The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-02-07

decidedly unfavorable to courting of any
sort.
1t was weather to have "bred cool.
ness" in blast furnace. First, there
came driving northerly storm bring
ing untold freights of drifting snow from
the Arctic regions, till all the country
was buried under genuine 'Minneso.
ia blanket" No roads, no paths--no
use in trying to mike any, almost.
And then there followed b cold SNAP.
that utterly exhausted the expressive
powers of the thermometers. The only
way to get tie mercury low enough was
ts hang It down well. Thirty, thirty
i've, 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 it's hold little"
"John," said the careful Judge, on
the third day, when the abating storm
began to let in the FROST" John, don't
you think you'd better go and take a
look at the Ericsons? 1 don't believe
the old man was ready for this"
"What You amt in earnest ?" ex-
claimed that ardent lover. "Ten miles
through these drifts DO you want me
TO bury MYSELF"
"Well, maybe you're right; but I
wouldn't wait too long. They'll be
breaking out the roads in day or so, :"
replied the Judge.
But more than ga day or SO " went by
before the Mataska people cared to at
tempt good deal in the way of road
making, and in the meantime the Eric
sons had not been ready for this"
With endless supplies of timber-la land
close by-that is, within a 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 wood-pile.
Besides, a 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 even unusually
bare condition of his pile of chips
struck him with sudden dismay, and
he at once started for the forest with o.
yoke OF oxen.
1t was rash thing to do, for a man of
his age; but he had counted on his
thorough Scandinavian toughness to
carry him through. And SO It did; for
ut 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 Norma
tried to be cheerful; but the howling,
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 ont to cut wood.
He did not even leave his bed, for ex-
posure and cold and over-exertion had
done their work on his rheumatic old
limbs, and imprisoned him only too effec-
tually.
Poor Nornas heart sank within her,
for she knew that such attacks were apt
to be tediously long, and even food
might fail her, as well as the means of
cooking it.
She was brave girl, and she made ont
to go to the barn and the stables that
day, so that the stock did not suffer; but
the few fence-rails and odd pieces of
timber 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 of
Norway.
That WAS terrible day for Norma, and
when another morning dawned, she
looked out upon the white and more
than Arctic desolation around the house,
with feeling near akin 10 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
demands Of unreasonable old Jan, and
wondered, now and then, if the people
at the village would ever dream of send
ing out to look after them.
Then there followed another long,
dark, miserable night, and Norma could
not get wink of sleep till toward morn
ing, 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 fire with?
"Would it not be better to burn the
furniture than to freeze? She could
make cup of coffee, at least, with the
kitchen chairs"
Just then she heard slight sound in
the adjoining room, and wondered if her
father could be stirring.
1t WAS an effort even to rise and dress
in that singing cold; but Norma was
brave, and in few minutes more she
was ready to face the labors and perils
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 astonishment, for a blast of
warm air, balmy with the breath of
blazing pine, smote her in the face.
Not the cheerless, chill, deathly DESC
lation she had expected was the ample
kitchen, but the high-piled hearth
blazed and cracked with a most un-
wonted prodigality of pine, oak and
hickory, while heaped on either side of
it were ample supplies for at least that
days consumption, whatever might be
the condition of the thermometer.
Norma did not believe in miracles. but
she thought of her bedridden father.
about to be frozen to death hut for N al