Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1894-11-17
A GENTLE BoOUER.
ny GRACE MACEDONIAN COOKE.


boomer. She was sweet.spoken,
girlish looking little woman, with a
round, rosy chin. and big, soft eyes.
A type Of the Southern woman whose
appealing dependent expression and
gentle accents concealed much In.
domitable resolution and courage.
Hubbard hailed, originally, from
Vermont, and married her four years
before, in Louisiana. When he died,
leaving her very helpless with her
three year old twins, named
Peach aud Honey, few hum
bred dollars, and n camping outfit,
che had come to her sisters ut ar.
Ansas City, and there, six months
otter Its fathers death, another baby
Vas born, which was now nearly a
Sosr old.
Ansel Hubbard had been fifteen
years the seniorof his pretty young
wife. A keen trader but an invcter.
ate boomer and prospector, he had
made . good living for her and the
children. but her fouf yesss q mar
ried LIE had been passed mostly ID .
wagon. She had learned 70 make
home Of the spot where the wagon
stopped, to contrive wonderfully
dainty and appetizing meal from the
most unpromising materials and
amid the most unfavornble surround.
ings, and to bring to all the vicissi-
tudes Of that nomadic life always the
same unquenchable joyousness, in.
domitable hope, and, buoyant trust.
And she had not lived this life and
made the best OF 1t for four years
without being somewhat infected by
the prospector's spirit; without com.
ing to belivc, In a vague way, that all
their troubles would be over, the sun
would not smite thom by day, nor
the moon by night, when they we've
established on that hundred and sixty
acres in Oklahoma.
But now Hubbard had been moro
than a year In n land where-though
It Is fairer than u prospector's dream
OF Oklahoma--therc are neither
booms, boomers, nor border rushes !;
and his widow. scarcely moro than u
child herself, was left to grapple tho
hard problem OF how tho children
were to get that quarter section
which their father had picked out
ten years before, and upon which he
had annually promised her, since
their marriage, she should cut that
Homecoming feast OF tho typical
Notwithstanding dinner.
Now tho hordes were gathering for
tvnk htSNnntn small, ss,l,An lao
morning of the twenty.sccond OF
April, 1889, ten thousand crossed the
limo into the Territory Mt tho sound
OF tho buglo. The little town OF
Arkansas City, lying on tho southern
edge OF Kansas, almost due north oil
Oklahoma, was full OF prospectors,
boomers, gamblers, toughs, waiting
the day and the word to ovcrrun tho
new lands. The prairie for miles
around was dotted with white GOV.
cred wagons, moving In or standing
camped.
Myra watched them from her sis
ter's doorway. and her blood quick
ened to the old gypsying tune ut the
sight and sound Of 1t oil. Appar'
emily no emotion Is so contagious a'
this senseless, frantic enthusiasm o.
o crowd for new country-thii
mad, unfounded belief In a regior
and its resources, simply because
they have not seen It. 1t carried
hundreds on that wild campaign
from comfort, even luxury, through
incredible hardship and privation, Il
poverty, disaster and even death.
Myra felt that 1t had come ut los
tho great time Ansel had talked OF
when the government should tardily
yield their rights to tho boomers ant
open the land to settlement; ant
was she to sit down and SOC her chill
dren's inheritance-for so she 70
garded it-taken by others?
Peach and Honey were playing OF
the floor. striking out claims an,
pre.empting quarter sections-hard
ened prospectors that they were
with a bit OF red clay.
ISIS Mandy" their mS,her brok
out ut the end ofa long mental argu
ment, II got to 60. Hyuh's me an
the chil'en. Yo' mans o good man
an does TO- yo' an yo' chls'en jus
splendid; but 1t ain fair to ask hin
to suppoht mo an mine. ] ain 60
much sense, Sis, an that what go
I ain got right good the sayin' !
but soc got to strak out, show
ing a fash OF little teeth like rice
grains in u sudden smile.
"He promus' Peach an he promus
Honey that We oil goin' to eat on
Thanksgivin' dinneh on ou' ow
quarteh section In Oklahoma-didn
he, sweetness?-an' I'm goin' to ca
out his wishes. Somethin' In IN
bones won't lot me stay behind whe
l SEQ 'em all goin'. They're mos
gentlemen, these prospectors (by ger
tlemen Myra meant the male Of tn
human species), an they'll certainl
be kind to woman, all alone, tryir
to do for her little chil'en."
Upborne by the pathetic trust
q mob OF humanity from which n
strong man would dare expect favo
the little woman had her team an
wagon gotten ready, and leavin
Peach and Honey with her sister, 81
forth with her baby In her arms Il
the promised land.
On the first day out tho eighteen
year-old boy she had brought alor
to drive deserted her-bound, pro-
ably, on border-rusl,ing enterprise
of his own--snd Myra, the baby an
the big mules were left to make VIII
Way thew could In the thrOnV. NV