Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-03-14

III SuCCRS5fN.c FlOlHe anu uepTCSSiOH' Inc
SNOW lay deep in the dry ravines and
strealed the sea like surface with jagged
lines of foam, between which lay broad
spaces clean swept by the gale. Heavy
masses of cloud, dark and forbidding,
draped the sky from zenith so horizon,
and the air was thick with spiteful gusts
and splits of snow, cracking against the
window panes, making fierce dashes
every time a car door was hurriedly
opened, and driving about the platforms
like a myriad swarm OF feecy and ag-
gressive gnats raging for battle. Every
now and then, responsive to some wilder
blast, binding white cloud camc whirl-
ing from the depths of the nearest gully
and breaking like spray over the snow
fence along the line. Not a sign of life
was visible.
The tiny mounds in the villages of the
prairie dogs seemed blocked and frozen;
even the trusty sentinel had ''deserted
post" and huddled with his fellows for
warmth and shelter in the bowels of the
earth. Fluftering owl and sliuking
coyote, too, had vanished from the face
Of nature. Timid antelope - Geetest
coursers of the prairie -- and stoid
horned cattle had gone, none knew
whittier, nor cared to know until the
Sblizzard" had subsidized. Two heavy
engines fought their way, painting, into
the very teeth of the gale and slowly
wound the long train after them up
grade among the foothills of the great
plateau of the Rockies. Once in a
xv1ilo 1,-bop c+oppin,c for moment a
some group of brown painted sheds and
earth battened shanties, the wind moaned
and howled among the iron braces and
brake'chaius beneath the car, and made
such mournful noise that it was relief
TO start once more and lose sound of its
wailing in the general rumble. AS for
the scenery, only as picture of SILVER
provoking monotony and desolation
would one care to take a second look.
And yet. some miles ahead, striving
hard to reach the railway in time to in
tepcept this very train, a small battalion
of cavalry was struggling through the
blasts. officers and mon afoot and drag
ging their own hcnunbed limbs and half
bcnumbed chargers through the drifts
that lay deep at the bottom of every
"coulcr.' Some few soldiers remained
in saddle; they were too frozen to walk
at all. Some few fell behind. and would
have thrown themselves fiat upon the
prairie in the lcthargy that is but premo-
milton Of death 10y freezing. Like men half
deadened by morphine, their rescue de-
pended on heroic measures, humane in
their seeming brutality. Officers who at
other times We're all gentleness now fell
upon the hapless stragglers with kicks
and blows. AS the train drew up at the
platform of a station in mid-prairie, a
horseman enveloped in fur ard frost and
steam from his painting steed refined up
beside the leading engine and shouted to
the occupants of the cab:
For Gods sake hold on few min
utes. We've got dozen frozen men
with us we must send on to Fort War
rener.' And the train was held.
Meantime, those far to the rear in the
sleeper knew nothing of what was going
on ahead. The car was warm and COM
Portable, and most of its occupants were
apparently appreciative of its shelter and
CoZlnesS in contrast with the cherries
scene without. A motherlv looking
woman had produced her kaitting, and
WIS blithely clicking away at her needles
while her cntcrprisiug son. p youth OF
four summers and undalmted confidence
inhumau nature, tackled up and down
the aisle and made impctuous incursions
on the various sections by turns, rcceiv.
ing such modified welcome as could be
accorded features strcaked with mingled
candy and ciuders, and fingers whose
propensity to cling to whatsoever they
touched was due no more TO instincts OF
predatory nature than to the adhesive
properties Of the glucose which formed
so large a constituent of the CONNECTIONS
he had been industrousiy consuming
since early morning. -Four men playing
whist in the roarmost section, two ol
three commercial travellers, whose init
macy with the porter aud airs OF easy
proprietorship told of an apparent con
trolling interest in the road, young
man OF reserved manners. reading in
section all by himself, Il baby sieepin.
quietly upon the seat opposite the TIVE
passengers first mentioned. and q Maltes'
kitten curled up in the lap of one O
The proximity of the baby and the
kitten furnishes strong presumptivs
evidence Of the sex and general condi
ton Of the two passengers referred to
and renders detail superlluous. A baby
rarely travels without a woman, or
kitten with woman already encum
bered with baby. The baby belonged
to the elder passenger, the kitten to tn
younger. The one was buxom matron
the other slender maid. In their age
there must have been a difference of fiji
teen years: in feature there was still
wider disparity. The elder was fin
looking woman, and one who pride,
herself upon the Junoesque proportion
which she occasionally exhibited in
stroll for exercise up and dowA the aisle
Yet no one would call her a beauty
Her eyes were Of a somewhat tishy an
uncertain blue; the lids were tinget
with an unornamental pink that told o
Irritation of the adjacent interior SUI
Rooa A. ,,I,es-iala t,l, e