The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-22

| very little of the serious inconvenience II
entailed.
When bedtime came, followed Cecilia
around the house, assisting her In the ou-
| ties that now devolved upon her. me
/ plants had to be enveloped in night gowns
| of newspaper and placed upon table not
far from the glowing coal stove. some
water was pumped at the kitchen pump
and brought into the dining-room ana
| also placed not far from the stove.
The pump might freeze during the
night" Cecilia explained, land II we
left this pail of water out in the kitchen
| all night we would have to Work at II
! with hatchet to get enough ice to melt
for our coffee. Wen bring in the milk
too; it's a little easier to pour milk than
it is to break it off in chunks. now the
| butter had better be brought in; 1t petri-
fies If 1t is left in the kitchen pantry, and
| you can't chip it off without biologists
hammer in the morning"
Before we went upstairs Cecilia wrapped
herself in a shawl, put on pair of thick
! gloves and made excursion TO the
storeroom. She came back blue with cold
| Hurrying up to the stove, she pulled off
| her gloves and held her hands out to the
| blaze.
Its the coolest night by far that we
| have had. l went out to see about the
| coal and wood. There are enough to last
until Karl comes tomorrow morning"
CtCllld spoke as hdTl cOLullS
was as certain as the coming of the NOR
row. but l remembered having heard
| Bob speak of Karps fondness for pure
alcohol, and it dawned upon me that If
Karl should indulge his alcoholic appe-
tite at the present time, the result might
| be serious discomfort to us. At least IL
would necessitate our going out the next
day in the bitter cold to hunt up a man
to perform Karrs duties; for neithed
Cecilia nor l was strong enough to bring
In the coal and wood from the shed, which
was, as Bob once sarcastically remarked
only ten minutes walk from the kitchen
door.
AS Cecilia expressed no fears for the
morrow, kept mine to myself and We
went up stairs to bed in rooms that were
warmed by little oil heaters and the pipes
from the downstairs stoves.
l woke up in the morning to see Cecilia
| dressed and seated on the edge of the bel.
She was very completely dressed, in fact,
| even to JACKET, fur collar and gloves
Have you been out?'' l asked sleepily
NO." she replied, but the coaI-stove
| has"
1t is tragic event in the winter In the
northwest If the coal-stove goes out. Good
managers light their stoves in October
and Keep them burning until the middle
| OF May. The careless and improvideat,
however frequently awaken to find the
thermometer 40 below, and the black, cold
coal-stove glowering at them. As it takes
nearly an hour to get thoroughly chilled
eoal-stove warmed into life, the careless
and improvident, blowing their stiffened
myers IN the 40 below" atmosphere of
! the room. make firm resolutions to be
more careful in the future l looked SYM
pathetically at Cecilia's fur-lined gloves.
| i've got 1t started again." she said.
Il tore around and made it go, Oh. it's
an awful day. It's blizzard; it's all gray
anc furry outside. You can't see two feet
! before your face, and the snow is Sitting
and drifting about in great heaps an
| piles. There's a snoW-bank outside the
Kitchen that would drift in and fill up the
! Kitchen If we opened the door. The run-
Der plant and the palm are frozen stiff.
only that ugly geranium that never bios
sons is left alive
| Cecilia's eyes filed with tears a G she s-a,,e
this last bit of news. She pulled up her
fur collar around her ears and buried her
head in the pillow
There are coal and wood enough to last
until noon, think, by skinching. and
there's no prospect of Karrs coming. Oh
don't you wish you were back again in
steam-heated New York;"
The only conscious wish that. at the mo.
menh animated my CONCEALED being was
that might get bodily inside of that alb.
| surd little oil-stove
IT'S no time for idle wishes, Cecilia"
said; I'VE must got out Immediately after
breakfast, and hunt up some one to bring
US some more wood ana COAL
'Oh, you innocent" said Cecilia. go out
a day like this? My dear, we are prison.
ers until we are dug out. We can't SC
much as put our noses outside the door
unless we want to have them freeze and
drop off If you don't believe it's cold
just look at your tooth brush; it's frozen
as stiff as a comb"
refused to consider my tooth brush
Cecilia, we must do something" I said
well freeze If we don't go out and find
some one"
"We'll freeze If we do" responded &c.
ella. Now, I'll tell you; by being awful.
ly saving and uncomfortable, we max
keep one fire going until o'clock. Then
If worst comes to worst, we can burn pan.
try shelves and things like that; I've
thought it all out. We've got enough t
eat for three days, thank heaven, and
billiards. don't last longer than that yoI
know. It's the fire you know that wor
ries me little. Coal and wood mel
away before your eyes when the Their
mometer is 40 below. There's something
in the air that ticks the coal and Woo
right up the chimney. 1 used to study
about it in physics. There's reason fol
it, but / never understood 1t. / know it.!
fact though. If Linka had only beer
here, she would have known blizzard
was coming-she has a sixth sense-an(
she would have looked out for the WOOD
and coal"
We got breakfast that morning on tn,
dining-room oil stove in order to econo
mize fuel, and though we tried to tall
and laugh, we were all the time anxiously
watching the reservoir of the stove; tn,
coal seemed actually to melt away be
fore our eyes, for the amount that ordi
: narily lasted two hours vanished tina
morning at the end of half an hour. w,
had hoped to keep the coal stove burn
ing until ?, but by noon the coal was ex
l hausted, and we were forced to move int,
the sitting room. where we llghnted a fir,
in the small wood stove. At / O'Clock
after an anxious luncheon, l had an in
spiration. 1t came while l was standin,
wrapped in a shawl at the window look
ing out at >the gray landscape. Tn
houses were all oblterated.
There was nothing to be seen but tn
dull grayish swirls of snow with whicl
; all the winds of heaven were playing
Suddenly, while I watched the lonely pic
-.