Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-05-07
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.

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 won't to
say you could drive coach and. four.
draw my chair nearer to it, with SILVER.
"What night, 1 say.
6 Is it still snowing?' asked 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? 1t began
showing before dark, and all the people
about know the danger of being benighted
on the moor in snow-storm."
8" Yes. But have known people frozen
to death hereabouts before now"
My wife is Scotch, and this pleasant
house in the Highlands is hers. We are
trying a winter in it for the first time, and
l find it excessively cold and somewhat
dull. Mentally l decided that in the fu-
ture we will only grace it with our pres
ence during the shooting season. Pres
CASiy W w WAC MlAuOW anu tOOk Oub IL
has ceased showing, and through rift in
the clouds l see star.
1t is beginning to clear" l tell my
wife, and also inform her it is past IL. AS
she lights her candle at the side table |
hear whining and scratching at the front
door.
There is Laddie loose again, says she.
Would you let him in. dear ?"
=, =
could not refuse TO let the poor animal in.
Strangely enough when l opened the door
and called him he wouldn't come. He
runs up TO the door and looks into my face
with dumb entreaty then he runs back
few steps, looking around to see if 1 am
following him and, finally, he takes my
coat in his mouth and tries to draw me out.
Laddie won't come in, l called out
to my wife. On the contrary, he seems
to want me to 60 out and have a game of
snow ball with him."
She throws shawl around her and comes
to the door. The collie was here before
we were married, and she is almost as fond
of him, | tell her, as she is of Jack, our
eldest boy.
"Laddie, Lsddie p she calls; leone
in, sir" He comes obediently at her call,
but refuses to enter the house, and pursues
the same dumb pantomime he has already
tried on me.
81 shall shut him out, Jessie, say.
"a night in the snow won't hurt him :"
and l prepared to close the door.
"You will do nothing of the kind !" she
replies, with an anxious look, "but you
will rouse the servants at once, and follow
him. Some one is lost in the snow, and
Laddie knows il.
laugh. :" Really Jessie, you are alb
surd. Laddie is sagacious animal, no
doubt, but / cannot believe he is as clever
as that. How can he possibly know
whether anyone is lost in the snow or
not p
" Because he has found them, and come
!r.yz TO u Ior nelp, Look at him now"
And / cannot but own that the dog
seems restless and uneasy, and is evidently
endeavoring to coax US to follow him /; ne
looked at US with pathetic entreaty in his
eloquent eyes. Why won't you believe
me 2 he seems to ask.
"Come," she continued "you know
you could not resist while there is posi-
bility of fellow-creature wanting your
assistance. And am certain Laddie is
not deceiving US.
What is poor henpecked man to dof"
l grumble, and resist, and yield as / have !
often grumbled, aud resisted, and yielded |
before, and as doubtless often shall again. |
"Dsddie once found man in the snow |
before, but he was dead" said Jessie, as |
she hurried off to ill flask with brandy |
and get ready some blankets to take with |
US. In the meantime rouse the servants. |
They are all English with the exception
of Donald, the gardener, and / can see
that they are scofiingly skeptical of Lad
dies sagacity, and inwardly disgusted at
having to turn out of their warm beds and |
face the bitter winters night.
Dinna trouble yersels," I hear old |
Donald say. % The mistress is right
enough. Aud Laddie is eleverer than
many Christian, and will find something !
IN the shaw this night"
" Don 81 up, Jessie, u say, as we start
1--WE may be out half the night on this wild.
goose chase"
Follow Laddie closely" is the only
answer she makes.
The dog springs forward with Joyous
bark, constantly looking back to see if We
were following. AS we pass through the |
aNenuc Sdtce dHu cuiSib Oh ZIG MOOT the |
moon struggles for moment through the |
driving clouds and lights up with a sickly |
CLEAN the snow clad country before us.
Its like looking for needle in bun.
die of hay, Sir, says John, the coachman,
confdentially, to think as we should
find anybody ON such night as this
Why, in some places the snow is more than
a couple o. feet thick, and it goes agin'
reason to think that dumb animal would
have the sense to come home and ask for
help"
" Bide wee, bide wee" says old Dom
aid. 81 dinna ken what your English
dogs can do, but collie, though it has ma
been pleasing to Providence to give the
creature the gift O. speech, can do mony
mair things than them wad deride it."
!" amt deridin' of EN-, says John.
" / only says as how if they be so very
clever, I've never seen il"
I" Ye wull, though, ye will" gays old
Donald, as he hurries forward after Lad.
die, who has now settled into a swinging
trot, and is taking his way straight across
the loneliest part of the bleak moor.
The cold wind almost cuts us in two and
whirls the snow into our faces, nearly
binding us. My finger tips are becoming
numbed, ieicles hanging from my mustache
and beard, and my feet and legs are soak.
ing vet, even through my shooting boots
and stout leather leggings.
The moon has gone in again, and the
light from the lantern we carry is barely
sufficient to show US the inequalities in the