The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-11-27

them, and willing hands might pass them
b. without . sign.
Still they work on, wandering far out
over the fields, stopping at a farm house
door here and there, gaining helpers
everywhere. The snow still drifts with
the wind but the search never flags.
Hark! Was it . shout9 No. Listen
again. G.. 5.
Bow, WOW. VOW"
Creeping slowly through the snow, lift
ing one paw YEARLY after another, comes
q dog No one seems to know him, and
around his neck is swung q hunters
pouch.
Did / say no one knows himg That
was mistske. We know him we'll;
don't wet His name is = ector and he left
the little house on the hill hours ago
The deg is lifted upon one of the OK
sleds. It seems to give him new life to
hear human voice once more, and he
tries to spring up and lick the face Of
the man who pats his shaggy
sides. Then he is down once more in
the snow, whining and barking furiously
"Hullo!" cried the CHEEKY voice of one Of
the men. "What have we here2 A shot
pouch, as I live!" he cried, working at
the string that bound it.
Sure enough, and stranger still, in the
pouch money and request for food. The
little message from nowhere was eagerly
passed from hand to hand.
~ know the dog" said one, who Just
came up. tive met him hunting on the
hills yonder. He belongs to the young
fellow who lives with his mother in the
old Barnes House,"
"Who are they2" asked a dozen 1t
once, @
''Don't know. They came from the
other side of the mountain. Only been
there since summer" '
Look at the dog! No longer dropping
and weary, he springs back and forth
from sled to sled, whining and crouching
at the feet of the men.
''What is 1t, my dog2 We can't 90 up
the mountain tonight; but you shall have
your fill and full pouch to carry home,
my brave old fellowv gg
So the men say; but Hector does not
mind, Leaping through the snow, he
looks back, whines, and nearly speaks.
What pity he cannotl
Suddenly q man shouts: "Can it be
the children2'
Can it BET Is there any doubt of it,
See how the dog answers! Tumbling,
bounding, barking joyously, and the
sleds move creaking on. Through the
drifts, out Of the road, over fences, slow
ly go the crowd of men, the oxen and
all. Now to the left. What great domes
are those far out in the field by the
woods? There are two of them, and on
the windward side the snow has been
swept away. There we see plain enough.
They are haystacks, and where the hay
has been pulled away in as large armfuls
as poor little Joe could take-there, in
the little playhouse which he had made,
where Hector pokes his great black nose,
and where papa stoops and enters there
they are-wet, hungry and nearly frozen,
but safe! And shout goes up, which is
carried back to the lingering searchers,
back to the farm houses. and over the
fields to the listening ones at home. Safe
from all the dangers CT that terrible day
Safe once more in loving arnls-on papa's
breast!
3 * r.
How they kept Thanksgiving the next
day at Upper Highlands! What! Some
one In the narrow circle Of their little
township actually wanting food"
So they questioned, ard this is the way
they answered. At early day-break on
that Thanksgiving morning the sleds and
oxen went out again. Off toward the
hills they s. vung along. Up, up, as far
as the oxen could go, then on foot as best
they coulN up to the old Barnes
house. And they wouldn't listen Tor Il
mon ent to ANY answer but "yes."
Such a laughing time as they had com
ing down tS the sleds, and then such Ia
jolly ride across the interval and up the
the long street! And many were the
kisses old lector got right on his big
black nose, as he rushed into this ward
and that, barking for the people to. | ok
out and see his dear master and mistress,
who were coming down to spend Thanks
giving with, them. '.... ...s a
And the dinner theyshad at Bessie's
home! Not in the dining room; for, al
though the warm sunshine OF the Indian
summer-which had been bundled up in
the hay-stack to which they had wander
ed in the binding storm-had kept the
children safe, yet the doctor wouldn't let
them go downstairs, even for Thanks
giving DINER, and SO there was a tabls
upstairs, where the children lay in their
low beds, Just about big enough fol
mamma and papa and Harry and his
mother. But they were so crowded that
they had 10 put the plum pudding on the
bureau. t - 5s:@# =,
But, after all. Hector was the hero
and bore his honors modestly, as al
heroes should. He would sit at thefeot 81
Joe's bed and fold his paws, and wal
patiently with delicious piece Of turkey
on his nose, until Joe counted three; and
then he would go over to Bessie's bed
and once I saw her give him piece o1
white meat with cranberry sauce all ovel
it. Ia t~
It certainly was the thankfules1
Thanksgiving you ever knew in all your
life. 1t was thankfulness thct didn'
end when the turkey and plum pudding
were eaten and when the sun went dow1
that day, for in the spring road wa.
opened up the mountain-side and the lit
tie house on the hill was no longer lonely
Hector ia lvinp in hia nwn fanoil1ia