The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1886-12-30
rushed over to his weak-minded broth
er and nut his arms abollt him.

rushed over to his weak-minded broth
er and put his arms about him.
"Poor little Nose! dear fellow! Tell
us all about Mehitable. Where is the
darling that we alllove-that youlove
SO much? Where is she, dear little
Mose?" Eph asked, tenderly. "Tell
me, please do" he begged, still with
his arms around Nose.
Il will, / will" shouted Nose, rising
to his feet. "They never touched the
bread tray-never w looked at it.;
oh, goody! goody! Eph, get the bread
tray. Mehitable is in it."
A minute later the bread tray was
at mothers feet. In it a little head
nestled on it's pillow. and alittle hand
rubbed a sleepy face, and then two
blue eyes opened and q rosy mouth
smiled up into our longing, loving, re-.
lieved faces. Mother caught hot
up in q transport of Joy, kissed
her r~apturously and then passed
her to father. She then took Nose in
her arms, kissed him over and over,
laughing and crying over him until he
smiled-not the old tiresome, stereo.
typed smile either, but one with intel.
ligence in it.
OF course you want to know how
Mehitable ever got into the bread.
tray; poor, dear Nose told US brokenly
but with great earnestness. The baby
had been crying pitifully, although he
had walked with her until ready ia
drop with fatigue. Going outside the
door s. minute, to see If mother and
father were coming, he had heard an
Indian war-whoop. He was terrible
frightened, but soon recalled what
mother had told him about God al
ways watching His children and list.
ening to their prayers. He prayed
then as he ran in and barred the
door, and God must have answered
his prayer, giving him some WISE
thoughts.
First he gave the baby some uieting
drops-as he had seen mother do at
certain necessary times. Then he
walked around with her until she was
asleep, praying to know where to hide
her safely should the Indians come.
He thought of the empty bread-tray;
and, though it was so heavy that it
| required great effort to lift it up to
the top cupboard shelf, he finally put
it there, fixed it soft and nice inside,
and laid the baby in it.
"Then," said Nose, II thought Of
that verse mother taught me, God is
our refugee He must be my refuge,
cause I'm a poor little know-nothine
boy, and somehow, some one-it
must have been God-whispered, Fin
up the victuals your mothers
been baking for Christmas and
unbar the door and hide somewhere;
then If the savages come, they'll
think the folks is gone and they'll car
ry off all the good things and won't
touch Mehitable.' So I put all the
loaves of bread on an undershelf. and
| the pies above them and the chickens
above them. My! what a show they
did make; and then I heard a yelling
not far of, and I hid in the old hair
trunk that has the big hole in it. J
wasn't a minute too quick. Was
white as snow? Was l stiff as mar
BILE? I thought SO when those shrek
ing horrible Indians, three of them,
came bounding in the door. They
had knives and tomahawks and bran
dished them wildly, but all of a sud
den one of them said with a grunt
Fam all gone Then another said
spying the good things 'Kis'mas dinner
Kis'mas dinner, hi! hi! and they fllec
a bag full to the brim with our Christ
mas provisions. Then they went out
and made a great noise around thu
house, and by-and-by all vas still.
smelled smoke and crept out of tn.
trunk. I knew Mehitable was safe
cause l had seen through the hole o
the trunk that no one disturbed her
so l opened the door softly and crept
out. There wasn't an Indian in sight
but the cabin had been fired and TIT
flames were slowly setting fire to thu
lower logs. I put'em out, though,
put'em out" cried Nose, delightedly
Our Christmas dinner was only some
fried bacon and roasted potatoes with
hot pancakes and baked apples, but
the rich sauce of Joy and gratitude that
went with it made it a delicious ban
quet. a.