A Lady's Life In The Rocky Mountains By Isabella L. Bird
























































































































 -   Two valuable rifles and a Sharp's revolver hung on the
wall, and the sash and badge of a scout.  I - Page 131
A Lady's Life In The Rocky Mountains By Isabella L. Bird - Page 131 of 144 - First - Home

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Two Valuable Rifles And A Sharp's Revolver Hung On The Wall, And The Sash And Badge Of A Scout.

I could not help looking at "Jim" as he stood talking to me.

He goes mad with drink at times, swears fearfully, has an ungovernable temper. He has formerly led a desperate life, and is at times even now undoubtedly a ruffian. There is hardly a fireside in Colorado where fearful stories of him as an Indian fighter are not told; mothers frighten their naughty children by telling them that "Mountain Jim" will get them, and doubtless his faults are glaring, but he is undoubtedly fascinating, and enjoys a popularity or notoriety which no other person has. He offered to be my guide to the Plains when I go away. Lyman asked me if I should not be afraid of being murdered, but one could not be safer than with him I have often been told. The cold was truly awful. I had caught a chill in the morning from putting on my clothes before they were dry, and the warmth of the smoky den was most agreeable; but we had a fearful ride back in the dusk, a gale nearly blowing us off our horses, drifting snow nearly blinding us, and the mercury below zero. I felt as if I were going to be laid up with a severe cold, but the men suggested a trapper's remedy - a tumbler of hot water, with a pinch of cayenne pepper in it - which proved a very rapid cure. They kindly say that if the snow detains me here they also will remain. They tell me that they were horrified when I arrived, as they thought that they could not make me comfortable, and that I had never been used to do anything for myself, and then we complimented each other all round. To-morrow, weather permitting, I set off for a ride of 100 miles, and my next letter will be my last from the Rocky Mountains. I. L. B.

Letter XVI

A harmonious home - Intense cold - A purple sun - A grim jest - A perilous ride - Frozen eyelids - Longmount - The pathless prairie - Hardships of emigrant life - A trapper's advice - The Little Thompson - Evans and "Jim."

DR. HUGHES'S, LOWER CANYON, COLORADO, December 4. Once again here, in refined and cultured society, with harmonious voices about me, and dear, sweet, loving children whose winning ways make this cabin a true English home. "England, with all thy faults, I love thee still!" I can truly say,

Where'er I roam, whatever realms I see. My heart, untraveled, fondly turns to thee.

If it swerved a little in the Sandwich Islands, it is true to the Pole now! Surely one advantage of traveling is that, while it removes much prejudice against foreigners and their customs, it intensifies tenfold one's appreciation of the good at home, and, above all, of the quietness and purity of English domestic life. These reflections are forced upon me by the sweet child-voices about me, and by the exquisite consideration and tenderness which are the atmosphere (some would call it the hothouse atmosphere) of this house.

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