Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-09-26


aess the horsa, Ne wxs riding slipped ever
. precipice and fell with him ts.the bot
tom of a gorge, 50 feet below. killing
both instantly.
Mrs. Lowalil took . position as. house
keeper on agEanch near Lindales: with the
privilege Of retaining her two sons with
her.
The elder a, hsty lad of II. was. pnA to
work. So was Sam when he became old
enough. Hstwas given herd and moved
into one OF che little cabins Aye or six
niles from this managers house: He took
with him his faithful dog Rex. ~.
q Sans herds year after year grew lRr-
ger as the "boss~ became confident II his
efficiency. Twice every year the youth
helped to- drive HIS charges to- the shear
ers and saw them stripped OF their
aeeces, and once or twice year he help
ed to drIke up new regiment from the
Dwlands. to, add to his command.
, He seldom went home for any other
purpose. he was not supposed to go
home. He wss there to WATCH his flock,
and he. could not watch them faithfully
unless he remained always with them.
Rex did three-fourths of the work, but
the other fourth had to Aa<dbne By Sam.
Rex worked. Sam watched.
" For hours at q stretch he just sat still,
with his back against rock. and watch
I'd. Most Of rs who live H. the rushing,
crushing city think We know what lone
somenesa b. Some Of us have sat In q
tAeater and felt lonesenne.t
t. The young sheep herder b all his life
neEer saw q theater, never saw a street
sar, never was In city larger than Al
tafas, whittier he went some half dozen
times with those who carried the wool to
market.
He never had a chance to be lonesome
tn the polite, kid gloved way. The lone
someness that crushed in upon him was
that Of utter, absolute, unthinkable soil
tude, the solitude that drives men wild
10 the Icy Businesses Of Alaska when they
ret blown aside and lost from the beaten
paths of men.
OF course he had been born to it or in
Aigenous to it and was acclimated' by
| slow degrees, so that it didn't strike him
| entirely as sudden experience when the
full sense of barrenness began to play
upon him.
But the slow, slow creeping of the
smothery fog of silence, the narrowing Of
the horizon until it threatened to close in
and swallow him, the blurring Of the dull
landscape into a single refrain that beat
upon his eyes over and over again and
made them ache-that was the deathly
sensation that gradually took a grip up
On him and drove him shrieking into his
cabin to stare at the dull walls for relief.
One morning a party of shearers went
| lid to Lowell's tlocks to make their semi
| annual harvest Of wool.
The men paused outside the cabin and
booked for the young herder to appear,
hut several moments passed without his
| revealing himself. One Of the men start
| I'd forward to knock at the cabin door.
| He had hardly taken step before the
| floor was flung open, and the young
| sheepman sprang out.
They knew in moment that he was
mad. His face was ahame with the
white fire of delirium. In his hands was
! q rifle. He did not walk. He plunged
| and swung sideways, as q drunken man
In passion.
The shearers fell back and scattered
! out of range of his rifle. But he did moi
notice them. The barking of the dog
held his furious attention. He turnec
| with q snarl and shot the faithful beast.
In the afternoon the men returned
armed, and prepared to bring Sam Lowell
| back with them to the ranch house. HI
made a desperate resistance, but wa!
finally cverpowered.
He was taken to the ranch house, ant
q doctor was brought all the way from
/ Sacramento to attend him. But it was
not q doctor Of this worlds ills that San
Lowell needed. He had run his cours,
In this life. and the sublime force tha
/ had made him a man instead of beas
was gone from him.. At the end Of .
week his body died. too, and the bool
i was closed on one more of those children
Of the gray frontier. s.>.