The Washington critic., 1886-02-06
TALES TOLD IN A SN0WDRIFT.
WRITTEN FOR "ruE CRITIC" By nozELL
ONERroN.

the conductor as he stood in the door
of the Pullman car. A dolcful groan
went up from the occupants of the car.
A fine prospect, truly Forty miles
from the nearest station, fast in a snow
drift, with no chance Of getting ont
until assistance reached us from the
station and the thermometer 20 degrees
below zero II was still showing
furiously, giving fair promise of bury.
ing the train completely out of sight If
it continued There were eight of us
in the Pullman, all commercial travel.
ers. We had started from Kansas City
the day before, with whole baggage.
car full Of sample trunks, bound for
San Francisco to take orders for the
spring trade. About three hours out
of Kansas City il commenced to snow
and blow, n regular northwest bliz-
zard. We had experienced no delay
until we came out into Ninety mile
prairie, as it is called; and here we are
now, right in the middle of it. Snow,
snow, snow, as far as the eye can
reach. "Wcll, said Phil. Caztac (he
was a Boston boot and shoe mau),
nothing for it, suppose, but to make
the best of 1t. What can we do to pass
away the timer"
Read" suggested Graves, the New
Orleans sugarman.
Bah! ] have already exhausted the
train boys stock of French novels and
Jesse James literature"
PLAY poker" proposed Roots of
Chicago.
Never" shouted Ives of Philadel-
phia, eve are too far from San Fran
cisco to get broke so soon"
Ives knew Roots of old.
Tell stories, put in Barnes Of Bali,
more.
"Agrccd;" "who shall tell the first
one?"
Draw cuts" said PASTOR. We did
so and it devolved upon Graves, the
New Orleans sugar man, to tell the
first zone. We arranged ourselves
back comfortably in our chairs, lii our
pipes and cigars, and Graves, with his
feet on the top of the opposite seat,
began:
ut was back in the sixties, some
where, when steamboating was in its
flush that / was chief clerk of the
steamer Golden Wing, plying between
Memphis and New Orleans. Those
were palmy days for the steamboats,
and we did rushing business. Many's
the time have We gone into New Or
leans with 1000 bales of cotton aboard
and a deck load of small freight. As
the Golden Wing was one of the finest
packets on the river, we had big pas
scnger trade, too, and became ac-
quainted with great many people
along the river and had many friends.
But my best friend was young Allan
Flournoy, the first pilot of the steamer.
He was II fine young fellow, being n
graduate of Harvard. Why q fellow
Of his calibrc had taken up the life Of
a river pilot ! could never imagine.
lie made splendid pilot, though, and
got such name that the people used
10 ask me, when engaging their births,
if young Flournoy was aboard this
trip.
about forty miles below Friar's
Point there lived planter, Major
Newton, who owned one of the largest
plantations along the river. He was Il
fine old gentleman of the old regime.
Hospitable and generous, his house al
ways open to his friends, and his
friends always there. But though a
hearty, frank old gentleman, there
were two things he was very partcu-
lar about: His family pride and his
daughter Alice. 1t were difficult to
say which he loved best, both being
the idols he worshipped. Imagine,
then, his rage, modification and chagrin
when it became apparent to him that
his daughter and young Flournoy had
formed an attachment for each other.
Oh heavens. A Newton love a river
pilot Horrible! Although the young
man was well educated and evidently a
gentleman by his manner, who was het
What was his family? OF course the
Major Immediately forbade Flournoy
having anything TO say to the girl at all,
but that did no good. The old gentle
man could not watch them constantly,
| and just as certain as he rode out into
his plantation, just so sure was the
Golden Wing TO come along, and OF
course Miss Alice was on hand.
"The Major, seeing all his efforts to
separate them were Of no avail, sent
the young lady up to Louisville tc
spend the winter with some relatives
hoping that she might forget the pilot
But that could not be. II was Ger
tainly case of true love with the
young people and they kept up a regu
lar correspondence. SO ii was no Won
der that when the Golden Wing lail
up at Memphis two weeks to have her
boilers clcand the pilot should take &
trip up to Louisville. When he re
turned he told me all about ii. Oi
course he had seen the young lady
often, and they had come to definite
understanding. She had promised t.
be his wife ii he would give up the
river and take up profession. AS h,
had saved considerable money out o.
his wages of $3.50 per month as pilo
for the past three years he determined
to go West in the spring with Miss
Newton rs his wife and, buying AZ
interest in some live paper, settle down
OF course no thought OF the father ha(
entered their heads while making Ghes
plans, and nothing was to be said unit
spring. Well, the winter dragget
along. No ice in the river and we RAJ
om regular trips. One damp, chill,
day in March, Just as we were gettin
ready to back out Of Memphis, u hacl
dashed down the levec and out stepped
Major Newton aud his daughter,
81 say, Graves Flournoy Gale,
through The speaking tube from tn
pilot house, find out what's the mat
ter, So when the Major came to tn
office to get state-rooms learned tina
Mrs, Newton wasvery i'll, and the Ma
jor had come up to bring the daughte
home, 1t went sore against him to G
down on our boat, but it was the onl
one down until the next day, SO it ha
70, DC, sWc puled out OF Memphis an,
went on down the river, taking on con
siderable cotton, At Red Bluff W
took on 300 bales, making our carg
800 bales. ..
| .YDuring the afternoon ahigh wine
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