Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-01-08
The boy shook me roughly by the Shout
We are, to get out here,'' he said.

no more. 1t L was cold L did not know 1t
my limbs were very numb, yet otherwise
F was comfortable enough. [ crawled Out
and followed the boy into amiserable look
ing shanty by the roadside, in front O.
bar running across the room, there was
thick, black haired, brawny looking man
behind it, and there we've two OIL three kegs
of liquor behind him. There was an iron
stove in the middle Of the room, bench
along the wall and that was all. The boy
asked for some brandy, drank a glass Of it
after handing one to me, which L. drank
and felt so much better for drinking that
called for one and | got it but the boy re-
fused to take thesglass I offered him. 81
have had enouglt,n he said.
/ We were going out, when the landlord
opened the door before us. Looking out
into the storm, he asked incredulous-
| ly:
care you going on ?H
eyes ~ said the boy, 81 was told to
| drive this man to Ilium tonight. and Pm
going to do it,
eff you get there at all, it will be night
sure enough the landlord said.
81 will go there all the same,'' was the
boys reply.
''Let us stop here tonight" said 1--WE
can go On in the morning"
II would rather take you on, sir
! There's no danger. can't put my horse up
here, and my master would kill me if any
thing happened him.
That decided me to go on. Besides, l
did not care to talk. I was beginning to
feel cold again standing in the wind, SO
we got into the stage. 1t was notsnowing
any faster then than before, simply because
it could not But the roads were heavier,
and when we tried to start, the jaded horse
baked and struggled through the drift,
for the stage had frozen fast where it stop
ped.
1t was three o'clock now, the light in the
West growing dimmer-the gloom of the
mountains and the bare woods coming
nearer to us, making their meaning felt in
our souls, filling mine with an awful
dread Of the snow-covered road beyond
Ten miles to go yet, the night coming
quickly on, the cold growing more intense,
the road rougher, more precipitious, the
horse evidently giving out. But the boy
took up the reins, the bright, frank smile
upon his face, the CHEEKY word upon his
tongue. "Good-bye," he said, to the man
in the doorway.
The man stayed for an instant in the
doorway looking after us. ''Good-bye." he
said.
We went on along the road that from
sthe beginning of time it was ordained we
-wele. to SO. I .crept back into NIX cor.
nef.
/ 'sDo not go to Sleep" the pleasant voice
warned me from the front.
''Thank you," I replied, cheered and
Warmed by it's glow. II will not go to
Sleep"
Then followed a long silence, in which
had views of the falling snow, the white
hills above us, the white hills still below
us, in which [ heard sounds from creaking,
grooming branches, from the wind sweep
ing savagely past us. Then unconquera-
BILE drowsiness, fast coming darkness-th
night.
felt hand on my face, then on my
shoulder, shaking me roughly a sweet,
cheering voice in my ears, calling me
back to life.
eff you go to sleep now, you won't wake
again, y it said.
woke with a sudden start, for an in
slant, to Il full consciousness of time and
place. I was not cold, only sleepy. II am
quite awake, p 1 replied. s'Have we far to
go?''
GIVE miles," and the voice was still the
same CHEEKY voice that 1 had heard from
the first. He spoke to me often after that.
Then I saw him as if in a dream, fixing
blanket that he had taken from the horses
back, to the hickory bows overhead, to
keep the snow from driving in upon me,
for I was covered with it to my knees.
AS God is my Judge, did not then clearly
know what he was doing, or | would have
stopped HIM. L did not feel cold, though
| knew afterward that [ was then freez-
ING. and 1 did not think lie was cold. |
did not think at all. | was past that. l
had begun longer journey than [ had
started upon.
In that longer journey | dreamed OF
home; of the wondrous Christmas miracle,
the lighted tree; of the glad faces of chill
dren whose voices I heard. | heard one of
them repeat two OF three times, with start
ling distinctness, SsWe are lost" was
| conscious that the child who said it had
thrown himself into my arms, and was
lying there a dull, heavy weight. But,
aside from that cry, it was all bright and
pleasant real, terrible journey through
the snow, over the rough, dangerous moul-
tain road in that far-off December. The
dream lasted long while, through all that
night, and the day following, and the
day following that.
! When awoke from it, was in a large
room, which 1 had never seen before.
There were piles Of the softest blankets
upon me, there was a great wood fire blaz-
ing on the hearth, and l had never felt SO
comfortable In all my life. There were
two strangers in the room, a man and a
woman, whose faces were kindly ones, but
sorely troubled. When stirred, and they
saw | recognized them, they came and
stood by my bed.
"Where am I?'' asked of them.
cat Ilium, in the house of the Metho-
dist minister
GLOW long have been here2"
"Since night before last. You came in
the stage, and the horse stopped before
our door," the man said.
ssWhat day is this?"
/ cit is Christmas day." the woman re-