News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16

sacredly laid aside to meet the expenses
of the coming of q longed-for child. Fo
several days they hesitated to draw from
this store; then a sharp, cold night, du
ring which the north wind blew keenly
warned them to prepare, as winter drew
nigh. The next morning John Tolle!
hitched his incumbered horses to hi.
mortgaged wagon and drove 80 miles tC
town to buy coal. Arrived there he
found many other settlers, all of whom
were poorly clad and in financial straits
In town after fuel. All told the same
story: Cow chips to burn, no solid fuel
almost total failure of crops, and hard
ly any money. These hardy men dis
cussed the possibilities of danger which
lurked in coming billiards freely, a.
there were no women there to be alarm
ed. There was no coal in town.
That night, and for many following
nights, and III many shanties and dug
outs, the fuel question was earnestly dis
cussed. People went to bed at dark to
save the small quantity of fuel they had
stored up. They lay abed late of morn
ings to aid in accomplishing the same
purpose. But they might as we'll be in
bed as anywhere else, as there is nc
work to be done in Western Kansas and
Eastern Colorado during the winter, and,
then, one does not eat SO much when he
remains long in bed. AS the delightful
fall days warm and pleasant continued,
men and women smiled at one another
when they met, and said hopefully
Maybe we will not have a severe win
ter, and we will get through nicely. We
Will not have to pay an extra price for
| hox hoI g. L
nothing" And they nodded their young
heads to indicate their courage and
hopefulness.
As the settlers talked and thought
and acted, so did John and Mary Tolles.
One morning, q few weeks after John
had returned coalless from town, the
south wind was blowing briskly when
they a#oke. 1t whistled rather mourn.
| fully, as is the wont of vapor- laden
winds, around their small house. They
arose and dressed, and walked out into
the prairie. The sky was cloudless, but
hazy. Though it was early in the morn
ing, the air was unpleasantly warm.
Tumble weeds rolled past their hut and
chased one another northward over the
plains. A meadow lark sat on a dead
sunfower stalk swayed to and fro. The
short brown grass nestled and whispered.
A few blue-bottled flies buzzed noise
lessly around the house. All nature
seemed to proclaim that spring was near
at hand. It was late December. The
young people laughed and talked gaily.
''Wtnter is over!' the brave young
wife exclaimed, ioyously. "How warm
it IS. The meadow lark is hailing the
approach of spring. He is calling to his
mate. How foolish we were, John, to be
alarmed about fuel. We will do nicely
now, and next year we will make crop
and have a plenty of everything,
And the young woman sang aloud
All, how little they knew of the terrible
climate of the Kansas and Colorado |
plains. How ignorant they are of the
hardness and cruelty of nature. That |
afternoon low, dark line of clouds APP
peared above the distant northern hori-
son;. the southern sky became overcast,
md heavy, MASSES of vapor-1nden clouds
ushed northwatrd. The air continued
% be warm. That night, shortly after
5he Tolleses had gone to bed, warm,
southern rain began to fall, and they
laughed and talked of the coming crop
as they heard it patter on the roof.
They hadn't noticed how reluctant their
dog had been to leave the house; nor
had they noticed that their few cattle
had come up early in the evening. AS |
they talked of the futnre they heard a
low, faint roar, as though a distant sea
foaming on a sandy shore. Steadily the |
roar grew louder. The dog howled |
mournfully outside. The cattle lowed |
plaintively. The Tolleses sat up to lis
ten. Then with a crash the wind |
whipped into the North. The rain
drove furiously against the frail house
and blew through tiny cracks in spray
on them. Their house shook and |
trembled. Gusts of wind blew down the
stovepipe and caused the light ashes
to fly in jets out of the openings in the
stove door, as though the stove were a |
mighty puff ball that was squeezed by |
unseen hands. The dull sound pro-
duced by falling rain was speedily re-
placed by the sharp rattle of hail beat
ing against the house. The ice par
ticles and fine snow began to sift into
the room.
Louder and louder the storm ragged,
until the air resounded with the voice of
enraged nature. 1t grew colder and
colder. The young people trembled in
bed. They piled all their clothes on
their blankets, and there they lay and |
fore morning they realized that spring
had not arrived. Gray light penetrated
into the room through its coated win
dows and announced that dawn had
come. The hands of the clock marked |
eight.
The Tolleses arose. They were wretch
edly cold. They built fire out of corn
cobs and COW chips, which hardly gave
GOo@ 10 %I,N Ae,
they breathed, frosty columns of vapOr
issued from their mouths as horns. Out
side was an awe-inspiring arctic scene
that chilled them to look upon. The air
was filled with ice particles and snow,
which swept almost horizontally through |
it. An apparently solid aud endless
mat of snow two feet thick moved rap
idly over the frozen surface of the earth.
The utmost extent of vision was about |
twenty-five yards. And the loud voice
of nature never ceased to roar over the
storm cursed land. The Tolleses were
their first blizzard. AS
they suffered, and through suffering
added to their scanty store of knowledge,
their hearts burned with anger at the
brutal wickedness displayed by the man
ayers of the railroad company, men who
knew the land and its climate, in not
hauling coal to the towns along their
road for the settlers to buy. They quick
ly realized the folly of attempting to |
keep the room warm with the fuel they |
had. They resolved to hoard it to cook
their coarse food. So, after making an
attempt to get to their
stock, and in making which they very |
nearly became lost in the storm, they
went to bed.
One day, two days, passed, and they
suffered physically and mentally the
while. When they awoke on the third
morning the sun streamed redly through |
the ice-coated eastern windows. The
blizzard had passed, the sky was cloud
less. 1t was intensely cold. They arose,
dressed themselves, and opened the door
to look out. To the extreme of vision
the plains were white. All the ravines
were drifted full of snow. Every fami
liar land mark had disappeared. The
cattle shed in the ravine was almost Gov
cred with tightly-packed ice and snow.
After eating a scanty breakfast of corn
meal and bacon the Tolleses dug path
to their cattle and watered them and fed |
them. Then they carried straw to their
house and rolled and twisted it into
bundles to burn in their stove, but it
afforded little heat, and the house was
very cold. The next day the wind blew
from the SOuth and If seemed to be |