National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1874-05-08

a place he built on the wing, and he GU
r another window in James room.
r You'll be able to see to prink BET
ter, Jennie" said he; "or maybe" o.
| second thought" maybe you'd rathe
J have room in the new wing2 TAX
. your choice;" for James parents wer
dead, and she had now been living yea
In and year out at The Numbers. .l ,
III az shan't want either oneSors tl,l
other, thank you" "she answered.
"Why not, I should like to know
, Are You going to swing in o hammocl
among the trees ?"
"I'm going to seek my fortune,
! she laughed, because she felt more like
crying. -
"Going away from here, Jennie |" he
cried, dropping the hammer with which
he had been driving nails. "Where are
You going"
"I don't know-somewhere." he
paused o moment, as if he was trying to
understand her, and perhaps his eyes
were opened q crack then he picked
up the hammer and resumed his work.
"I never thought of such thing,
Jane between the blows. "There'a
no need of it. At least you'll stay-till
-till-spring?"
Yes, I will stay till Agnes comes, "
she answered.
The winter set in early that season,
and Cyrus went, as usual, into the
woods logging, leaving his mother with
Jane for company, and small boy to
clear the paths and look after the stock.
Few but those who live there know
what winter in The Numbers is like,
when the snow hedges you about, week
out and week in, and passing team is
so rare as to bring the household from
kitchen or attic to watch it out Of sight,
and the wind whistles over miles of un-
inhabited country with nothing to i'm.
pede it; when there is nothing to break
the monotony of the long frosty days,
which the almanac says are short, but
homely duties, and the promise of seed
time and harvest.
1t seems then as If no sun were potent
enough to melt the mountainous drifts,
built as miraculously as the coral reefs;
and at midnight you wake up suddenly,
and hear the wolves bowling in the
woods close at hand, and find their
tracks about the sheep-pen next morn
ing, and remember with shudder that
there isn't an able.bodied man on the
premises. In such circumstances one
needs to have vast resources in ones
self to be in harmony with ones house.
hold and ones destiny.
When Seth Price Joined Cyrus's
camp he carried him a line from Agnes,
saying that she should expect him down
to watch the new year in and the old
year out at the watch-meeting, il he
loved her. Esther Smiley had offered
to lay q wager that he wouldn't put
himself out so much, and even Mrs.
Deacon Crockett had said it wasn't like
ly, seeing he was sure of her but she
had set her heart upon showing them
how much he cared for her.
It isn't every lover who could resist
such an appeal, and though Cyrus didn't
think it OF the least consequence wheth-
er other people believed in his love or
not, so long as it was a reality to him.
self and Agnes, yet he was doubtless
fattered by her earnest desire for his
presence, and If it would please her,
why not GO? It did not occur to him
that it was as much q vulgar wish to
make parade OF his regard for her as
desire to see him. 1t happened very
luckily, however, Cyrus thought-and
perhaps most people would agree with
him-that the camp had run short of
molasses, and one of the men was de-
tailed to take team and go to Wheat
field for suppiy-for what was coffee
without molasses? He started on the
last day of December, and Cyrus with
him, and he dropped Cyrus where the
roads diverged, one leading into Wheat
field, and the other to The Numbers.
There was matter of ten or twelve
miles between Cyrus and the Price
farm when he left the team, but he had
often walked further with load of pro.
duce for market. The distance didn't
strike him as being of any consequence;
he had all his life been used to mile.
stones. It had begun to snow some
time cefore, gently, as If it meant no
harm, and Cyrus was used to snow, too.
But presently the wind changed and
blew roughly, and tossed the flakes into
his eyes, and the fakes themselves
grew bigger and thicker, till they clog
ged his steps and blinded his sight and |
obliterated every landmark.
Still he trudged forward, cheering |
himself with the warm welcome before |
him, assuring himself that the way was
as familiar as his own potato.feld, till |
by and by he began to wonder if he
were not watching the old year out by
himself, if he had not been longer on
the road than the distance warranted, if
he had not missed the way, if it were
not growing colder and darker every
moment. He knew about as well where
he was as if he had travelled into Nova
Zembla, or had been cast away on an
iceberg. He paused, and rested against
the bole of tree to collect his wits.
There was no use in proceeding further
on the wrong road. In coming to this
decision he naturally sat down by the
way to reflect which was the right one.
He did not reflect long. Lovely images
and colors foated before his minds
eye. He had reached the farm, and
there was a great backlog blazing on
the hearth for him, and brown eyes
looking into his, and tender tones in
his ears. Then he came to himself
with start, and sat upright, peering
into the black night, upon which the
storm seemed an inscription in an un-
known tongue, walked by the rending of
some great limb from the tree above
him, which had fallen and pinned him
to the ground. The dangers of his
situation were too evident for coniec.
ture. He would be frozen stiff before
cock-crow, even if he were not dead of
The blow first. Through the storm and
The darkness he called for help, without
daring to hope for it, put all his waning
strength and despair into few implor-