The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1881-09-21
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.

The fire burns cheerily on the hearth
the great logs crackle and flare up the
wide chimney, up which it is my
wont to say you could drive coach-and-
four. l draw my chair nearer to it.
say.
lis it still snowing?" asks my wife,
who sits opposite to me, her books and
work on the table beside her.
"Fast. You can scarcely see yard
before you."
"Heaven help any poor creature on
the moor tonight !" says she.
"Who would venture out? It began
showing before dark, and all the people
about know the danger of being be-
nighted oA the moor in a snowstorm." "
g Yes. But l have known people
frozen to death hereabouts before now"
NV wife is Scotch, and this pleasant
house in the Highlands is hers. We
are irving a winter in it for the first
time, and find it excessively cold and
somewhat dull. Mentally, L decide
that in the future we will only grace it
with our presence during the shooting
season. Presently go to the window
and look out it has ceased showing
and through rift in the clouds see a
star.
"It is beginning to clear" I tell my
wife, and also inform her it is half-past
IL o'clock. As she lights her candle al
the side-table l hear whining and
scratching at the front door.
"There is Laddie loose again." says
she. "Would you let him in, dear ?"
/ did not like facing the cold wind,
but could not refuse to let the poor ami
NAL in. Strangely enough, when
opened the door and called him he
wouldn't come. He runs up to the
door and looks into my face with dumt
entreaty then he runs back few
steps, looking round to see if am fol
lowing and, finally, he takes my coa'
in his mouth and tries to draw me out
"Laddie won't come in" I call out tC
my wife. son the contrary, he seems
to want me to go out and have a game
of SNOWFALL with him.
She throws a shawl around her ant
comes to the door. The collie wa
here before we were married, and she il
almost as fond of him, tell her, as sh,
is of Jack, our eldest boy.
"Laddie, Laddie !" she calls; "com
in, SIR" He comes obediently at he
call, but refuses to enter the house, ant
pursues the same dumb pantomime h
has already tried on me.
"I shall shut him out, Jessie" l say
ga night in the snow won't hurt him;
and prepare to close the door.
"You will do nothing of the kind
she replies, with an anxious look, "bu
you will rouse the servants at once, an
follow him. Some one is lost in tn
snow and Laddie knows it."
laugh. "Really, Jessie, you al
absurd Laddie is sagacious anima
no doubt, but cannot believe he is .
clever as that. How can he possibl
know whether any one is lost in tn
snow or notY
"Because he has found them, an
come back to us for help. Look at hi
now."
/ cannot but own that the dog seen
restless and uneasy, and is evident
endeavoring to coax us to follow hir
he looks at us with pathetic entreaty
his eloquent eyes. "Why don't "
believe meY he seems to ask.
"Come" she continues, "you kno
you could not rest while there was
possibility of fellow creature wantil
Your assistance. And am certa
Laddie is not deceiVing us"
What is a poor hen-pecked man
doP 1 grumble, and resist, and yiel
as 1 have grumbled, and resisted. a
yielded before, and as doubtless oft
shall again.
'Laddie once found a man in t
tLow-before, but he was dead" JenI