Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-04-24
IN A SNOW PIT.

lowski, of the village of Zoiquinelhof,
Commencement Rursk, was sent by his
father to the city to sell some faience YES
sells which were packed away on sledge.
The weather was fine, and he sped on his
way without accident. But scarcely had
he left the city when the sky became over
cast with clouds. A few seconds later
it began to snow; the wind rose stronger
and stronger, and soon a storm drove with
fearful violence across the plain, and began
to sweep in all directions.
Dmitri was only few versts from the
village when night fell, but the snow had
entirely covered the knotty pine boughs
that marked the way. The consequence
was that he became lost. After he had
vainly sought the right direction for a
long time, he alighted from the sledge,
for in consequence of the intense cold he
began to be overpowered by a feeling of
numbness. For some time he wandered
at random, leading his horse by the bride,
but suddenly the snow caved beneath his
steps, and almost at the same moment
the horse and sledge went under. All his
efforts to right them again were fruitless.
The metel.- -Sneh -t terrible storms are
called, ragged more violently every mo-
ment, and he was finally forced to cling to
the sledge, in order to Withstand the
blasts of wind which were heaping the
snow high about him. There was nothing
for him to do but wait for daylight; so he
embarrassed the horse and tied him to
the shafts; then he laid himself down in
the sledge as TRANQUILITY as if he were in
his own cottage. Before stretching him
self out he removed his boots and cap,
which he placed under his head, Russian
fashion; then he covered himself with
his kaftan, and lay down in such way as
to protect his head from the wind. Thus
he passed the night. When he opened
his eyes in the morning, he was covered
with snow. AS he conjectured that it
must already be day, he took his little
willow stick out of the sledge and began
to hollow out the snow above him. AL
though it was alaeady pretty solid, he sue
ceeded in breaking hole through it. Then,
raising himself up as high as he could, he
thrust his head out. The sun was up,
but it was so dim and so enshrouded in
clouds as to be almost indistinguishable.
The metel had not yet abated. He let
himself fall back into the sledge, ard
undertook to enlarge the space about him
as the natives of Siberia do when on a
journey and wishing to pass the night in
an uninhabited place. From the main
dptIJlll6 nc Jug llIJle C6llS Ill Ju6 SuOW,
whose walls he covered in order the more
quickly to develop warmth and vapor
Thus he again passed some time in peace
on his sledge. When he attempted anew
TO put his head out of prison, he struck
against so dense stratum of snow that it
was impossible for him to penetrate it,
Hisl soul was overwhelmed with despair.
He thought of his own people who must
be in great distress about him; then say
ing prayer, he commended his soul to
God. Finally, in the midst of this dis
consulate situation, he slept again.
When Dmitri did not return on the day
on which he had started for Rursk, his
father foreboded evil and set out to search
for him. The local authorities immedi-
ately summoned a number of peasants
VINO were to traverse the entire neighbor-
hood. All efforts proved vain, and all re
turned home with the firm conviction
that the unfortunate boy had been over
come by the storm, and was too deeply
buried in the snow ever to be found again.
The weather finally changed for the
better, and on the 9th of December a
peasant of the district resolved to go
hunting. AS he was passing along the
edge of a snow-covered declivity, he
noticed that not far off his dog was
pressed down flat on the snow. and
seemed to be scenting out something.
Approaching nearer, he discovered that
it was the foot of horse which lay buried
in the snow, and whose head was already
partly deVoured by wolves. He returned
with all speed TO the village, and gave in-
formation concerning it. Immediately
Dmitri's relatives, together with other
peasants, hurried to the spot with axes
and shovels. In a comparatively short
time the body of the horse was dug out of
the snow; soon afterward the shafts ap-
peared. The workers redoubled their eff
forts, and at last struck a layer of hard
snow spread over sledge. They bored
a hole through the stratum, and to the
amazement of all present, a warm vapor
eXhaled toward them. One of the peasants
knelt beside the opening, and pressing his
face against it, looked about inside. A
man lay on the floor of an ice grave, Civ
ing no sign of life. When the aged father
was apprised of this, he went to the tun-
mel which the shovels had scooped in the
snow, and called in trembling tones
"Dmitri, art thou still alive?"
"Yesm answered a half-smothered
voice.
"Then come nearer the hole, so that we
may help you to leave this snow-pit."
"Gladly, but have care that you dc
not wound me with your axes"
Some seconds later his head appeared in
the opening, which they had worked with
their might and main to enlarge. His
face was deathly pale, but his bearing
evinced admirable composure. He haC
already closed his accounts with life.
Twenty hands helped him to rise from
the grave. He was visibly enfeebled anC
his damp clothes steamed. When Dmitr
saw his father, he was deeply affected
and stretched out his hands to him, first
of all handing him the little leather pouch
which contained the proceeds of the
faience that he had sold in the city
After this they conducted him to neigh
boring inn, where he changed his clothes
and took some nourishment. When they
told him that he had passed II days under
the snow he was surprised. OF course
the time had seemed long to him, but he
had been unable.to measure its duration
for around him had prevailed the most
profound darkness and silence. He had
slept most of the time, and when he wax
ened, it was only to quench his thirst
with a little snow, or to offer up prayer
He had ceased to hope that help would