The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-12-08
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Faithful Unto Death.

| Turning trouble INTO Song.
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 cold drive
a coach -and-four. l draw my chair
nearer to it with 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 a
yard before you.
Heaven help any poor creature on
the moor tonight says she.
who would venture out ? 1t be-
gan showing before dark, aad all the
people about know the danger of
being benighted on the moor in q
snow storm
Yes. But have known people
frozen to death hereabonts before
now.
My wife is Scotch, and this pleas
ant house in the Highlands is hers.
We are trying a winter in it for the
first time, and find it excessively
cold and somewhat dnll. Mentally
l decided that in the future we will
only grace it with our presence du-
ring the shooting season. Present
ly go to the window and look out !;
it has ceased showing and through
a rift in the clouds / see star.
1T is beginning to clear | tell my
wife and also inform her it is past
eleven. AS she lights her candle at
the side-table / hear a whining and
scratching at the front door.
There is Laddie loose again.
says she. 'WoHld you let him in,
dear?
Ibid not like facing the cold wind,
but could not refuse to let the poor
animal 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
dumb entreaty; then he runs back
a few steps, looking round to see if
l am following; and, finally, he
takes my coat in his mouth and tries
to draw me out.
Laddie won't come in l call out
to my wife. 'On the contrary, he
seems to want me to 90 out and
have a game of SNOWFALL with him.
She throws a shawl around her
and comes to the door. The collie
was here before we were married,
and she is almost as fond of him, l
tell her, as she is of Jack, our eldest
boy.
'Laddie, Ladder she calls; come
in. sir He ecomes obediently at her
call, but refuses to enter the house,
and pursues the same dumb panto
mime he has already tried on me.
4 shall shut him out. Jessie, l
say. "A night in the snow won't
hurt him. and I prepared to close
the door.
You will do nothing of the kindr
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
| it,
l laugh. r, ally, Jessie. you are
absurd. Laddie is sagacious ami
NAL, no doubt, but l cannot believe
he is as clever as that. How can he
possibly know whether anyone is
lost in the snow, or not?
Because he has found them and
come back to us for help. Look at
him now
/ cannot but own that the dog
seems restless and uneasy, and is
evidently endeavoring to coax us to
follow him; he locks at us with pa
thetic entreaty in his eloquent eyes.
why won'tyou believe me? he seems
to ask.
'Come,' she continues; you know
yon could not rest while there was a
a possibility of a fellow creature
wanting your assistance. And !
am certain Laddie is not deceiving
us a
What is poor hen-pecked man
to do? I grumble, and resist, and
yield, as ! have often grumbled, and
resisted, and yielded before, and as
I doubtless often shall again.
'Laddie once found man in the
snow before, but he was dead,' Jes-
sic says. as she hurried off to fill a
flask with brandy and get ready
some blankets for us to take with
us. In the meantime l reused the
servants.
They are all English with the ex-
ception of Donald, the gardner, and
can see they are scofiingly scepti
cal of Laddie's sagacity and inward
ly disgusted at having to turn out
of their warm beds and face the bit
ter winters night.
.Dinna trouble yoursels,' / hear
old Donald say. The mistress is
right enough. Auld Laddie is clev-
erer than mony a Christian, and
will find something in the snaw this
night
Don't sit up, JESSIE l say, as we
start; I'VE may be out half the night
on this wild goose chase
Follow Laddie Closely is the on
| ly answer she makes. m
The dog springs forward with a
Joyous bark, continually looking
back to see il we were following.
As we pass through the avenue gates
and emerge on the moor the moon
struggles for a moment through the
driving clouds and lights up with a
sickly CLEAN the snow-clad country
before us.
It's like looking. for a needle in a
bundle Of hay, sir, says John, the
coachman, confidentiaily, ito think
as we should find anybody on such
a night as this. Why, in some pla-
lces the snow Is more than a couple
| o. feet thick, and goes agin' reason
Itothink that dumb animal would
T. 49, ~, =, ~ I, xxv,,.n !. :, Il