The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-06
LOVE IN WINDlEST KANSAS.
AN EPISODE IN 4 REGION WHERE
TORNADOES ABOUND.


and n EOve-A Lover Kidnapped by
a TornadO-Sn Expedient to Make
Third NIishap impossible.
From the New York Sun.
The wind blows gale all the year round
in Kansas, but in March it cuts capers.
Then cyclones miles in length sweep across
the cyclone belt at the maddening rate of
sixty miles an hour, hurting the dust about
in raging yellow tempests, blowing it I'M
der the doorsils and through the cracks
of the windows, moaning and screeching
and screaming until the head is In a whirl
with the noise of it all and one longs for
a quiet spot in some vast wilderness with
any sort of weather so the wind doesn't
blow
About March, TOO, is the time when a
hailstone or something of similar smallness
drops into the southeast corner of cy-
clone and generates tornado. Then what
a reading OF the universe! The wind goes
about uprooting whole groves of stalwart
trees, sprinked about again just anywhere
over acres of ground; tearing out houses
by the roots and depositing them else
where. as often as not upside down, always
chimueyiess, roohess, foundationless; blow
ing the feathers off the chickens thrust
ing little straws through the bodies of
great cottonwood trees, Unfolding dust an
inch thick in the flesh of its human vic
Tins ana leaving them for dead, acting al
together like the big, black, hideous muir
| derous, funnel-shaped hend it is.
Such is the difference between the cy-
clone ana the tornado; but while they are
| gong on you are not so much Interested in
the subtle difference between the two as
yoI are busy wishing they wouldn't
Ii was on a blustery night in March when
| Elsie stood at the window looking out
upon the street where the trees bent to
| the ground by sudden gusts of wind, were
| with until the tWigs We're bereft of leaves
and the trees of twigs. Indeed She won
dered that there was anything left Of the
| trees themselves but the trunks.
Some late wheelmen sped by at a
scorching pace, their feet on the coasters,
| propelled by the gale, while others walked
| disconsolatey homeWard against the wind
trundling their wheels; for you ride only
one way in Kansas, the way of the wind.
Then you dismount and walk back. The
street lamps lit up the disguised faces of
those who Were walking back.
The house rocked, the chandelier shook
and the window pauCs ratified in their
sashes. Roland looked up, wondering why
the girl stood so long there by the window,
where little irreprcssibe gusts rushed UNI
der the sill, blowing her hair ana neck
ribbons distracdngly about.
1t is a pretty stormy night" he said,
and so it was even for Kansas. Just then
the wind moaned around the corner of the
house with the pidful wall of a lost soul;
and the sharp tree limbs raped against
the pane like human knuckles The sough
of the tempest died away across the prai-
ries only TO return, moan again and again
die away.
Elsie suddenly left the window and stood
close to him, clasping her hands nervous
ly.
II am afraid for you to go home" she
said, and her voice was tremulous as
though she.with difficulty restrained her
tears Stay. You can have Jamie's room.
We will stow him away in the attic. Any
wherer jamie was her little brother.
He shook his head. 81 am afraid l can't
he said. Il have important business down.
town early in the morning. 1 would disturb
the whole house leaving at such an I'M
| earthly hour What's Tho go ~-,~'roing to
his feet. ct sounds like the world coming
to an end
Nothing much" she answered. "Only
one Of the cotton woods in the yard blow
ing down."
It was a common enough thing for one
of those cottonwoods, immense of hight
/ ana DfOdQ OI GRIN, 10 dow OOWn IN a
| March wind. Along the creek which flow
ed placidly by the town, except when some
wandering waterspout caught it straight
up into the clouds, there was a row of
them, bent double by cyclone in their
extreme. youth and grown that way, lean
ing forward in the attitude of old men
| running.
whats the matter with you tonight,
Esie?" he asked as he sat down again;
for she had taken a chair on the other
side of the table quite away from him.
after the manner of a woman who had
| been married a couple of years. She sat
there, looking into the fire and ponder
| ing.
She had no idea of telling him what was
the matter, bit the real truth was that
she was afraid of losing him. He had
just proposed. Proposals were sweet
She was in position 10 know. This
| was her third But March was her IN
lucky month and this was March
Two years before in March she had
| been engaged to be married All her
| wedding finery had been made Beauti-
! full it was too. so beautiful that she laid
| it carefully away in big closet in a dis
tant wing of the house. far from profane
| eyes and hands. She made many secret
| pilgrimages there to look at those deli
cate things so dear to the bride-elect
lingerie white and soft and dainty, satin
slippers. fans, gloves, the wedding gown
of a quality so fine as fairly to dazzle
her. The day was set. She could almost
hear the peal of the wedding bells when
a terrible thing happened.
A tornado came along and tore away
that precious wing of the house ironically
leaving all the rest Of it intact! 1t scat
tered her trousseau to the four winds or
the heavens. A silk waist was found in
one county and the skirt to match II in
another, many miles distant Her be-
plumed hat traied in a pool Of muddy
water her long suede gloves were discov-
cred in a ditch and her white satin we'd
| ding slippers hung by their heels at the
top Of a tree in neghboring township
Naturally the wedding was postponed IN
|
~