The Hope pioneer., 1895-12-20
T WAS Christmas eve, and the
wind blew keen

Eb T WAS Christmas eve, and the
- wind blew keen
| Across the prairies that lie between
Fort Dodge, on the Arkansaw, under the
And the struggling hamlet of Purdyville,
Where dwelt Niles Nelson, who rode that
From his home to the northward. far
Over the bunch grass, bare and brown,
Into the bustling frontier town.
The night was dark-not star on high
And the blizzard brewing up there in the
sky
Niles Nelson stepped out into the street;
| The wind was driving binding sheet
| OF powdery snow right into his face.
But Niles was happy; he left the place
With glow in his heart, for little Moll,
| His baby daughter, would get her doll,
The Christmas gift he had promised long.
Niles Nelson, trolling Christmas song,
And facing the north wind, sturdily rode,
While past him the Storm Fiend's coursers
| strobe.
The snow grows deeper, the night more
| wild,
When he hears the wall of little child,
Lost in the prairie and doomed to die
| If Heaven prove deaf to its feeble cry
He leaps from his pony, he searches long;
He feels it; he has it within his strong,
Rough hands, he presses it to his breast
A place of shelter, place of rest.
Don't cry, little honey, you'll catch more
cold,'
And he wrapped the child in many fold
OF his blanket coarse, and he hugged it
tight
To his big, broad breast, but the blizzard's
| blight
Still strove to wither it's tenderlife.
He mounted his pony, and then the strife
With the wolfish wind and the binding
snow,
And the biting cold 0hat the plainsmen
When the Storm Fiend hies) began once
more,
Then silence fell in the tumult wild,
And he heard the voice of the little child:
'Now I lay me down to sleep;
pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep;
If should die before wake,
1 pray Thee, Lord, my soul to take.'
Niles Nelson paused, at the sound dis
mayed,
And then-and then Niles Nelson prayed:
Lord save" was all he could think of
. then.
Lord save" he n'uttered, "I.ord save,
Then staring to northward, and into the
night,
II see it!'' he shouted: "Thank God, a
light.
Twas beam from lamp on the window
Of his own sod cabin. With right good
His pony quickened its tagging pace,
And soon in that dear, familiar place,
His cozy cabin, Niles Nelson stands;
He kisses his wife and he holds her hands.
where's Mollie?" he cries, where's lit
tie Poll?
I've brought her wonderful Christmas
doll!'
Then he points to the bed where the
In a queer little bundle: "That's my sur
prise.
Why don't you answer? You're deadly
pale;
You tremble and shver; you sob and wall.
Answer! Where's Molle?" "Oh Miles,"
she said:
''My God, how can 1? Oh, Niles, she's
dead"
"Dead?" eyes, Niles, she's lost in the
snow;
To-day was pleasant, and Mollie would go
On the prairie to play, and she didn't come
back.
When the night shut down, all stormy and
black,
I set the lamp on the window sill,
Rushed into the storm and sought until
The blizzard drifted me back to the door,
That shall open for Mollie, our Mollie no
more"
Niles Nelson stood like statue of stone;
Then he raised his hand and said, with a
groan:
"Is there a God that will kill child
And bring its father across the wild
i OF wintry plains to save from death
The child Of another?" He drew his
breath
With a savage hiss, as he snatched away
The blanket in which the baby lay.
The blue eyes open: the rose lips call
"Oh, papa, you're home! Now I want my
DOLL"
Stanley Wood, in Chicago Times.
A Christmas Story.-''I did not ex-
rect q sin ole rrosont s'-T.;fo