The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-01-28
Select Story.
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.
| draw my chair nearer to it, with a
shiver. What a night | say.
is 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 out9 1t began
showing before dark, and all the people
about know the dangerof being benight.
ed on the moor in snow storm.
yes. But | have known people fro.
zen to death hereabouts before now.
My wife is Scotch, and this pleasant
house in the Highlands is hers. We are
trying winter in it for the first time,
and find it excessively cold and some
what dull. Mentally | decide in future
we will only grace it with our presence
during the shooting season. Presently
l go to the window and look out: it has
ceased showing and through rift in the
clouds | see star.
1T is beginning to clear tell my
wife, and also inform her that it is past
eleven. AS she lights her candle at the
side table | hear whining and scratch
ing 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 open.
ed 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 / am following; and, finally, he
takes my coat in his mouth and tries tc
draw me out
Iaddie won't come in,' I call out tc
my wife. 'On the contrary, he seems
to want me to go out and have game
OF snow ball with him
She throws a shawl around her anC
comes to the door. The collie was her.
before we were married, and she is a
most as fond of him, / tell her, as sh,
is of Jack, our eldest boy.
Laddie, Laddie! she calls; come in
sir. He comes obediently at her call
but refuses to enter the house, and pur
sues the same dumb pantomime he has
| already tried on me.
Il shall shut him out Jessie, | say
"A night i'll the snow won't hurt him;
| and | prepare to close the door.
You will do nothing of the kind. sh.
replies, with an anxious look, but yor
will rouse the servants at once, and fol
low him. Some one is lost in the snow
and Laddie knows it..
| laugh. Really Jessie, you are alb
surd Laddie is sagacieus animal, nc
| doubt, but cannot believe he is as clev,
er as that. How can he possibly know
whether any one is lost in the snow, OF
not?
Because he has found them and come
back to us for help. Look at him now.
| cannot buA own that the dog seems
restless and uneasy, and is evidently en-
deav0ring to coax us to follow him; he
looks at us with pathetic entreaty in his
eloquent eyes. why won't you believe
met he seems to ask.
Come, she continues; you know you
could not rest while there was a posi-
bility of a fellow creature wanting your
assistance. And / am certain Laddie is
not deceiving u.s.
What is poor hen-pecked man to
do? | grumble, and resist, and yield;
as | have often grumbled, and resisted,
and yielded before, and as doubtless
often shall again.
Laddie once found a man in the
snow before, but he was dead Jessie
says, as she hurled off to fill flask with
brandy, and get ready some blankets for
us TO take with us. In the meantime
| rouse the servants.
They are all English, with the excep-
ton of Donald, the gardner, and | can
see that they are scotiingly skeptical of
Laddie's sagacity, and inwardly disgust
ed at having to turn out of their warm
beds and face the bitter winters night.
Dinna trouble yerself,' | hear old
Donald say. The mistress is right
enough. Aud Laddie is cleverer than
mony a Christian, and will find some
thing in the snaw tonight.
Don't sit up, Jessie, | say, as We
start; we may be ont half the night on
this wild goose chase.
follow Laddie closely, is the onl,
answer she makes.
The dog springs forward with ioy
ous bark, constantly looking back to Sc,
if we are following. AS we pass through
the avenue gates and emerge on til,
moor, the moon struggles for momen
through the driving clouds, aud light
up with a sickly CLEAN the snow-clao
country before us.
Its like looking for needle in
bundle of hay, sir, says John, the coach
man, coniidentially, TO think as W,
should find anybody on such night
Why, in some places the snow is NOR,
than a couple o feet thick, and it goe
against reason TO think that dumb an
imal would have the sense to come HON,
and fetch back
'Bide a wee, bide a wee, says ole
Donald, Il dinna ken what your Eng
lish dugs can do, but collie, though /
. has ma hean nlaasino, IN D.ox,;daa<, a,