News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
A Story of the Blizzard.

;. Inc Miami Valley glowed with sof
light one afternoon last May. The ali
was heavy with the sweet scent of ample
| blossoms, and hummed Iazily with The
stir of insect life. The ground was CLAD
with green. The wide, tree-lined roaG
which winds up the valley was deserted
The Tolles homestead, a small eray
house, weather-beaten and with moss
grown roof, stands at the foot of a long,
gently-sloping hill, around which the
road winds.
A young woman stood in the orchard
IN the shade cast by an apple tree, in
which countless pollen-laden bees bnszed
heavily from blossom to blossom, She
was bareheaded. Her left hand was
held to her forehead, visor-hke, to shade
her eyes from sunbeams which pierced
through the overhanging limbs. Her
right hand was pressed lightly against
the rough bark of the tree. She was
leaning slightly forward, gazing intentlv
down the road. She was not remarka-
bly, beautiful, nor was she the acme of
physical perfection. She was typical
Of the ordinary farmers daughter. She
was acSrIston1ed to com lroaratfvely ,flard |
OH. she was not remarkably intelligent, |
out Iust an average girl, such as are !
She was capable of loving one man sin
cerely and honestly. As she looked
through clear gray eyes down the tree
lined road, her face suddenly glowed
redly, then as suddenly blushed. She
pressed her right hand to her throat, as
though to aid her to swallow lump,
and she murmsred, "There he isl as a
man walking briskly appeared in the
road, He saw her standing in the Or
chard among the beehives. He ceased
to walk for an instant and looked intent
ly at her, then placing his hands on the
top rail of the fence he vaulted lightly
over it, and walked rapidly toward her.
His soft, black hat was upturned and ex-
posed to her view sun-burned, beard
less face, which flushed as he approached
her. There was nothing extraordinary
about the appearance of this young
man. The world is full of Just such
young men. He was typical of farmers
sons. The girl stood motionless until
he was within a few yards of her, then,
with an exclamation of Joy, she rushed
forward to meet him. They embraced,
their lips met lovingly, and before he
released her from his encircling arms he
whispered:
"Cousin Mary, I have come for you.
The Kansas home is ready"
John" she whispered back to him,
''I am ready to go"
The next morning they were married,
and the following night they were trav-
cling westward in a day coach, because
they were poor and could not afford to
ride in a sleeping car. AS they jour
neyed, John told her of the home he
was taking her to.
The Tolleses were two units of the
enormous number of immigrants who
lave poured into western Kansas and
eastern Colorado during the two years
last past. The larger portion of these
immigrants were and are poor men.
They are young, hopeful, and many of
them are newly married. They settled
on land that has for years been consid-
cred to be arid and unfit for agriculture.
But it really seems as though the climate
of the arid zone had changed, or, more
properly, that the wet zone had en-
croached on the grassy desert. But, be
that as it may, last summer was dry in
Kansas and Colorado. Siroccos blew
out of the southwest. Kansas and Colo
RADIO painted and then scorched. The
herbage dried, the earth cracked, water
ceased to flow in river and creek beds
and stood in shallow pools; the leaves
of the corn plants rolled and curled as
though exposed to the fiery breath of
furnace, and day after day the blistering
sun coursed through cloudless sky.
Lines of little painting birds stood in
the shadows cast by telegraph poles.
Tens of thousands of acres of usually
highly productive corn land baked brick
like in the sun, and the plants died be-
fore they reproduced themselves. Ex
tensive areas of wheat were not worth
cutting. Direful disaster hung over
the land. Men who titled incumbered
acres lay awake nights to think of their
cares.
How did the larger proportion of the
newly arrived immigrants fare2 Pow
erty, armed with judgments as with
club, stalked among them and struck
them down in scores. Crops were lost
on o scale that threatened to bankrupt
them. Chattels were laid on cattle to
obtain money with which to pay inter
est on real estate mortgages. Winter ap-
preached, and men and women who
lived in caves dug into the banks of tim
berless creeks, or in frail, upholstered
houses mostly of one room, sat and
silently looked at one another, afraid to
voice their fears. They had but little,
if any, money. Plentiful supplies of
healthful food were scarce. They were
almost destitute of fuel, and winter was
gradually stalking southwark from the
frozen plains of Manitoba. Daily the
people gathered dry COW chips which
lay on the range where herds of
cattle grazed a few years ago.
But COW chips are poor fuel, and the
supply was limited. These settlers come
from regions where coal and wood were
cheap, and they could hardly realize
that men and women could lose their
lives for the want of little coal. MAJ
talked of fuel when they met. Th9y
dreamed of piles of coal and long ranks
of cordwood when they slept.
The Tolleses realized that they had to
have coal. They had lost their crops,
and were as poor as their neighbors. To