The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-09-12
THE PROVINCE MANS STORY.

are fearful to encounter, but / do not
think they can be much worse than
downright north-easter of the Prov
ince," said gray-bearded New Bruins
wicker to a Western man, who had
been relating to the few passengers of
the steiner plying on the river between
Tobique and st. John his experience of
one of those terrible winter storms
which so frequently sweep down upon
the exposed people of the Northwest.
f'.I remember one in particular" he
said, ''for it gave me lameness that's
going to stay by me as long as live"
After listening to the Western mans
adventure, we were all anxious to hear
that of the Province mans, and urged
him to favor us. He at last assented.
81 was eighteen" he said, ''that
winter, and tough as young buffalo.
I had never been sick, and scarcely
knew what it was to be tired. Ny
father was q lumberman. He went
into the logging-swamp that winter, to-
ward the head of the Miramichi River.
and left me to take care of the family
Ia pretty large one, counting in all
the children. / was the Oldest.
'sThe winters are long in that part of
New Brunswick, and good deal of
but few settlements, the one nearest to
where we lived being about forty miles
away; so you may know there wasn't
much going back and forth for the
women-folks.
''But for that matter, there were five
or six families living in our settlement,
and will say we used to have some
pretty good times together. We seemed
almost like one family, and when
one was in need of help the others were
sure to give it.
Zone of our neighbors was Mr..
Moore He married a girl who lived in
the settlement next to ours, and all
her folks lived there. In the winter he
worked in the woods with the rest of
the men, and as his children were small,
he used to hire me to look after the
chores that were necessary about his
house.
s.Well, about the middle of that win
ter-it was in February, / think-Ma-
Tidy, that was Mrs. Moore, got word
that her mother was sick, and that, if
she wanted to see her alive, she must
go to her at once.
.sThe poor woman was nearly frantic
with anxiety. Her husband was in the
woods, and she had no way of getting
to lser fathers house. l think she had
not cen her mother for two years.
a. william, said my m ther, coming
home from the Moore CABIN, where she
had been to spin flax and comfort the
sorrowing woman, Il think you'll have
TO CO.
".rm going at once, mother I
said, for | thought she meant must go
to Mrs. Moore's and attend to the
chores.
.'.Not that she replied, surmising
what 1 was thinking about. You
must go to the settlement with Matildy.
How should L feel if my mother was
dying, and could not see her? Now,
get your chores all done up tonight, so
you can start in the morning BY day
light. I'll see to things while you're
gone
children?' asked.
They're coming to stay with me
until Matildy gets back
80 it was settled thit should go
with Mrs. Moore, and if she did not
stay more than a day or two, was TO
bring her home. The sky had threat
ened a. storm for a number of days,
and / expected to get up the next
morning and see snow-storm. But
1t was a bitter cold morning-too cold
to snow then, though the sky was
still gray and heavy, showing plainly
enough that there'd be n heavy fall of
snow as soon as the weather was
warmer.
alt didn't take long to get the horse
and sled ready, and putting on fathers
moose-skin coat, we started, Matilda
carrying her baby, that was not more
than six months old, in her arms,
swathed in a blanket of lynx-skins.
1T was scarcely light when we set
off, and it was very slow travelling
through the narrow, rough road. We
had not got more than three miles from
the settlement when it began to sprin-
kle snow, and in an hour more the
fakes were coming down thick and
fast. A cutting wifd swept through
the woods, driving the snow into our
faces, and it looked doubtful to me
whether we should ever get to the next
settlement in such q storm.
81 wanted TO turn back, but Matildy
would not consent to this. So had
nothing to do but to whip up old Bob
and get on as fast as we could.
.'But the storm grew worse and worse.
The wind kept rising, and the air was
80 thick with the driving snow that l
could scarcely see a rod beyond the
horses head. Noon came, and we were
not over ten or twelve miles from the
settlement. The snow was now so deep
that the horse could make but little
headway through it and against the
heavy wind.
I'VE had food with us, but we could
not stop for luncheon with the storm
piling the big drifts all about us. Part
Of the time I walked behind the sled to