The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1897-12-25


kind hearted grocer handed two jumping
Jacks across the counter.
THANK We, Bill, said the father,
=ratefully-it was pleasant to know that
Others wanted to please his children.
They Il like to have something from ye.
. Merry Christmas And he bundled his
purrLasc> inlo the wagon and started for
. home
He was hardly out Of the village when
the off horse cast shoe. There was no
help for it: back he went to the black,
smiths. Here he had to wait for the
man to finish piece of work, and 1t was
Il full hour before he was again on his
way 1t was now o clock. and the faint
rays of light which forced way through
the dun coating of cloud barely served to
render the darkness visible. 1t was in
tenselv cold. Richards could hardly re-
press a sigh of vexation as he thought that
he would already have reached home had
it not been for that unlucky shoe. But
he drew his great coat close about him
spoke sharply to his horses, and they were
off on the run out into the plain and the
night, homeward bound.
Richards had gone perhaps mile, when
wheels sounded behind him. and Il man
with a sulky and fast horse came up.
1t was Jabe Williams. his nearest neigh
Dor. Better hurry up, Jack, was the
newcomer comment. aS he drove past;
ii, going to snow.
Just stop and tell Sarah I'm coming
will YOU? And will be home by 6 o clock,
shouted Richards; and his friend 5 ''All
right barely reached him rs he disap
peared in the darkness. In half an hour
the message was delivered. But it only
doubled the alarm of the anxious wife.
For it had begun to snow.
Impressed by his neighbor $ warning,
the farmer had recklessly urged or his
horses. But the storm, like a malicious
fury, was on the watch for its prey, and
when he was still five miles from home
John Richards found himself in the very
heart of Il winter blizzard. As by pre-
concerted signal, the ugly gray clouds sud
denly resolved themselves into snow masses.
which swooped down upon the weary earth
as though to smother the very life out OF
it in their malignant embrace.
The air was not merely full of snow; 1t
was snow. The snow did not fall in flakes;
it plunged down in drifts, a pitiless, re-
lentless, overpowering shroud of cold and
darkness and death. Then the north
wind which had moaned uncertainty
through the day now blew gale, with
quick, furious gusts, which shook and
tossed and whirled and distorted the white
smother into vague and fantastic shapes,
and when the sport was done, packed 1t
down in solid and impenetrable drifts.
Richards knew in moment his deadly
peril. and with words of encouragement
urged on his frantic horses. The animals
worked nobly. But all Nature was in
arms against them. In an incredibly short
time the snow was knee-deep, and little
later they could merely struggle and foun
der about. and that only under the whip.
! At last they came to Il dead halt The
driver leaped from his seat. and CROPPED his
way few feet ahead, peering into the
whirling bIackness with eager, questioning
gaze.
Not Il trace of the road remained.
Every fence post and landmark had dis
appeared He was uncertain OF the dlrec
/ ton which he ought to take. lie was
lost in blizzard, with the mercury forty
degrees below zero.
The man shut his teeth hard and re
turned to his horses The animals whin
MED pitifully, and rubbed their heads
against his shoulder He patted them,
and urged them on, whittier he knew not,
but he and they must move. or freeze IN
their very tracks. He coaxed and shouted
and even applied the lash. But to no
purpose The wagon was fast III the
snow.
Richards Glanced at its contents. The
children toys-these he must try to keep.
They would feel 50 badly should the good
Christmas saints again pass them by. He
buttoned the doll beneath his great coat
and shouidered the rocking horse. He
would attempt to work his way homeward
and pray God for strength and guidance.
With pocket knife he cut the traces
and loosed the horses, hoping that the in
stinct Of the beasts might guide them
Alright and that he might follow. But
they stood duly in the snow and looked
in mute appeal to him. Their helpless
ness alarmed him intensely; they were 50
completely confused, SO wholly lost. Where
instinct had failed could he do more than
blindly grope about in that internal black
ness. where the raging wind and whlrllns
snow made it hard to even breathe, until
he should fall dead in his tracks-and on
Christmas eve? But act, act he must.
He founced forward through the snow;
the horses followed. Thoughts Of wife
and children kept the weary muscles at
work. The notion gradually grew on him
that he must be getting near home, and
he watched eagerly for a friendly light.
Then he stood still, dumb with disappoint-
ment and despair. He had done what
thoroughly lost men always do; he had
doubled on himself That irregular mass
wonder surely was the wagon. Again he
set out. and in different direction, Saxon
crit holding him up to his work He
would be game to the last. Thus for
several hours John Richards battled with
his gigantic foe, the storm, his horses
staggering after him like dogs
But the final moment came. He could
not move another step. The battle had
been fought and lost, and with his hands
still clutching the gift for his children he
sank down in the snow, and prepared to
die as a man dies
CHAPTER ii.
With consuming dread in her heart,
the mother had watched and waited.
Tell her | will be home by 6-that
was the message, and it supported her
through the afternoon. She spoke cheer
fully to the children, and assured them
1 4