The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-04-14

| ing like hurricane, and 1t made him
restless and uneasy. He was not afraid,
for he was very plucky little fellow,
but as he listened to the wind bowling
through the tree-tops and moaning
| around the house, and heard the win
dows rattle, he thought of his mother,
who must be somewhere out in that
terrible storm, and he was uneasy about
her. Still, he had no fear Tor her
safety, as he knew that she was used to
getting over troubles, and so at last he
went to bed and to sleep.
II.
When Ted walked he was puzzled.
It was dark still, but somehow it did
not seem to be night. He could hear
the wind blowing, but it sounded long
way off, or as it might have sounded to
him if his head had been. wrapped up
in blanket. There was no more of
its moaning around the house.
He jumped out of bed with queer
feeling, as If something strange had
happened. He stirred up the fire, and
threw on some wood, which made a
blaze. Then he looked at the clock.
Half past eighth he said to himself.
"Why, how is thatp ] went to bed at
ten, so it can't be half past eight at
night. But it isn't half past eight in the
morning, for it's dark. l wonder if I've
slept all night and all dayP'
With this he opened the back door to
get some wood from the pile. But in
stead of going out, he started back in
surprise. The doorway was blockedup
with wall of snow. He ran quickly to
the front door and opened it. The wall
of snow was there, too, and all the win
dows were blocked up in the same way.
Ted understood now. 1t was half past
eight in the morning, but the house was
completely buried in a snow-drift. He
and the baby were showed in alone.
have said that Ted was a plucky
little fellow, and so he was; but this
was terrible state of affairs, and for
few minutes he was scared Showed in,
with the baby to take care of, and with
out any chance of help coming to him,
he might well feel alarmed. His moth
er had not got home, and he could not
guess what had become of her. The
very nearest neighbor lived five miles
away, and there was no knowing how
long it would be before anybody would
find out what had happened.
But Ted soon saw that getting scared
would only make matters worse.
81 can't help mother" he said to
himself, wherever she may be-; and
what I've got to do is to take care of
Baby till the snow melts. Wonder how
long that will bep Two or three weeks,
L should think. And what are we to
eat, | wonderP Let's see.n
With that he lighted a candle and
went to the cellar. There was only
little milk left-about enough for Baby's
breakfast, and Ted brought that up and
set it to heat by the fire. The baby was
awake now, and so he dressed her and
gave her her bread and milk Then he
cut some bacon and fried it for himself
but he would not eat any bread, because
he knew there was only part of loaf
left, and he must save that for Baby.
After breakfast he began to lay his
plans. At first he thought of digging
out, but he gave that up, because, even
If he should get out, he could not carry
the baby FIVE miles in such a snow. He
knew enough to be sure that the snow
was not so deep everywhere as it was
around the house. He remembered
how the wind had blown, and knew that
the house was buried in drift; but he
knew that there must have have Been a
very deep snowfall to make such drift,
and it would never do for him to try to
carry the baby through deep snow to
house five miles away. He must just
stay where he was, and take care of the
baby.
The first thing to do was to see how
much wood there was at the house. So
he dug hole in the snow at the side
of the door, and brought in all there
was there, except one big back log
which was too heavy for him. AS he
looked at the pile he saw that it would
last till night, and by that time he
meant to get the back log in by some
means. He was worse troubled about
milk for the baby. There was none
left now, and he wondered if he could
get to the cow-shed in any way. Itwas
long way off, but he must have milk
if he could get it, and he must try to
feed the cows too, for if nobody fed
them they would have to live on the hay
which stood in a stack at the end of
their shed.
Bravely. the little fellow set to work
to make tunnel to the cow-hOuse, but
it was very slow work. He began at
the door of the summer kitchen, and
threw the snow, as he dug it out, into
that shed. The further he went, the
more slowly he got on, for he had to
bring all the snow back to the shed
kitchen and pack it in there. He kept
at work, however, until he was tired
out and very hungry, and yet he had
hardly made fair beginning He
saw that he must give up the idea of
digging his way to the cow-shed, and
get on in some way without milk. He