Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-10-31
A DAKOTA BLIZZARD.
How 1t Comes On and How RemorseleSs
Especial Correspondence

Especial Correspondence
New YORK, Oct. 25.-The Dakota dusk
was closing in as | sat in the sleigh and tried
TO rouse the driver from the Stupor into which
he had fallen-a stupor produced in part by
the intense cold, and in part by the Internal
whisky he got at the last GROCERY we had
passed.
Jake, wake up"
"Yaa.aa7aaS."
Wake up, I tell you"
"Yaa-uh.n
Far as the eye could see there was nothing
but snow-SnOw piled in drifts-snow falling
in remorseleSS whirls and eddies and circles
through the tingling air. Not a house i'll
sigbt-nor q tree.
Heavens, how coldm
/ beat my hands, ground my teeth
fought the sleep that l felt was coming on
the sleep of death, whatever that dumb, blind
thing may be.
The horses plunged aimlessly through the
driftS-now to the right-now to the left
then stopped, painting, neighing low, broken,
pititul neighs.
Jake
"Yaa-aa-aaS-zoon-puhty zoon!'
NO! now" 1 yelled, shifting him a fright
full blow in the face. Then l tried to tear tho
reins from his hand, but my numb fingers
Knocked at my will. One Of the horses fell
quivering. Its companion tried to push on,
tottered and lay prone.
And the snow fell merrily; and the stars
visible in the rift Of cloud overhead seemed
to laugh down at me; and the wind! All!
How blithely it danced over the white drift
just before us!
| crouched dowu--down-down in the boz
of the - Ugh.
@How dark" | whispered to myself. "But
it isn't cold now" and | laughed a low, salts
factory laugh. l don't know but there
seemed to be a break in my thoughts just
there-the vast, unutterable silence and dark
ness of humiliation rolled over me, and l
was not. Brain, soul, call the conscious self
what you please, was utterly blotted out.
Thcn-
Why" and l clapped my hands gladly,
like q pleased child. "Why, just look ut those
green woods yonder, with the sunbeamS spill
ing through their poisoning boughs! And
the wild roses! All, how beautiful! And see
the lake-the lake! Why, it is Silver lake;
and thiS-this must be Ohio! Oh, yes, ohio!
w hen / Was mere DSIOTe-du! uO" lNhiLy
years ago was thatl-I was only a boy. And
the sky was like q great, t%hrobbing diamond;
the woods waved their green branches; tho
wild roses reached to kiss me; butterflies
waltzed down the rays of sunshine, and the
birds were caroling just as they are now.
Then, as l passed on, l came to the lake, and
there, Oh, Beloved / found you. Under the
roseS-under the dust Of the years, you are
sleeping now, my pet! But then, ah! how
your eyes sparkled with the ineffablc light OF
heaven, as you turned with a smile to me!
And there is the wood-the lake-the immOr-
tai green, blue and gold of sod and sky and
Sun-there it all iS-just as it was centuries
ago, beloved! centuries ago, when you and i!
were looking OF it laSt!'
Hey, there, old Teller! Hey, l sayH'
l am lying somewhere. Coarse but kindly
men are over me. They are beating my
| palms and soles and rubbing me with snow,
and forcing internal draughts Of brandy
down my throat. Every nerve is a sword
every sword sends a hideous pain into the
most sensitive part of my body.
"For Gods sake, let me sleepl'I moan; but
they have no pity.
Wake or die" says one.
And so they brought me back to life out Of
the horrible jaws of q blizzard.
WILL HUBBARD HERMAN.