Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-18

The thermometer dropping to thirty degrees
4 below zero. we moved into the cabin. Just
the day before we moved father began to
get lame and / also. He grew worse and
soon could not get ont Of bed. We had
no wood In the cabin, and al once started
TO lay in a supply. ] kept getting lamer
, and lamer untn when / had less than a
half cord OF wood inside the house my legs
gave way and | found ] could not walk
This was on January o. 1899. The snow
was falling heavily, there being over eight
| feet on the level, but up to this date had
been able to keep the doorway clear
Now there was nothing to do but close
and bar the door and fight It out as best
we could Father was unable to move, but
J. managed to crawl around the house and
cook something to eat once a day, melting
snow to make coffee
Economizing Fuel.
THE first thing l did was to count the
number of sticks of wood l had and then
allow just so much for use each day. Even
then l knew | did not have near enough
wood TO last through the winter, but I
hoped ! would soon be able TO walk and
then | could easily get out for wood. Father
was cheerful and kept saying we would
come out all right Neither of us got any
found 1t harder to crawl around some days
than others.
About the middle of January it grew
bitter cold being below zero in the cabin.
We were almost buried in SNOW, just a faint
streak of light coming in at the windows.
On January % we were left in darkness,
the snow being up to the caves of the roof
on the level. The stovepipe was still open.
"On this day father complained of the
cold and pain from having lain so long
in one position. He talked TO me about
his insurance money and told me that if he
died not to attempt to take his body out
Of the country, but bury him thcre. on
January 27 he became unconscious and felt
he was dying. For four DAYS | nursed him
as best l could, only staying out of my sleep
ing bag a little while at time because of
the cold.
You cannot imagine how l felt. How
it felt to be cut off from everything, every
body but one. buried alive in the snow and
your sole companion your father, dying.
at was some time during the night of
January 81 that father died We slept in
our sleeping bags in the same bed and
when l walked up in the morning l found
him dead. He must have died hours be-
fore, as his body was rigid.
81 was worse that day from grief and
loneliness and disease, but my fathers body
had to be cared for. All / could do was
to place it as tenderly ! could in one
corner of the room and let it freeze. there
to remain until got strong enough to bury
it, if l ever did; or until help came, if it
was ever to come. | could not stand. could
hardly crawl, in fact, and it took me three
long hours to drag the body across the
room | laid it in the corner and covered
It. The body was frozen before l got it to
its resting place and | was so benumbed
with cold that l could hardly crawl back
10 the bed.
''From that day until March u | lived in
darkness, except when | cooked one meal
day. My wood had been rapidly giving
out and for weeks l cooked each day lit
tie more bread or beans or rice tnan l needed
and set it aside. 1t would freeze at once
and so keep good until it was thawed out.
''On March u l had a narrow escape for
my life. Up to that time the stove had
burned and l used wood, having three or
four sticks left. OF course I had no idea
of what was going on outside. Not sound
night the smoke rushed out into the cabin.
! realized that the snow had at last covered
the stovepipe and choked it up, but before
l could put the fire out l was almost suf-
located with the heavy, pungent smoke of
the fir wood. 1t was close call for over