The Worthington advance., 1901-02-01

caresses Of the heart-broken mother,
was finally lulled to sleep by the sighs
Of the quivering lips and the soothing
pattings of the tremulous hand.
Afar in the distance ahead, beyond
the tagged horses whose limbs rose
and fell mechanically, reared an oni.
nous. cloud whose import was we'll
known to the African who held the
reins in his hands. East, west, north
and south. the, plain stretched away
into the distance-cold, cherries, mer.
ciless, frozen into CHASTITY melancholy
by the silver glitter of the stars, and
white-coralled by the frosty grass.
blades, sere and brittle.
II reckon dar's gwine TO- TO be one
oh dem nasty blizar's soon. Whoof!
Denis de debips own bref TO- blowin'
de life out OBJ folkses. G'long dar, ole
Gray! You'ur alleses hangin' back TO-
Sandy. Hi. golly! l hope de good
missy won't look out now. She'd be
down."
"What is the meaning Of that cloud
ahead, Joe?" asked the womdn as he1
eyes ranged the sky beyond the horses
heads.
Muffin, nuttin,' missy! Jess a cloud
Urinary cloud, dat's all," responded
Joe, as he touched old Gray with the
goad.
"Joe, why not stop here for the
night? The jolting Of the wagon
makes me ache all over; and ! am so
tired!'
"Honey, yo' see dat brack hin way
ober dar?" asked Joe, as he pointed
toward the dark outlines of an object
rising from the plain. ''I's gwine TO
to reach dat hill if old Gray gotter
bust shoe.''
II see the hill, Joe-it must be some
miles away; but why so anxious tc
reach it?''
"Case-dat's ALL" laconically re
piled Joe, urging on the tired horses
"Well, suppose you know hest Oh
shall we never reach home: Home
What strange word that seems I.
me! have no home-no homer
"We'D git dar purity sun, honey: al
when the babby an yo' aur dar, why
-yo'll be dar. chile, bress yo'!'
There was but slight consolat ation to
be derived from the honest fellows
words. So the widowed mother with
drew her face and closed the opening
in the canvas.
"I-71 doan .dar tell poo missy bout
de nasty blizzar' dat's comm. II dem
poo nags kin hon out little longer
We'll reach de hill--am' sdat'N keep of
de wusser part Obj de dehips bref."
The cloud beyond grows larger and
larger every moment. It swells and
spreads as it approaches the wagon,
sweeping like giant crescent between
earth and sky, obscuring the blinking
| stars, and murmuring ominously like
the sullen roar Of the distant tempest
With gaunt, gloomy, ghostly arms
the giant monster Of the Northwest
approaches. The cold, like the grim
premonition Of deaths draught,. pene
trates the canvas OF the wagon, pierc.
ing the flesh of mother and child with
daggers as of ice.
"Joe! Joe! What is it?" cries th+
voice from within.
Muffin, muffin, honeyv' chatters
the negro, as his frozen fingers me.
chanically clutch the reins. "Yo' jess
pull dem blankets close bout yo' an
de babby. We'n git dar, bress God!
Yes, chile, We'll git dar by-by de
bright light!'
The words falteringly fall from the
half -palsied lips like the murmurs
that come when the speaker IL slowly
but surely drifting. into the land Of
sfumber.
Five, ten minutes pass; the tempest
increases. The pale face Of the wo.
man again appears in the rent in the
canvas. She speaks. Joe is silent.
Again she speaks, and louder. Th~
faithful blacks lips are locked, and
he does not answer. She reaches out
her hand and shakes him. Merciful
heaven! The rigid form topples over
! the side of the wagon and falls upon
the ground, stiff, frozen! His eyes are
wide open, and they stare up out Of the
depths of chaos into the illimit-
| dOAc ctcAAlIy OcyOAu Iu$ 6Wl8uluX
gusts Of snow and leaden, 'sullen sky.
The sudden drag upon the reins
stops the horses. The poor creatures
lean to the pole and rub their noses
together; and thus standing they
freeze, freeze inch by inch, while their
legs turn to ice, rigid, supporting.
And then the monster, the white
wrath of the Northwest, engulfs the
fated wagon. 1t rips the canvas from
the stays and bears it away with
shrieks of laughter. The mother and
child are now exposed to the pitiless
buffeting of the whirlwind raging furi-
ously about them. The entire plain
seems one heaving undulating mass Al
far as the eyes can reach. Like the
swallowing waves of the ocean the
clouds of snow beat against the skele-
ton-like wagon as though - tear it
from earth and bear it away in fury's
arms.
One last yell Of demoniac laughter
and the monster has performed its
work. The icy lips Of the mother
are pressed to the icy Lips Of the dead
baby. A life goes out to it's God in
4 sighed prayer. and all is over.