Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1877-08-04

goes again reason to think that duml
. animal would have the sense to com
: home and fetch help"
"Bide wee, bide n wee" says OLE
Donald. 81 dinna ken what your Eng
lish dugs can do; but collie, though i
hasna been pleasing to Providence t.
give the creatur the gift O. speech, car
do mony mair things than them tina
would deride it,"
81 amt Il dcridin' of EN-, says John
"I only say as how if they be ever SC
clever, I've never seen it,"
eye wull, though, ye wull," said old
!; Donald, rs he hurries forward after Lad.
die, who has now settled down into q
swinging trot, and is taking his way
straight across the loneliest part of the
bleak moor.
The cold wind almost cuts lis in two,
and whirls the snow into our faces, near.
; ly binding us. My finger-tips are be-
coming numbed, icicles hang from my
mustache and beard, and my feet and
legs are soaking wet, even through my
shooting-boots and stout leather leg
gings.
The moon has gone in again, and the
light from the lantern we carry is barely
sufficient to show us the inequalities in
the height of the snow, by which we are
guessing at oul path. began to wish I
had stayed at home. and begiu to con-
sider whether may venture to give up
the search (Which l have undertaken
purely to satisfy my wife, for am like
john, and won't believe in Laddie), when
suddenly l hear Il shout in front of me,
and see Donald, who has all the time
been keeping close to Laddie, drop on
his knees and begin digging wildly in
the snow with his hands. We all rush
forward. Laddie has stopped at what
appears to be the foot OF stunted tree,
and after scratching and whining
moment, sits down and watches, leaving
the rest to us. What is it that appears
when we have shoveled away the snow
A dark object. Is it a bundle of rags?
Is it-or alas was it Il human being :?
We raise it carefully and tenderly, and
wrap it in one of the warm blankets
with which my wifes forethought has
provided lis.
bring the lantern" say, huskily,
and John holds it over the PROSTATE form
of, not as we might have expected, some
stalwart shepherd of the hills, but over
that of poor, shriveled, wrinkled, rag
ged old woman. try to pour little
brandy down the poor old throat, but the
teeth are so firmly clinched that I can
not.
"Best get her home as quickly as may
be, sir; the mistress will know better
what to do, if so be the poor creature is
not past help, says John, turning in
stinctively, as we all do in sickness or
trouble, to woman's aid.
So we improvise a sort of hammock
of the blankets, and gently and tenderly
the men prepare to carry their poor,
helpless burden over the snow.
Il am afraid your mistress will be in
bed, l say, as we begin to retrace our
steps.
"Never fear, sir" says Donald, with
n triumphant glance at John; "the mis-
tress will be up and waitin' for us. She
kens Laddie didna bring us out in the
snaw for naething."
"I'll never say nought about believ-
ing a dawg again" says John, grace
fully striking his colors. "You were
right and was wrong, and that's all
about it; but to think there should be
such sense in an animal passes me p
AS we reach the avenue gate, I
dispatch one of the men for the doctor,
who fortunately lives within stone's-
throw Of lis, and hurry Oh myself to
prepare my wife for what is coming.
She runs out into the hall to meet me-
"Well?" she asks, eagerly.
"We have found n poor old woman,"I
say; "but do not know whether she is
alive or dead"
My wife throws her arms around me
and gives me great hug.
"You will find dry things in your
DEAR" she says and
this is all the revenge she takes on me
tor my skepticism. The poor old woman
is carried up stairs and placed in a warm
bath under my wifes direction: and be-
fore the doctor arrives she has shown
some faint symptoms of life; SO my wife
sends me word. DIR. Bruce shakes his
head when he sees her.
"Poor old SOUL" he says; "how came
she ont on the moor on such fearful
night? doubt she has received shock,
which at her age she will not easily get
over"
They manage, however, to force few
spoonfuls of hot brandy-and-wate down
her throat; and presently a faint color
fickers on her cheek, and the poor old
eyelids begin to tremble. My wife
raises her head and makes her swallow
some cordial which DR.. Bruce has
brought with him, and then lays her
back among the soft warm pillows.
81 think she will rally now," says DR..
Bruce, as her breathing becomes more
audible and regular. Nourishment
and warmth will do the rest, but she
has received shock from which, I fear,
she will never recover :" and SO saying,
he taxes his leave. ,
By-and-bye go up to the room and
find my wife watching alone by the aged
sufferer. She looks up at me with tears
IN her eyes.
"Poor old soul," she says "I am
afraid she will not rally from the cold '
md exposure
I go round to the other side of the bed {
md look down upon her. The aged face
ooks wan and pinched, and the scanty
gray locks which lie ON the pillow are
still wet from the snow. She is a very s
I Ia e. r I,