The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-12-25
For THE UNIvERsALIsT.
A PROVlDENTIAL MISTAKE
RESULTING IN A HAPPY CHRISTMAS
BY MRS. MARY G. BILLINGS.

Two turns to the left and one To the |
right that was what they told me.
reckon I'm right; get up, ponies. we've
got big days travel before u.s."
Thus soliloquized traveller in central
Texas as he emerged from grove of post
oaks one mild winter day. Such des-
olate tract of country as it wssl A waste
OF land, parched and cracked bv heat
and drouth, stretched out on all sides:
view OF distant mountains and a few
clusters OF post oak trees were all that
broke the monotony of the scene as far
as the eye could reach. What in form
er seasons had been fields of corn and
cotton were now parched and barren
wastes. ALI who could flee from this
drouth-strlcken region had gone with
their stock and household belongings.
Along this road the simply-built cottages
or ruoer log cabins were deserted. Only
four families, within radius of twenty
miles were left, and they had been nm.
able to get away. Starvation was staring
them IN the face. Stealthily nearer and
nearer crept the ferocious wolf to their
doors. They had heard of supplies
having been sent into the county. but
none had reached them. This time,
tnough the autumn was past and early
winter had come, the sun shone brightly
and the air was mild in this southwestern
portion of our country where the climate.
during the greater part of the year, is
oehgntful. AS weeks went by and no
AID came to their relief and no rain fell
TO save their few starving cattle, despair
settled down upon them.
In the darkest of this time, when not
one OF the families had sufficient corn IN
last them month, a stranger rode
through the district in a covered buggy,
arriving pair of ponies evidently well
fed. He had taken shorter route across
the country to reach given point, as his
business required haste and he would
thus save half day of travel. Stopping
at roadside we'll to water his horses, he
found 1t nearly dry. Farther on was a
deserted cabin; and not until he had pro.
ceeded several miles did he find trace of
human kind. Fortunately he had stocked
hlmself with provisions for a two days'
trip having heard before starting in that
direction he would find scant food for
himself or his horses Night was coming
on without moon; and he counted him
self fortunate in finding place of shell
ter though 1t was among the poorest of
the poor WIFI whom he had ever fallen in
during large experience of travel in
new sections of the country. "Is it DOS.
slole," thought he, that there could be
such suffering as this among our own
countrymen without calling out sym-
pathy and aid to relieve it?" In This
place, three miles from any neighbor,
tne family where he stopped were slowly
starving, having been reduced to one
scant meal day. Two years before
the man had been comfortably provided
with the necessaries of life. Then came
Two bad seasons, crops cut off by food
and broken down by tornado. Then.
when the prolonged drouth cut off all his
hopes of harvest, he had been prevented
from getting away by the sickness of
wife and children. Now he had no team.
no money. and scarcely any food. He
had killed two of his young cattle that
we're left behind, the other older ones. six
In number, together with the colts he
owned, having gone off to find another
range for grazing. His two draft horses
had died, and he could not get AWAY.
The mans spirit was broken, his energy
paralyzed and dull despair seemed to
have mastered him.
Inside OF the cabin the woman had.
apparently, kept things up as best she
could. She had been noted as a tidy,
capable person and had helped her easy
gong husband in his outdoor work as
well as to attend to the cooking and
housekeeping. Three children, with at
tenuated faces, gazed at the stranger with
open-eyed wonder. They had not seen
any one beside their own household and
Jake Allen, their nearest neighbor, for
many months
James Armitage-this was the strangers
name-felt as benevolent man from a
land of plenty might be supposed to feel,
coming suddenly in close contact with a
group of human beings suffering all the
horrors of slow starvation. Like any
other person in such situation, he
brought in his box of provision and, re-
serving only sufficient to give himself a
bite for the next days travel, passed it |
over to the woman who was trying to |
prepare something i'll the semblance of a |
meal. This consisted of few thin slices |
OF bacon, some boiled corn and sassafras |
tea. without sugar or milk.
Mr. Armitage had been an old cam
paigner in the way of travel, and though
not much pact forty, had larger ex-
perience in that line than most men who
have reached their half century. The
horses had been watered at spring not
far from the house, the only natural ad.
vantage spared to the owner of the place.
If it hadn't been for that, we would
have died during the fever" Mrs. Barnett
told her guest. Mr.. Armitage left the
animals tethered and munching their
corn which he had brouOht and TAKING