Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-11-19
A Bed in the Snow.

Rosa and Hilda were two little girls
who lived on the edge of a great forest.
Their parents were very poor, and the
two children sometimes had to 90 out
into the woods to pick up dry sticks for
the kitchen fire. In the summer they
liked to do this, for it was very pleas
ant to wander about under the
great trees and over the green
and soft moss which in some places
nearly covered the ground. They found
a great many things there besides dry
sticks, and their mother used to think,
sometimes, that they staid too long
among the wild flowers and the moss,
while she was waiting for wood.
But in winter, the children did not
like the forest. The trees were bare,
the pretty moss was all covered with
snow, and the cold winds blew colder
there, they thought, than anywhere
else. But the kitchen fire needed wood
more in the winter than in the summer,
for it was the only fire in the house,
and so Rosa and Hilda ran into the for
est nearly every day, and brought back
as many dry sticks and twigs as they
could carry.
One day, Hilda thought she would
take her basket with her, to gather some
red berries that she had seen the last
time she was in the woods. There was
a good deal of snow on the ground, and
it was very hard for the little girls to
walk; while Max, their dog, who came
with them, sank so deep into the snow,
at every step, that, at last, he grew
tired, and lay down by big tree. He
thought he would wait there until the
children should be going home.
Hilda said she would go and look for
the berries, and, when she had found
them, she would come back and help
pick up sticks. So Rosa began to gath
er up what dead wood she could find
sticking out of the snow, and Hilda
walked as last as she could to find her
red berries.
She thought she knew Just where
they were, but although She walked
very far she could not see them any
where. At last she began to feel very
cold and sleepy, and She thought she
would like to lie right down on the
ground and take a nap. She did not
know that when people lie down on
the snow to sleep they very often freeze
to death.
After a while she started to 90 back
to Rosa, but she did not walk very far
before she tripped over the branches of
a fallen tree, and when she felt herself
lying on the snow she thought she
would just stay there and take a little
bit of a nap. 1t would rest her so much.
So she went fast asleep.
Before long Rosa began to wonder
where her sister had gone, and then
she went to look for her. At first she
could see Hilda's footsteps in the snow,
but soon she came to a high, bare place
where the wind had blown the snow
away, and there she could see no foot
steps. So she ran back and called
/" Maxi Maxi"
The little dog was still under the tree,
but when he heard Rosa calling him, he
knew that something was the matter,
and he ran to her as fast as he could
90. When he saw that she was alone,
he began to run about, to look for Hill
da, for he always saw the two little
girls very near each othen He shifted
around, and then he turned TO the right
and began to run. He. knew she had
gone that way. He could smell her
shoes. Rosa ran after him, and she
soon saw Hilda' footprints in the snow.
She could not keep up, with Max, but
she could see which way hs went.
Very soon, she came to fallen tree,
and pushing aside the branches, there
she saw her poor little sister, lying ON
the snow, with Aax licking her face.
Rosa thought sh8 was dead, but rush-
ing to her sidA she took her in her
arms and found that she still breathad.
Then Rosa raised Hilda 10 her feet, and
hugged and kissed her until she woke
her up, while Max barked for joy.
When Hilds had opened her eyes, and
could stand up by herself, Rosa took
her by the arm and hurried home, Max
running along in front.
AS soon as their mother saw them
coming, she ran to meet them, and
when She heard how little Hilda had
been in danger of freezing 10 death in
the forest, She said that her children
should never go there again when there
was a deep snow.
And you may be sure that after that
day, Rosa and Hilda, and their father
and mother, thought a great deal Of
that little dog MaN,-St, Nicholas.