Mower County transcript., 1890-04-23

q seek my fortune, but inquest Of sugar
and tobacco, casting as l went q regret
ful glance st the bright fire. The two
mile tramp or rather stumble, Tor about
. foot oi snow had fallen, and II yielded
and slipped under myteet, was unevent.
ful beyond being fstiguing. and ]
was at the village IN fair course Of time.
Here, however, I was delayed. There
were many people ahead Of me- In the
store, and all there. and moro besides,
wanted to chat with the newcomer,
and 1t was seven O'Clock when, with
my purchases strapped In military fash.
lon to my shoulders, started home-
ward bound. ~ 80. ~
BY the time l had reached the out
skirts OF the village had made
two disagreeable discoveries. First,
the snow was falling faster and thicker.
Second, strong wind had arisen and
was steadily increasing In velocity. I
had read and heard OF those frighttul
blizxards which scour over the Western
prairies. their breath as pregnant with
desolation and death as that Of the
tabled dragon, and made up my mind
that this was q halt-grown blizzard.
Nothing daunted, l plunged onward.
How the wind howled and the snow
few! Nothing adolescent about this
blizzard; 1t was in the prime OF vigorous
manhood and growing stronger every
moment. Then hesitated; the disa-
greeable had merged into the fright
full. I was terror-stricken. Wildly
swept that razor edged blast,
bearing with it mass OF
snow PARTICLES that stung my face like
fine shot from . gun. It howled, it
yelled, it whistled in my cars, it hurled
the snow between my cap and coat col
lar, it drove my breath back into my
nostrils, benumbing, bewildering in its
horrible violence. I hesitated; it
seemed madness to proceed; and then l
thought Of my wife frenzied with fear.
She might leave the house in her mad
grief to search for me, and be lost. I
plunged forward. The wind, full of
malice, piled the snow here in erratio
drifts; there 1t nearly swept the ground
clear. Now 1t barely covered my ankles,
then it reached my waist, and them
ah! headlong 1 plunged into a mighty
drift. In despair, breathless, strug-
gled to my feet, dashing the snow from
my eyes and ears. l must return-it
was suicide to proceed-so prepared to
retrace my steps
Where lay the village? Where9 It
was not DARK; there was spectral,
grayish appearance in the atmosphere,
but an object three feet distant would
have been entirely invisible in the
whirling, driving snow vapor. The
village might be in any direc-
ton. and also my house. had fallen y
number Of times. had been confused
and worried by the terrible choas in the
atmosphere, and I knew not how to re-
trace my course. God in Heaven-Iw was
lostl must either lie down and die, or
wander aimlessly until death struck me
down. Perhaps was near either the
village or my house; but for all practical
purposes they might as we'll be hun
dred miles distant Imight pass within
twenty feet of my home unknowingly.
A fearful despair almost crazed me
out must move. Even as hesitated :
imagined l felt that benumbing sensa.
ton that precedes death by freezing.
1t may have been fancy, but it neryed
me to plunge forward into the yelling
storm. l slipped; I stumbled; fell
prostrate, wrestling with tho demon
that clogged my feet and blinded my
eyes; wrestling for life. My breath
came in laborious gasps, drops Of ice-
cold sweat stood on my forehead, but
plunged on through the drifts. "Oh,
God, let me live, if not for myself, for
those dependent on metz groaned,
and the wind, as If in derision, screeched
'Useless, useless!"
made last effort; the snow was up
to my armpits. 1gasped for breath, my
head swan, and fell heavily forward.
AS l fell was conscious of stunning
blow on my forehead. The force of tie
blow seemed to rally my senses. put
out my hand and touched something.
Further groveling amid the drift showed
the object to be tree. In Heavens
name where was I? Between the village
and my house the prairie was treeless;
only few small bushes broke the level
monotony. I must have wandered far
from my course, away from village and
home.
No use in further exertions, was
doomed to die in this wintry desert; and,
with sob of anguish, tried to throw
my arms around the tree. That was
something besides the eternal wind and
snow and void. could pass my arms
around it and die at its foot. Then l
arose to my feet flung my hands into
the air, and in quavering voice
screamed: my God, l thank Thee"
As clasped my hands around the tree
they had come in contact with some-
thing movable; it was a chain, trace
chain. Now, the reason for my wild
cry of thankfulness was that l myself
had nailed that chain to that tree. I
had so utilized a piece of broken trace
chain as means of fastening my horse.
l had lain down to die within hundred
feet of my house.
Carefully passing my numbed hands
over the chain, found it was nailed to
the tree on the opposite side, and in
that direction was my house. Collect
- ek~