River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-02-21

Not word would she vouchsafe him,
though he met her full half mile from
the house, and walked to the very door
by her side.
He did not give the matter up, even
then, half so much for the volly Of bitter
abuse with which the old miser greeted
him, as for the icy look OF indifference
with which Norma marched straight into
the house, and closed the door.
There was really very little give up
in Paul's composition; but he met John
Primer, before he had left the farm
mile behind him. and there was look
on Johns face that suggested a good
many ugly thoughts to the sore heart of
the discounted youth.
The next day and the mex {, and, in fact
a good many days after that, were decid
edly unfavorable to counting of any sort.
1t was wheather to have ..bred cool
ness +" in blast furnace. First, there
came driving northerly storm bringing
untold freights of drifting snow from the
Arctic regions, till all the contry was
buried under genuine minnesota
blanket" No roads, no paths-no use in
trying to make any, almost.
And then there followed cold snap,
that utterly exhausted the expressive
powers of the thermometers. The only
way to get the mercury low enough was
to hang it down well. Thirty, thirty
five, and some said forty degrees below
zero-only, when people are half frozen,
they are apt to exaggerate.
Anyhow, there were terrible stories of
suffering, here and there, and nobody
cared to stir far from home "until the
frost should let go its hold a little"
"John,' said the careful Judge, on the
4 third day. when the abating storm began
to let in the frost" John, don't you
think you'd better go and take look at
the Ericsons? | don't believe the old
man was ready for this,
"What, you amt III earnestf exclaimed
that ardent lover. "Ten miles through
these drifts! Do you want me to bury
myself9"
''Well, maybe you're right, but I
wouldn't wait too long. They'll be
breaking out the roads in a day or So re-
piled the judge.
But more than "a day orso'' went by be-
fore the Mataska people cared to attempt
a good deal in the way of road making,
and in the meantime the Ericsons chad
not been ready Tor TINS.
With endless supplies of timber-land
close by--that is, within mile or SO, and
generally fine winter weather to haul in
what he might want, old Jan could never
see the policy of making up much OF a
wood-pile
Besides, huge provision for warmth,
such as his neighbors made, offended JAMS
keen sense of economy. They would
surely waste what they had so much of.
When, however, the old man saw the
storm beginning, the unusually bare con-
dition of his pile of chips struck him with
a sudden dismav, and he at once started
for the fores with yoke of oxen.
1t was a rash thing to do, for man of
his age ;but he had counted on his thorough
scandinavian toughness to carry him
through And so it did; for at supper
time he fought his way to the house
again, through the heaping drifts and the
binding rush of the storm; but he came
alone, for his team and their load were
hopelessly stalled and showed under
There was fuel enough on hand for
that night, with economy, and old Jan
cheered Norma with the promise of what
he would do on the morrow. And Nor
ma tried to be cheerful but the bowling,
dismal tempest without was only too we'll
in keeping with the dismal state of her
own internal feelings and thoughts.
The night went by and the morning
came, and the storm still ragged; but old
Jan Ericsson did not go out to cut wood.
He did not even leave his bed, for ex-
posure and cold and over-exertion bad
done their work on his rheumatic old
/ him nplv
effectually.
Poor Norna's heart sank within her,for
she knew that such attacks were apt to be
tediously long, and even food might fail
her, as we'll as the means of cooking it.
She was a brave girl, and she made out
to 90 to the barn and the stables that
day, so that the stock did not suffer; but
the few fence-rails and odd pieces of tim
Der she was able to bring in enabled her
to make but poor defense against the
fast increasing cold.
Moreover old Jan was chilly, and
fretted and complained of the absence of
the grand old fires he had been used to
in his youth, among the distant hills oil
Norway.
That was terrible day for Norma, and
when another morning dawned, she
looked out upon the white and more than
Attic desolation around the house, with
feeling near akin to despair.
Still, with true courage, the Beauty of
Mataska faced her troubles, waded
through the drifts, fed carefully her one
feeble fire, attended to the querulous de-
mands of unreasonable old Jan, and won
dered, now and then, if the people at the
village would ever dream of sending out
to look after them.
Then there followed another long, dark,
miserable night, and Norma could not
get wink of sleep till toward morning,
for thinking OF what might come.
She did not even rise at once when the
tardy light began TO come through the
thickly frosted panes of her window.
| Why should she, when she had nothing to
make the fire with?
"Would it not be better to burn the
furniture than to freezer She could make
a cup of coffee, at least, with the kitchen
chairs
Just then she heard slight sound in
the adjoining room, and wondered II her
father could be stirring.
1t was an effort even to rise and dress
in that singing cold; but Norma was
brave, ana IN rev mIHtteS moic SHo
was ready to face the labors and perlls OF
the day.
Her heart was heavy enough when she
laid her hand on the kitchen-door; but
when she opened it she fairly started
back in establishment, for a blast of warm
air, balmy with breath of blazing pine,
smote her in the face.
Not the cherries, chill, deathly desc
lation she had expected was the ample
kitchen, but the high-piled hearth blazed
and cracked with most unwonted pordi-
gality of pine, oak and hickory, while
heaped on either side oft were ample sup
plies for at least that days consumption,
whatever might be the condition OF the
thermometer.