The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-11-29

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~ and i 'AsS':' 7s: sss;s:s ns'sss''i in n
family council to HE us in body to a
country box among the hills, where
we had enjoyed four idyllic summers
and there keep the hoary old fiesta as
Yankee pre- Raphaelite aqdarelles tell
us it should be observed.
Snow fell two days before the i'm
portant Thursday. All the better! 1t
would have been ell the best had the
storm held off until we were actually
housed and could read "Snow-Bound"
over blazing logs answering roar for
roar, the ''grand old harper" smltlng
and twanging the oaks and hickories
of the grove.
We took the 9 o'clock train from the
city. 1t was crowded, mainly with
one sort and condition of men. Each
of them was presumably going to the
old homestead-gray, yellow OF white,
backed by the invariable red barn
"for Thanksgiving" Some chewed
orange peel to tone down their breaths
to the decorous prejudices of the old
folks at home, others inhaled bad
cigars in the "smoker," and brought
the evil incense into our car. At least
two-thirds munched peanuts and
strewed the floor with the shells. One
and all talked loudly and laughed
boisterously. A Ared-hot stove at each
end of the car brewed the reek OF
whisky, tobacco, orange peel and
roasted peanuts into nuisance.
1t was an accommodation train, halt
ing at every Turnout" to set down
trippers moved by tilial piety or farm
house romance and poetry to maintain
the traditions of the day. At the end
of the fifteenth mile we came to a dead
standstill. A coal train had been
wrecked and must be cleared away be-
fore we could 60 on. We were stranded
in the exact centre of an uncomely ex-
panse of fields covered with sodden
snow and criss-crossed by blackish
stone fences. Now farmstead was
visible Tor over a mile on all sides OF
US; half dozen mean huts knotted
into q sort Of settlement about some
railway coaling sheds, and twenty dis
reputable loafers lounged from them
to inspect the wreck and our train.
The one sort and condition of men af-
fliated right speedily with these, and
whereas paterfamilias made divers
abortive excursions in various direc-
tions in quest of draught OF milk
and slices of bread for his hungry chill
dren and easonably clean spot where
materfamllias might retire for awhile
from the growing strife of tongues
dashing against the becalmed train, it
was but too evident that mountain
dew and Jersey lightning were to be
had for good fellowship and for money.
All babbled, more or less tipsily, of
the day we were celebrating, drinking
to it with every imaginable form of
expletive, and some that, until that
unhappy hour were quite unimagin-
able by materfamilias and her terrified
younglings. The average Americans
one idea of a holiday is license. and
the one idea increased and prevailed
as the hours dragged by.
We were halted at 1870. At 3 the
rails were free and the celebrants of
the honorable anniversary tumbled
tumultously into their seats, the one
idea uppermost.
All over the broad and teeming
land turkeys had offered their brown
breasts, reeking with richness, to the
carver's blade; cranberries had bled
by the million; pumpkin pies
and plum puddings had sur cited the
tens of thousands of sensible people
who had stayed at home and feasted
conventionally. Since our early break
fast we had eaten just one water cracker
apiece; we were lame with long sit
ting, sickened in body by foul dir and
in soul by foul language.
What was left of spirit and hope re-
vived with each mile left behind US.
Materfamilias told stories to the con-
fding innocents of the sleigh drive
they would have from the station, the
dinner and fire and fun awaiting US at
home. We had managed to get off O
telegram to our caretaking gardener
at II o'clock, ordering him to send to
every train until we came and to keep
the dinner hot.
At 4.3O we alighted at the shabby
little station nearest our idyllic cot.
tage. No sleigh was in waiting; not
q living creature was in sight, and the
station was locked. A bitter wind
moaned up and down the valley, and
the unsympathetic sun was hardly
yard above the hills. Paterfamilias
shouldered the two-year-old baby and
led the forlorn procession "across
lots" of unbroken and stifening snow.
By the air line we projected for our
selves the walk was a mile long. We
were wet up to the knees with snow
water and exhausted to faintness when
we reached the gardeners lodge at tho
entrance to our grounds.
It was shut fast; no answer was