Litchfield enquirer., 1879-06-26


 in behalf of the Hy dro ohobia Fund at East Nineveh.
 ''Oh, that's in the upper village" said he, "a mile and half from here."
 "How can get there ?''
 ''Dunno," replied the man, and vanished in- to what Emerson calls "a tumultuons. privacy of stornl."
 For moment was amused at the stolid unsympathy ot this man with my strandedIcon- dition, and could not help muttering to myself Beauclerc's words when some one told him that certain gentleman in London had ''ex- cellent principles" ''Yes," said B., ''but he seems inclined not to wear them out in prac- tice.'
 All the terrors of my situation now grimly settled down upon me. The thought that was on a .free-lecture expedition made me writhe keenly. If even a moderate fee were in expectancy, the horror of the scene around might have been mitigated. But here was, ''afar in the desert," without ray of pros pective remuneration, and all expenses of travel to be borne by myself. The predica- ment was not only forlorn. it was repulsive.
 The vicious northeaster went on becoming more and more sharp and boisterous. The snow fell like volleys of shot on the little sta tion, now half buried in drifts. Leaning against the wlndow-sill, I recalled these ter rible graphic lines of an English poet:
 'Ts wild night out-of-doors;
 The wind is mad upon the moors.
 And comes into the rocking town.
 Stabblng all things, up aud down."
 Ghosts of all the departed storms that had ever ravaged East Nineveh in bygone winters hoarsely muttered their savage spells up and down the freezing apartment where I stood in gloom and listened for relief. thought of my own warm freside, miles away; of the ruddy glow of comfort lighting up the cheery brass and-irons; of the happy piano send ing out merry music to the flying feet of youth and beauty; of the songs in praise of love and country which I knew would close the jocund evening.
 'Stung with the thoughts of home," as the Season-able Thomson expresses it, I could bear no longer the bitter solitude of that re- ceptacle of woe, the station, and again open ed the door little, The gruff growler out side was buster than ever, burying up the uni verse. ''Keep where you are" he seemed to say, Tor I'll include you in the obsequies."
 Suddenly the distant sound of sleigh-bells stirred the buzzing air for moment, and then the tinkling music faded away Listening intently, again detected the welcome sound which evidently approaching nearer, Perhaps they were only ghostly bells, like those de- scribed by De Quineey in his opium visions.
 An open sleigh with a mortal in it, by all that is transporting Railing the icicled ob- ject, recounted my alarming situation, and hurriedly told him my destiny.
 .'Ye carnt git up there t'-night ennyhow, an ef ye could, there wunt be no ordnance to hear ye, sich night as this," dwrawled the man.
 1 implored him to take me to the "upper village"
 "What be ye willin' to pay ?" demanded the stranger, with an emphatic accent on the last word in his query.
 "Any price p shouted through the storm, and hope came bounding into my bosom at the half willingness implied in the travellers question.
 "Wa'al," said he, sluggishly but business like, '.bundle in, and I'll kerry ye. It's a good piece out O my way, but I'll dew it."
 Off we started. It seemed a nights jour ney, as we went on, putting forward into the tempest toward the upper village My com panion was of the sneeohless gender. man of hand.
 sLet's see-we didn't fix on no amount afore we started, did we mister ?"
 ''No," said I, ''but you may make your own
 ''Wa'al," said he, ''considerin' the snow and the cold, s'pose we settle on a5aout tew dol lars for the ride up to the upper village? I wouldn't a kerred ye there at all eff ye warn't a-goin' to speak for the good O the cause, free gratis for nothin'."
 "All right" I exclaimed triumphantly. Move on as fast as possible, my friend, and let us get to the upper village, if you please, as soon as we can, for am already half fro gen.
 A pause on the strangers part, and then : "Come to think on't the critters feet gifts so baled up tonight, I raly don't know but the jobs worth tew fifty"
 ''Go on," ejaculated ''you shall have the money"
 The horse stumbled and fell so often he must have been subject to rapid epileptic fits Once thought we had lost him forever but he got up again. and proceeded waveringly over the road. 1 ventured to ask if the animal ever shied, and the mans reply is worth re- membering. In low and baleful tone he said: Don't ye never make no remarks abaout hoss behind his back when he's pres- ent He hears every word ye say, and if he finds we're skeered on him, he'll take advant- age on ye. If yer late observation struck him onfavorable, likes not he'll cut up and shy like balloon. Shouldn't wonder eff he'd tear everything all to pieces. Be keerful of yer commentaries about dumb critters when they are 'raound, except so fur as yer remarks is complimentary. A hoss's ears is alters keyed up to git yer opinion on him, good or bad"
 The ride seemed entering on the confines of eternity. Should we ever get there? Every moment l thought myself nearing the north pole, as the wind cut like so many needles all about my neck. My garments were ineffectu- al to keep out the plunging elements, and when we did arrive at last, and I fumbled out the ''tew fifty" I was more dead than alive
 "Wish ye well, said the eye-teeth- cutting man in the sleigh, and drove off into the storm again, homewartl- bound.
 And now it was distinctly my business to enter the torpid-looking little building before which the man had bumped me, and begin the gratuitOus service of the evening It was some time before I could stand firmly up against the winter hurricane on getting out of the sleigh, my legs betraying hopeless imbe- cility l had never noticed in them before However, after little their wonted power re- turned, and 1 succeeded in fighting my en- trance forward into the structure, where was destined to speak an hour in behalf of the Fund"
 "Where is the secretary ?' inquired of the door-keeper, who was stamping his feet and rubbing his fingers to that extent 1 supposed he was frost bitten through and through.
 "Dunno who ye mean" faintly replied the gelid janitor
 ''Well," said 1, 'never mind. I'll walk in, as l am the lecturer"
 ''Got a ticket ?''
 ''No: am to give the electure. lam Mr.-, from Boston,"
 ''Carn't help who ye be. My orders is strict to let nobody in without CT ticket"
 ''What is the price of one ?" meekly in- quired.
 Quarter" said the honest door-keeper,
 And paid it and went in.
 hope spoke earnestly and helpfully to that crowd of fifteen deeply depressed listen ers, one of whom was kind enough to compli- ment my discourse by saying to me, as he went out of the hall, 1t warn't quite so tejus as 1 thought 'twould be-"
 How was the interim between ''after lecture" and ''bed-time' to be bridged over2 There was not light in the hotel one could possibly read by. and no place to sit down in except the ''offs, " as the dingy apartment was called where the villagers assembled in the evening around great ill-odorous sheet-iron stove to discuss any affairs that might arise for petty controversy. The mere thought of my bed room was hateful to every sense, and so I resolved to make the best of it, and anchor in the ''offis'' until driven up stairs for the night
 The company gathered there was, indeed,