Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1880-11-25

the face of the man who pats his shaggy
sides. Then he is down once more in
the snow, whining and barking furiously.
"HalloP' cried the CHEEKY voice of one
of the men. "What have we herel A
shot pouch, as I livel" 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
eargerly passed from hand to hand.
81 know the dog" said one, who had
Just come up. GIVE 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 theyG" asked dozen at 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 it, my dog9 We can't 60 up
the mountain tonight; but you shall
have your fill, and full pouch to carry
home, my brave old fellow
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 man shouts, "Can it be the
children9"
Can it 5e9 Is there any doubt of it9
See how the dog answers. Tumbling,
bounding, barking joyously, and the sleds
move creaking on. Through drifts, over
fences, out of the road, slowly go the
crowd of men, the oxen and all. Now
to the left; what great domes are those
far out into the fields by the wosd9 There
are two of them, and on the windward
side the snow has been swept away. We
see plain enough. They are hay stacks,
and where the hay has been pulled away
in as large armtuls as poor little Joe was
able to take, there, in the little hay house
which he had made, where Hector pokes
his great black nose, and where dear papa
stoops and enters-there they are, wet,
hungry and nearly frozen, but safe. And
a shout goes up which is carried back to
the lingering searchers, back to the farm
houses, and over the fields to the listen.
ing ones at home. Safe from all the dan.
ger OF that terrible day! Safe once more
in loving arms-on papa's breast.
But they kept Thanksgiving the next
day at Upper Highlands Whats Some
one in the narrow circle of the little
township actually wanting foodG
So they questioned, and this is the
way they answered. At early daybreak
On that Thanksgiving morning the sledi
and oxen were out again. Off toward
the hills they swing along, up, up as fal
as the oxen could go, then on foot al
best they could, up to the old Barnes
house. And they would not listen for 6
moment to any answer but Eyes"
Such laughing time as they had com
ing down to the sleds, and then such (
jolly ride as they had across the interval
and up the long streets. And manv wer
the kisses old Hector got right on hi
big, black nose, as he rushed into thi
yard and that, barking for the people t.
look out and see his dear young maste
and mistress, who were coming down t.
spend Thanksgiving with them.
And the dinner they had at Bessie
|
though the warm sunshine of the Indial
summer, which had been bundled in the
haystack to which they had wandered il
the binding storm, had kept the chill
dren safe, the doctor wouldn't let then
90 down stairs even for Thanksgivln
dinner: and so there was atable upstairs
, where the children lay in their beds, jus
about big enough for mamma and pap
and Harry and his mother. But the
!; were 50 crowded that they had to put tn
plum pudding on the bureau.
But, after all, Hector was the hero, an
, he bore his honors modestly,as all heroe
should. He would sit at the foot c
, Joe's bed and fold his paws and wal
patiently with delicious piece OF turke
on his nose until Joe counted three; an
! then he would go over to Bessie's bee
and once l saw her give him piece o
white meat with cranberrie sauce all owe
: it.
1t certainly was the thankfulest Thanks
. giving you ever knew in all your life.
3 was thankfulness that didn't end whe
= the turkey and plum pudding were eater
and when the sun went down that da,
for in the spring road was opened u
the mountain side, and the little houE
0 on the hill was no longer lonely.
Hector is lying in his own famili'
e corner, and Harry, with his arm upon hi
o mothers shoulder, is looking down I'M
g the valley, which once had seemed so Fl
away.
!; "Hector, old boy, wasn't that just
glorious snow storm after allG''
Hector sneezed.-N. Y. lndependen