The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-08-15
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.


say you could drive coach and-four. l
draw my chair nearer to it with a SILVER.
''What a night !" | say.
is it still snowing?' asks my wife,
who sits opposite to me, her books and
work on the table beside her.
East. You can scarcely see yard
before you"
Heaven help any poor creature on the
moor tonight !" said she.
"Who would venture out 1t began
showing before dark, and all the people
about know the danger of being benighted
on the moor in d snow-storm."
eyes. But 1 have known people frozen
to death hereabouts before now"
my wife is Scotch, and this pleasant
house in the Highlands is hers. We are
trying a winter in it for the first time,
and l find it excessively cold and some
what dull. Mentally | decide that in
future we will only grace it with our
presence during the shooting season i.
Presently l go to the window and look
out; it has ceased showing, and through
rift in the clouds | see a star.
''It is beginning to clear, l tell my
wife, and also inform her US that it is past
IL. As she lights her candle at a side
table | hear whining and scratching
at the front door.
s'There is Laddie loose again, says
she. "Would you let him in, dear?"
l did not like facing the wind, but
could not refuse to let in the poor animal,
Strangely enough, when | opened the
door and called him he wouldn't come.
He runs up to the door and looks into
my face with dump entreaty; then he
runs back few steps, looking around to
see if l am following; and finally, he
takes my coat in his mouth and tries to
draw me out.
'Laddie won't come in," | call out tc
my wife. con the contrary, he seems tc
want me to go out and have game Of
snow ball with him."
She throws shawl round her and
comes to the door. The collie was her:
before we were married, and she is al.
most as fond of him, tell her, as she i:
of Jack, our eldest boy.
''Laddie, Laddie - she calls; ''come
in, sir" He comes obediently at hel
call, but refuses to enter the house, anC
pursues the same dumb pantomine he
has already tried on me.
Il shall shut him out, jessie" | say
"a night in the snow won't hurt him; )
and | prepare to close the door.
"You will do nothing of the kind =
she replies with an anxious look 'bu
you will rouse the servants at once anC
follow him. Some one is lost in the snow
and Laddie knows it."
l laugh. REALLY, Jessie, you art
absurd. Laddie is sagacious animal
; no doubt, but | cannot believe he is a
clever as that. How can ne possibly
know whether any one is lost in the snow
or not 2"
Because he has found them and com,
back to us for help. Look at him now.
cannot but own that the dog seem
, restless and uneasy, and is evidently en-
deavoring to coax us to follow him; h,
: looks at us with pathetic entreaty in hi:
eloquent eyes. F'Why won't you believe
me ," he seems to ask.
: Come" she continues; ''yOu know
you could not rest while there was pos
sibility of fellow creature wanting you
e assistance. And am certain Laddy i
I not deceiving u.s."
t What is a poor n-pecked man to do
, l grumble and resist and yield; as 1 hav
: often grumbled and resisted and yieldet
4 before, and as doubtless shall do again
S "Laddie once found a man in tn
i snow before, but he was dead" j essi
says, as she hurries off to fill flask wit
! brandy, and get ready some blankets 70
d us to take with us. La the meantime
a rouse the servants. They are all English
! with the exception of Donald, tn
5 gardner, and | see they are scoffingl
+; skeptical of Laddie's sagacity, and in
r wardly disguised at having to turn out {
!, their warm beds and face the litter wiz
ters night.
: "Dinna trouble yoursels," l hear oil
/: Donald say. ''The mistriss is RICH
y enough. Aud Laddie is cleverer tina
l mony Christian, and will find somethin
o in the shaw this night"
p Don't sit up, Jessie" l say as W
start, 1--WE may be out half the night 0
g this wild goose chase.
d Follow Laddie closely" is the onl
answer she makes.
I, The dog springs forward with joyou
bark, constantly looking back to see
We are following. AS we pass throug
e the avenue gates and emerge ON til
moor, the moon struggles for a monseI
d through the driving clouds, and ligh
:; up with sickly CLEAN the snow-cla
!, country before us. dts like hunting fC
e a needle in bundle of hay, Sir" say
K John, the coachman, confdentially,
~ think as we should find anybody on sue
d a night as this Why, in some places til
ID snow is more than a couple o'feet thicl
and it goes again reason to think that
dumb animal would have the sense
come home and fetch help"
ssBide wee, bide a Vice." says o.
IN Donald. 81 dinna ken what your Ems
fish dugs can do; but a collie though
hasna been pleasingto Providence to gi'
the creatur the gift o speech, can {
mony mair things than them that Wa
tn deride it."
81 amt deridin' of 'em," says job
II only say as how if they be so ver
clever I've never seen il"
'p eye wull, though, We wull," says o
Re. Donald, as he hurries forward after La
die, who has now settled down into
be swinging trot, and is taking his WI
of straight across the loneliest part
is bleak moor The cold wind almost Gu
n US in two, and whirls the snow into o.
at faces, nearly binding US. Ny fnger-ti
Ter are becoming numbed, icicles hang fro
We my mustache and beard, and my fe
er, and legs are soaking wet, even throuI
We my shooting and stout leather le
gins
The moon has gone in again, and t
Ter light from the lantern we carry is bare
Il sufficient to show US the inequalities
OF the height of the snow, By which We 8
es, guessing at our path. begin to vi
EAR ! had stayed at home. 'sLahonme p'
pose, nsais Ia femme dispose" I sigh