The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-09-18
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ny EDWARD ssssEsros.

gYKDwARD BGGfEsToN.
:, Jsoesn,t do men any good TO Hive apart
,.s,o,n scou,en and children. never knew y
1ssn,a school ia which there was not yen
49, ~ rowdyisu. and lumbermeD, sailors,
Ssnsyn,e,,. md other men that i've oniy WIZ
.,sa,, orc T,royerbia9y a hale bear sort 81 peo-
aio Erontiersmen soften down when W w. u u
nd children co,ne--but forgot myself
su pn s.y and Jones lived IN shaoty Dy|
s,,omseires. Jones was marficu msn, auu
1;ndinc It bard to support nes WIG ~
g down East village, be haa ehi y W
Northeru Minnesota, leaving ais Wlie unaeI
nor sather's roof until be. Should De apie 10
e make q stsr;." He and Burton had gone
into partnership, aud bad "preempted "a
town site Of three hundred and twenty
acres. e,,,:o, sno+
tered spsrsely over this town site at she time
INV story begins and eads, Tor IL ends 10 Sne
came week in which It begins. 49, :,
The sariies had disagreed, quarreled. ana
a,y;ded their interests. The laud was also
shared between them, except one vauaNe
sEorir.acre piece. Eaci, OF them claimed that
,,;ece of land. and the quarrel had grown 80
h;oh between them that the neighbors ex,
neefe.d them to g shoot at sight" In iaet IL
was understood that Burton was on the iorty-
mere Mace. determined to shoot Jones il he
came. and Jones had sworn to go out there
and shoot Burton, when the fight was post
noned by the unexpected arrival OF Jones
wide and shtla.
.yones's shanty was not finished, ana ne
WAS forced TO forego the luxury OF hghung
mis- old partner, In bis exertions to make
wife and baby comfortable for the ntght.
For the winter sun was surrounded Dy
as,1n.bugs.n Instead of one sun here was
four. an occurrence not uncommon IN this
latitude, but one which always BODIES ter
1ible storm.
In his endeavort to care for wife and child,
Jones was Modified little, and bail re-
rretted that be had been so violent about
The niece of land. But he was determined
not to be backed down, and would certainly
have to shoot Burton or be shot himself.
when he thought of the chance of being
killed by his old partner, the prospect was
not pleasant. He looked wistfuly at Kitty,
his tyo.year-old child, and dreaded that she
should be lett iatherless. Nevertheless, he
wouldn't be backed down. He would shoot
~0r be shot.
While the father was busy cutting wood
and the mother was busy otherwise, little
Kitty managed 10 get the shanty door open.
There was no latch as yet, and her pryiDg
little fingers easily swung it back. A gust
of cold air almost took her breath away, but
she caught sight Of the brown grass without,
and the new world seemed so big that the
little feet were fam to try and explore it.
She pushed out through the door, caught
her breath again, and started away down q
path bordered by sere grass and the dead
stalks of the wild flowers.
How often she had logged to escape from
restraint and paddle out into the world
alone So out into the world she went. re.
joicing in her liberty, In the blue sky above.
and the rusty prairie beneath. She would
find out where the path went, and what was
at the end of the world! What did she care
if her nose was blue with cold and her chub-
by hands led as bcets. Now and then she
paused to turn her head away from rude
blast, q forerunner Of the storm, but having
gasped moment, she quickly renewed her
brave march IN search of the great unknown.
The mother missed her, but supposed that
Jones, who could not get enough Of the
child's society, had taken the little pet out
with him.
Jones, poor fellow, sure that the darling
yyas safe within, chopped away until that
him, half smothered by snow and half frozen
with cold, into the house. When there was
nothing left but retreat, he had seized an arm.
full of wood and carried it into the house with
him, to make sure of having enough TO keep
his wife and Kitty from freezing in the CON-
ing awfulDesS of the night, which now set
tied down upon the storm.beaten and snow
blinded world.
1t was the beginning of that horrible
storm in which so many people were frozen
TO death, and Jones fled none too soon.
When once the wood was stacked by the
stove, Jones looked around for Kitty. He
had no more than inquired for her when
father and mother each read in the others
face the fact that she was lost in this wild,
dashing storm of snow.
So fast did the snow fall, and so dark was
the night, that Jones could not see three feet
ahead of him. He endeavored to follow the
path which he thought Kitty might have
taken, but it was buried in snow drifts, and
he soon lost himself.
He stumbled through the drifts, calling
out to Kitty in his distress, but not knowing
whittier he went. After an hour of des-
sparing, wandering, and shouting, he came
upon a house, and having raped upon the
door, he found himself face to face with his
wife.
He had returned to his own house in his
bewilderment.
When we remember that Jones bad not
slept for two nights preceding this one, on
account of his mortal quarrel with Burton,
aud had now been beating against an arc
hurricane, and tramping through treacher-
Gus pillows OF snow for an hour, we cannot
wonder that he fell over his own threshold
IN state of extreme exhaustion. =
Happy for him that he did not fall bewil-
tlered on the prairie, as many another poor
Tayfarer did on that fatal night.
As it was his wife must needs give up the
vain searches she had been making in the
ncighboihood OF the shanty. She had now
sick husband, with frozen hands and feet
and face to care Tor.
Every minute the thermometer fell lower
and lower, and all the heat the little cook
stove in Jones's shanty could give would
hardly keep them from freezing.
Burton had stayed upon that forty acre
lot all day, waiting for a chance to shoot bis
old partner, Jones. He had not heard of the
arrival of Joues's wife, and he concluded
that his enemy was 3 coward and had left
him in possession, or else he meant to play
him some treacherous trick on his way home.
So Burton resolved 10 keep sharp look
out. But he soon tonnd that impossible, for
the storm was upon him in all its binding
fury He tried TO follow tine Dath hllt he