The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-12-13

in languid and dispirited, and by the
summit felt sort of dead beat out.
My feet was cold and cramped from
too tight bucklin' of the shoes, and,
altogether, / made up my mind to sit
down for minute or two and get
pulled together again before l started
"There wasn't much wind and the
sun was out warm and comfortable,
and the idea of stretchin' out there on
the snow for ten minutes rest just
suited me. / sat down with my back
restin' against an old dead stump that
came up through the snow, unbuckled
the shoes, unslung the mail pouch
from my shoulder, and took out the
little snack of bread and meat I'd
brought along and which generally
eat on the way without making any
special stop for it.
"While l was eatin', lookin' oil
down the slope, I'd just climbed up
and thinkin' what bad luck I'd struck
all along the last few months, my eye
caught on to some lines in the news
paper I'd wrapped round the lunch,
and which was lyin' spread out on my
leg under the second piece of bread
just within good readin' distance.
don't recollect just now how the words
read, but the drift of it was that lots
of men failed i'll gettin' what they
wanted in this world just because they
didn't want it hard enough and didn't
keep up askin' and prayin for it un-
til they got il. Those lines somehow
hit my case, it seemed to me.
hadn't had much early religious train
in, and the idea of Just prayin' hard
for what you wanted and gettin' it,
struck me as somethin' new and sim
pie and very satisfactory. There was
no end of thingsI wanted, and want
ed bad, and if they was to be had by
just wantin' them bad enough and
askin' for 'em violent enough was
goin' to get 'em sure!
Then | says to myself, why not
start in right now with a silent
prayer? So l set at it. closed my
eyes and squeezed my lids together
hard-I was SO dead in earnest? 1t
Yves terrible sweepin', vigorous
prayer handed in. First, 1 wanted
good luck in n general way, and asked
for it hard. Then / got more down
to particulars, and asked to be rich
and prosperous, and wound up with n
sort of side-handed suggestion that it
would suit me down to the ground TO
have Prot fall off his luck and get
poor, while l grew sich. All this
wasn't right, of course, as / see now,
ma'am. But | wasn't so much prayin'
for bad luck to Prot for its own sake,
as for the effect of it all on my gettin'
ON with Kitty Gorman.
"When l prayed for the blight on
Prot, was so sorter wrought up by
the whole business that--just, l sup
pose, to give things partic'lar point
i fired out my right leg so vigorous
like, and struck the snow-shoe to
which I'd buckled the mail-pouch SO
hard that tip !--whizz Like shot
it was on its way down the hill. 1t
made a clear shoot Tor about five hun
dred feet every nov apd Il n spinin'
about, ~ m an Ell woTIs strfiS n
snag, until it brought up short against
a ledge that cropped out across its
track, sending splinters of stones all
about when 1t struck, for with the
mail-pouch buckled on to it, it picked
up considerable speed and hit hard.
1t bounded up and turned clean over,
and then stopped altogether, held
from slidin' any further by the crop
pins.
"Well, ma'am, while that snow-shoe
was pircuettin' down the slope, was
that surprised and mad all through
that, although I'd just been writhin'
in prayer, as you might say, let loose
II line of language which was that
strong and pointed that if there'd been
any stop or feelin' to that snow-shCe,
it would have brought up within fifty
feet j mention this with regret,
ma'am, because / see now that if
hadn't been moved to make them re-
marks. just fresh on top of the prayer,
things would huve turned out differ.
ent But bein' young, and hot
headed, and thoughtless then, of course
| didn't look ahead for consequences.
"Ihere was nothin' to do but go
down to the ledge where the snow
shoe lay, pick up it and the mail
pouch, and get on my way again. The
ledge was rotten with the weather and
pretty well broke up already, and
aside from the small pieces Just
knocked out of it, there'd been one
big chunk loosened up, which had
rolled just away from the ledge, and
lay with the fresh break turned up to
the sun, and dazzlin' me with its
brightness.
"No, young man"-this to knowing
suggestion from Manton-''it wasn't
mica, OF course, nor mica AT all.
That piece OF rock was just criss.
crossed all over and through with
coarse wire-gold. | stood starin' at it
n full minute before | could get it
through my head that l was lookin' at
rock that would so over five thousand
dollars to the ton; that | was the dis
coverer and owner of that ledge; and