck 4
homestead and now holds it free of 4
debt IN her own name.
1t has cost her good deal of hard 1
work. and her face shows signs Of the \
battle that She has fought. hut she is 1
still an attractive woman. not vet \
twenty-five years old. with head full 1
Of plans for the future that, IL carried i
out Will make her Independently 4
wealthy within ten Years.
Miss Beck has had repeated offers 4
from men To marry her aud conduct /
the affairs of the farm, but She frankly
says that she believes herself capable 4
OF conducting her own business better 1
than any man that She ever saw, and 4
has no idea of taking unto herself a
partner.
The woman has fad She Is pas
81 lnately fond of iron working, and in
th 5 shows great deal of skin and in
Z nuity. She has forge and large
variety of tools used in the working of
iron. Shedoes all the necessary black /
sm'thing for her farm excepting the
h 'avicst work