Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-01-10
WESTERN BILLIARDS..
Terrible Experience OF n Farmer.

81 came out here tllrec years ago last
simmer, boughta quarter section, sent
IN 81. Paul for lumber, and worked all
summer putting up house and barn.
Tn the fail | bought three horses and
sulky plow, and began turning up the
black prairie sell Before the ground
froze | had about thirty acres ready to
SOW with wheat in the spring. Then l
went East to see Mabel, and, after the
HOLIDAYS, brought her back with me. BY
the middle of January We had got the
furniture put to rights and were settled
down to enjoy married life. A few
things were wanted for the house, how.
ever, and one bright, sunshiny morning
T bitcbed two of the horses to bob
sleigh. and Mabel and drove to the
village, due north from my house six
miles. A pleusanter morning | never
saw. There was snow enough to make
excellent sleighing, and the air was warm
and balmv. II seemed as if spring was
near at hand, but worse delusion never
existed.
Tie village has but one street, being
merely row of twenty or thirty wooden
buildings, parallel to and about ten rods
from the railroad track. They are
mainly used for stores, and when we
drove up there we're three or four bob
sleds or pungs ia front Of each store.
Half the farming community OF the
township appeared to be in doing some
shopping. About l o'clock, while we
were in a dry goods store, the merchant,
who had stepped out a moment before,
said to us: 81 dOn'g like to drive away
nv customers, but blizzard is coming
from the west, and it is coming fast. The
telegraph announces that it has reached
Morris. That is forty miles from here,
but it is coming at the rate of forty miles
per hour, SO you have got no time to
spare if you are going home to day"
He rolled up our purchases as he
spoke, and appeared in a hurry to get
rid of us. Wren We got outside the
store the first thing that attracted my
attention was the fact that, of all the
teams in the street when we arrived, not
one excepting nine remained. Every
BODY had scudded for home. Even then
I did not hurry. The sun WAS still
shining brightly, with not the faintest
suggestion of y storm apparent any
where. Before We had got IL mile from
town had forgotten all about the com
ing storm and the horses We're jogging
at their will.
We were still Two miles from home
when suddenly the sun was obscured
and the air grew cold and chill III mo-
ment. A darkness rs Of smoke swept
over everything Then / remembered
why we were going home, and | gave
the horses the whip IN earnest, lasting
them into a run. Away of to the west
there appeared to be a leaden wall
sweeping toward u.s. There was II hum
in the air. A light breeze Spfang up
grew stronger, and in one minute be-
came gale. TIE wall come down with
railroad speed, the roar of its approach
every instant growing louder. From
the top OF a roll in the prairie we could
see our house, and it came pretty near
being our last glimpse Of it.
No words will ever convey an inte!li-
gent idea of q blizzard, OF the frightful
roar with which il rolls down upon you,
the bowling and Missing OF the wind. Ii
you try 10 speak, the wind dashe' the
syllables from your lips so quickly that
you do not hear your own words. In
thirty seconds from the time the first
snowflake fell could not see my horses.
The atm osphere appeared to be all snow
and every flake OF it was in hurry to
get somewhere before the rest should
get there. | Use the word flake, but
that is wrong. No fakes could be dis
tinguished. The whole atmosphere was
filled with one big flake that lad hem.
med us in on all sides. Although Ma
bells head wasn't over foot from mine,
could not see her features, and could
only dimly sec her form. tried to
peer downward beside the sleigh and
see the track but / might as we'll have
tried to see the earth beneath q snow
bank. / could feel a motion to the
sleigh, so that knew the horses were
still moving. The cold was intense. L
tried to ask my wife if she was suffer
ing; but I could not hear my own
words.
During the two or three minutes that
interviewed between the time l saw the
storm approaching and the moment it
struck us, the horses had run at the top
of their speed, SO We were not much
over mile from home. 1t did not seem
possible for the horses to keep the track
No one could live an hour in that storm.
The only hope lay in the horses being
able to keep to track that was being
buried deeper and deeper every instant.
1t isn't pleasant to sit still and freeze to
death. In ten minutes / was chilled
through and felt that ] was freezing.
The horses were still moving, and
although | could not see them, | dashed
them with the whip. 1t seemed hours
since the storm had shut us in, and |
Was just becoming convinced that the
horses had got out of the path and that
we were lost on the prairie when there
came sudden lull of the fierce wind.
The air was still full of whirling snow,
but could see objects about me, and
it didn't take long for me TO ascertai
that we were in the barn and were safe.
/ had left the barn doors open in the
morning, and the horses had found their
way back; l think by instinct, but my
neighbors think it was sheer accident,
and declare it wouldn't happen again in
thousand years
Although we had reached the barn,
We were not in the house yet. From
the barn 10 the hoNse is about twenty
yards, but as far as seeing it was con-
cerned the house might as we'll have
been in the moon. The little woman
helped me unharness the horses and put
them into their stalls. Then / told her
to remain where she was, and made
break for the house. 1t is difficult for
any one to believe that in a binding
storm lie cannot go twenty yards in a
line sufficiently straight to find house,
but try it some time
Do you see that pump? stumbled
over it. 1t is twenty feet to the right
of the path from The burn to the house.
If it hadn't a-bcen for that pump 1 would
never again have found either house or
barn. | knew that the handle Of that
pump pointed directly toward the house,
and that it was not over ten yards away.
raised the handle and left for my
bearings. I let 60 of the pump handle
and plunged toward the house. When