The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-06
THE GREAT BLIZZARD OF Y.
BY HAMLIN GARLAND.
(copyrighL)

asalnst the walls. CT swirled and dashed
tPoh lne roof Ike the srarl Of the ocean
oA graNeliy beach. while the hlrlinr
'iCalAs OF snow gave rise 10 strange
- luminous, anomalous sounds. now
am ana Tar, now near and all-surrot,nd-
ING, producing an effect of r,,,--rsr,- ~,
i'-'-'ee feacn a. though the house were
d helpless ship tossing Gu a imitless
angry sea.
looking our there vas nothing 10 be
seen save the flashing OF the wind ana
INV " hen We attempted To face il ana
- 70 me rescue OF the poor cattle. we
o-'-u that the character of the storm
Ia co-nI letely changed 1t was no longer
owing but the air was filled with an
Ampsnetrabls cloud Of nving snow. cine
- powder and mixed with the dirt caurh.
"p from he plowel fields by the re-
i-"'iess 6iast which had now attained the
iAeohceiVaDle velocity of ninety miles an
hour- 1t was impossible TO see twenty fest
save at long intervals-indeed one could
Hot see II ali fzcing the storm: the eyes
Would have been destroyed. As We stepped
cut into the wind the face was coated
WIN ice and dirt as ii by a dash of mud
a mask which blinded the eyes and froze
me cheek ia d few seconds.
Su'h was the force of the wind that q
strong man could not breathe with his
mouth unprotected. The mouth beinis
once open the breath seemed swept away
ana the power of the lungs 70 inhale lost.
lhat day We mainly spent III keeping
warm and feeding the stock in the barn
which We reached by desperate clashes
during some momentarv relentjug i'm The
tempest. We attempted 10 water the horses
ana cows, but the wind blew the water
from the pail and froze it instantly on
everything it touched In the house IN be-
came more and more difficult to nut a
f- p sFv-sr.. 60
Notwithstanding we had fuel in abundance.
Oh, that terrible day, Hour after hour
we listened 10 that prodigious appalling.
lerocious wind. All day We moved restless
ly 10 and fro asking each other will i.
ever endZ We had the same sensations
which the sailor has when the reused
ocean seems too vast ard too uneovern-
able 70 ever again be spoken into quiet
even by the creator himself II did NOT
seem to me that God could control that
storm, Tor my imagination could not con
ceive of power greater than this war Of
wind and snow
On the third day we arose with veariness
and looked into each others faces with q
sort of Mortified surprise Not the in
Vlncible heart Of father nor the CHEEKY
good nature Of our guests could keep a
gloomy silence from settling down upon
US. Conversation was scantv, and do
not remember that any one laughed dur
ing the whole of the day. as We listened
anxiously to the wind tearing at the shin
giles, beating at the door and shrieking
around the caves.
The frost upon the windows tbickened
and the room was dusk at midday. Ii
grew dark at three O'Clock and the lamps
We're lighted. The women sat with avyed
faces and wide open mUsing eyes full of
unshed tears, their sympathy going out
to the poor travellers on the wild prairie
or foundering in the deep drifts of the
gullies.
That night. so disturbed had we be-
come, We lay awake until nearly mid
night listening, praying that the storm
might cease, waiting for some sign 10
tell that the wind had reached its height
Shortly after midnight I noticed that
the roar was no longer so relentless,
steady and high-keyed. There were mo-
ments of lull, distinct easing away. and
though it returned to its attack almost i'm
mediately, its fury was plainly becoming
spasmodic. l heard an exultant voice
from below cry out. 1.-The storm is over,'
and then everybody sang into deep sleep
from sheer eief.
1t is impossible TO express the joy with
which we melted the ice from the win
dows the next morning and looked out
on the familiar landscape. peaceful, daz-
zling under the brilliant sun and sky
We greeted IL with sort Of frenzy as if we
had given it up for lost. The wide plain
rdged with drifts and the far blue line
of timber looked familiar but desolate.
The neighfOring cottages sent up a
cheerful column OF smoke as if TO tell
US the people We're alive, that the sounds
of the wind seemed with us still. so long
and so continued had it howled in our
ears that even in perfect calm the i'm
agination was constrained to supply its
loss withs fainter fancied roaring
AS long as | live I shall never forget
those days, and the sound OF that wind
will never leave me. What it must have
been on the open plain was awful to think
Of These praries so bright and beau
tiful in the summer that you seem adrift
on a fiowery sea, under skies of perpetual
blue-those wide wastes when the North
er was abroad in his wrath, were as
pitiless and destructive as the Northern
ocean. Nothing lived there unhoused-
all was al the mercy of the north wind,
whom only the great Lord Sun could