The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-11-27

D0IOK6Q snow. 1T SIlOW6u Wn6Q we
l went to bed; it showed all day, or at in
, tervals during the day; it was ever mo-
notonously busy, busy; sometimes big
flakes, sometimes Titles fakes coming
down, down, down; coming deliberately
straight down, or driving furiously in
our faces, or crossing and recrossing in
zigzag lines. The snow heavens seemed
but few feet above the mountain-tops /;
they looked heavy and full of snow, and
gave one a crushing sensation. We
seemed just between two great bodies of
snow, one above our heads; one laying
on the ground.
Our house, whose ridge-pole was
! eighteen feet from the ground, began
J gradually to disappear. AT intervals of
! three or four days it was necessary to
shovel the snow from the roof, which
would otherwise have been crushed in.
This added to the accumulation about
us. Snow covered up the windows and
mounted to the caves. The path to the
spring was through a cut high above
our heads. That to the barn was
through another similar. Snow all
about us lay at an average depth of
eight feet. Only the sloping roof of the
house was visible, and so much in color
did it assimilate with the surrounding
rocks, pine and snow that one unac-
quainted with the locality might have
passed within few feet without recog-
nizing it as human residence.
December, January, February and
March passed, and we heard nothing
from the great world outside of and be-
low us. We arose in the morning,
cooked, ate our breakfast, got out fenc-
ing stuff till dinner time, going and re-
turning from our work on show-shoes,
and digging in the snow a pit large
enough to work in. We ate our noon
beans, returned to work, skated back to
the house by half-past two to get in fire.
wood for the night, and at half-past
three or four the dark winters day was
over, and we had fifteen hours to live
through before getting the next days
meager allowance of light, for Eureka
Valley is a narrow cleft in the noun
tains not over quarter of mile in
width, and lined on either side by ridges
1900 to 1000 feet in height. The sun
merely looked in at the eastern end
about nine a. M, said "Eood day. and
was off again. We rolled in sufficient
firewood every night to supply any civ.
ilized family for week. Two-thirds OF
the caloric generated went up our chin
ney. 1t did not have far to 90, either.
The chimney was very wide and very
low. At night q person unacquainted
with the country might have tumbled
into the house through that chimney.
The winds of heaven did tumble into it
frequently, scattering ashes and some
times cinders throughout the domicil.
Sometimes they thus assailed us while
getting breakfast. We consumed ashes
plentifully in our breakfasts; we drank
small charcoal in our coffee; we found
it in the bread. On cold mornings the
fiapjacks would cool on one side ere they
were baked on the other. A warm meal
was enjoyed only by placing the tin cot
| fee-cup on the hot Goals after drinking.
and a similar process was necessary
with the other viands. The "other
viands" were generally bread, bacon,
beans and beef. 1t was peculiar beef.
1t was beef fattened on oak leaves and
bark. Perhaps some of you ancients
may recollect the two consecutive rain
less summers of '63 - and 4" o. when
tens of thousands of cattle were driven
from the totally dried-up plains into the
mountains for feed.
1t was winter of deathly quiet in
Eureka Valley. Enveloped in snow, it
lay in shroud. Occasionally tenn
pest would find its way into the gorge
and rampage around for while, roar
ing through the pines and dislodging
the frozen Jumps of snow in their
branches, which whirled down, bang!
bang! bang! like so many rocks on our
housetop. Sometimes we heard the
rumble of rocks or snowslides tumbling
from the mountains. But usually dead,
awful quiet prevailed. 1t wore on one
worse than any uproar. No sound from
day to day of rumble or rattle of cart or
wagon, no church bells, no mikman's
bell, no gossip or chatter of inhabitants,
no street for them to walk down or Cos
sip in, none of the daily clamor of civil.
lied life save what we made ourselves.
1t was a curious sensation to see one
or both of my two companions at dis
lance from the house, They looked
such insignificant specks in the whitened
valley. And to meet the same man after
four or five hours of absence and to
know that he had nothing new to tell,
that he hadn't been any where in GER
tain sense, since without neighbors'
houses or neighboring villages there
was "nowhere" to get that sort of brac-
ing-up that one derives from any sort of
companionship.
We were very cosy and comfortable
during those long winter nights, seated
in the red glare of our rudely-built,
wide-mouth fireplace. But sometimes,
on clear moonlight night, have, for
the sake of change, put on the snow.
shoes and glided few hundred yards
away from the house. In that intense
and icy silence the beating of ones
heart could be distinctly heard, and the
crunching of the snow under feet
sounded harsh and disagreeable. All
about the myriads of tall pines in the
valley and on the mountain side were
pointing straight to the heavens, and
the crags in black shadow above and
behind them maintained also the same
stern, unyielding silence. The faintest
whisper of breeze would have been a
relief. If you gained an elevation it was
but to see and feel more miles on miles
of SHOWS, pines, peaks and silence. Very
| a,,1 l,,.N - 4 "a 70