The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-03-18

IOuI1u nbT. DIG was lllllc llluS-
couldn't have been more than six
months old-and her little dress was
iammed in under the side of the house.
1t was miracle she hadn't been
iammed in there, too, but being so close
under the edge was all that had saved
her, for the house was stuck in so tight
it couldn't move, and it sorterprotected
her from the storm. Oh, she was
white, pretty little thingl-not scrap
of hood or anything on her head, her
little thin dress a-freezin' on her, and
her little baby hair all stiff with ice.
She was most gone, could see that,
but managed to undo my fur coat, and
tear her dress out from underline house,
and then / Rugged her up and covered
her as close as | could with the coat.
Oh, but she was pleased She Struggled
down, that little thingl tight up to me,
and sighed long, sobbin' signs, and shut
up her pretty little eyes, as quiet and
contented-like as if she was takin' a
nice little nap.
"Then came the worst time of all,
but the piece of the house that iutted
over us stood firm. / don't know how
long this lasted, for it took my senses
clear away. There seemed to be a
noise in my head like twenty locomo-
tives all lettin' off steam at once, and
that was the last / knew. / reckon |
never was so near the Valley of the
Shadow of Death as / was just then"
Tim paused moment, mopped his
face vigorously, and resumed.
g But that last clap was the end of
it, and / seemed to come to after a while,
with Of cinni,,j ,bo,
near me. ] started little before /
thought of the baby, and then l felt her
lynn, heavy and cold, inside my coat.
GO Wake up, little kid!' says l. The
storms gone down, and here we are!
Maybe wen find your folks, but, if we
can't, your Uncle Tim'll look out for
you. Wake up!
81 kissed and kissed her little face,
and it was CROWN lighter and lighter,
so that l could see how pretty and
sorter tender-like she looked; but she
never moved. Her heart had stopped
beatin.' The poor little thing was dead"
Tim stopped again-this time to wipe
his eyes; and some of his auditors were
suspiciously busy over their own.
"But the singin' ?" said one, inquir-
ingly. -,
Eyes, l was goin' to tell you about
that singin' )" continued Tim. 81 kept
a-hearin' it and a-hearin' it, and finally
/ laid the baby down, careful-like, un-
der the edge of the house, and went
huntin' around for that singin'. The
sky was as clear as bell now, but !
could see the snow-cloud whirlin' along
down the prairie, and knew they were
ketchin' it further on. l peeked into
the house, but that was pretty much
broke up. The whole thing had sep
arated, so far as l could Judge, into two
or three parts, and it didn't take me
long to see that whoever was singin'
wasn't in there. l poked along-I
reckon it was in crazy sort of way,
for l was about dragged out-when, all
of sudden, l came to the top of big
hogshead. 1t was planted sorter side
ways in the snow, and packed in hard
as rock. A little piece was smashed
out of it near the top, and the nearer to
it l came, the surer l was that the
singin' came out of that. / peeked in
at the hole, and, sure enough, there
was little boy, all muffled up in bed
quilt, and he was singin' away, as
clipper as you please. 1 saw in a
minute that the hogshead had come
down on him, as he had been a-lyin OF
a-crouchin' down on the snow"
ooh, come now! " drawled Skep .
Thompson, with the air of man whc
had borne all that could possibly be eX
pected of him, and refuses to endur,
anything further.
ats fact" went on Tim, infex
IDLY. 4" 1t sounds big, but it is as trut
as preachin' that that hogshead ha,
come down on that little fellow an,
been drove into the snow too deep t.
be moved again, and there, covered VI
with his bedquilt, and under that hogs
through all of that storm. ! wish
could think what it was he was
singin'-an old tune. Maybe you'd be
lieve me if | could think what it was
It's Christian tune, too. Queer l can
think of it,"
lawful queer" said " Skep" ThomT
son, with an incredulous laugh, i
which some of the others joined.
cit wasn't" began the Hardawa
boy, with some agitation" it WASH
like this, was it?" and he lifted up
pure, boyish voice in two lines of tn
i old hymn:
90 Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
r Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid
( Tim stood listening to him in
1 speeches. transport of amazement.
e " 1t was, though, he cried, enthus
a astically, as the boy concluded. "Wh,
E were you-it can't be--how did 20
S happen"
t Yes, but was, though said tn
4 boy, his face flushed, and his voic
e shaking. thought l knew what yo
a were talkin' about, all along, but
d thought I'd wait till you got throug
n before / said anything. Our house VIZ
t blown away just like that in Dakot'
d ten years ago this Christmas. My littl
sister was killed, but my father an
= mother were saved by crawling into
Y haystack that had got stuck in drift
and hogshead fell on me, in just til
:. way you told about, and saved me.
7 remember it all-well. There was
d man there who dug me out, and yo
must be the man."
!, &C. never!" Have to give inl
!, Beats alp cried the men, in astol
Il ished chorus.
i You can ask my mother, if you don
! believe me-" said the boy. 8" recko
a she believes him now"
They turned toward the place wheI
? Mrs. Hardaway had been sitting, blu
d unobserved amid the excitement of I'll