St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1862-05-01


no purpose. That sleigh had suddenly be-
came real estate. The passengers got il,
drsw Of boots ind hose and rolled their
chilled limbs in robes. "John''. and the
driver went into con. ultatiou on ways aud
means. 7 70 miles lndaa half back was q
'Aosss where they might get = shovel to
shovel ont the slsig h. To take one of the
horses and ride back there WI. the, plan.
They are both young aud We an old trav.
e|er, 80 We inquired If fresh horses could
BE- procured back there. They could NIT,
and We represented tina, the! horses were
wearied. 1t was one o'clock and they had
been working hard sines eight. 1t would
take two more hours Of hard work, for Que,
while the other would be stiff standing in
the cold, and if We were shoveled out Of
this We would be likely to stick again in
the next ten rods. It was five miles tc
St. Cloud, where fresh horses and another
.leigh could be had and the load divided,
and We suggested that the driver should
"go forward" instead Of back. "John'
appeared to have thought Of all this, aud
assented to all but exclaimed
"But then, we will keep you here un-
til morniugv'
We told him he could not avoid keep.
Ing us there until morning, aud his best
plan was to make sure Of getting Us out At
daylight.
The driver unh,tched both horses,
mounted one and took the other to lead,
feeling that he could not leave ono of his
horses to finish the night standing in the
rain and up to the knees in slush ice.-
How much We honored the brave boy,
for he appeared little more than boy, 70,
bis humanity to his horses Through
the whole trouble he had not struck them
a blow or spoken cross word.
When he was gone we all tucked our.
selves in for sleeping, "John" fastening
down tho side curtains and then laid
himself across the front of the sleigh on
bis mail bags and that precious express
bcx. Pretty soon We begin to think Of
the driver going alone through these five
miles of treacherous snow, not house on
the way where he might get assistance if
he got into trouble. Leading = horse
while riding another ia no children's llay
even in daylight and on good roads. He
might lose his way in the thick. mist; and
We went industriously to work to couture
up all manner Of disasters to the brave fel.
low out alone on that inhospit.ble prairie
would sleep and wake with start, think.
ing we saw him sinking in unfathomable
snow-drifts. Our old friend quinsy had
been reminding US, through the day, that
he might possibly visit US. We usually
have vial Of Camphor, and ono Of Kero'
scne for his benefit, as he always stops on,
eating if we neglect his drinking, aud fail
to give him q few drops Of something
strong. Our walls were both broken. Sc
We had asked Jimmy to send back, with
the horses, some whisky or brandy, feel
ing that those would be easily procured
and that our travelling com osnioss, ate,
their work in the rain and slush, would
probably want stimulus and mil ht feel
awkward about asking for it lest We should
put them in the paper There was no hot
coffee to be had, and they had all been
laid liable to cramps and chills, whisky OF
brandy might answer our purpose as we'll
a. Kerosene or Camphor, until We 60,
home, and theirs = good deal better. By
the way it is worth knowing that Kerosene,
bound upon the outside of the throat un-
til it can be tasted inside, has, with us,
never failed to stop quinsy and that to
swallow one teaspoonful Of raw brandy OF
whisky with or without camphor dissolved
ia it will always hold it in check a short
time. So we wished for brandy aud a
hot brick, dreamed about the poor driver
and turned, and twisted, and slept and
walked. and had not such an uncomfortable
time after all, until strong cheerful vol
ces walked US in the gray day Of morning.
A second sleigh was along side, and two
teams Of fresh horses, with some two or
three strong men,-(after all men are
rather useful institution.) One broad.
L. CHI - l-l -. =