Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-01-10
IHEMAN FROM LARAMIE
And the Lies
He Told.

We had been talking about the gen.
orally humdrum lives led by nine men
out of ten, and the sad eyed man who
had hitherto kept silent said as he set
tied back into his chair and put his
feet on the rail of the hotel piazza:
''From my birth to the present time
have had but one thing happen to me
that was in the smallest degree unu-
sual, and that related to my marriage,
which was little out of the ordinary"
He spoke with a sleepy drawl that
piqued curiosity, and l asked him to
tell us what happened if it wouldn't in
terfere with his nap.
He smiled and yawned and said:
Il was born and brought up in Lara
mie, Wy, and so was Arabela. Ara
bella is my wife. l had known her all
she had done the same by me, and the
course of our affections ran as smooth
as molten metal In 1889 l decided to
marry her, and the day was set for
April 25, and we invited all our friends
and looked forward to a happy but
commonplace wedding.
"Just one week before the ceremony
was called up to North Dakota OH
business matter which 1 did not think
would detain me more than three or
four days.
"Arabella did little weeping on my
shoulder, womanlike, and said, What
If you never come backY But l said:
Now, you know perfectly well that 1
always have been as regular as clock
work. It's only few hundred miles
away, and I'll be back and we'll be
married exactly at o'clock on April
20, and it will be the least exciting and
yet happiest wedding that ever took
place.
II went up to North Dakota, and the
last ten miles of my journey l had to
make on foot. While | was walking
along it began to snow, and inside of
an hour a blizzard was raging, and l
had to put in for shelter at the house of
a lone stranger named Smithson, who
kindly gave me supper and told me
that it would be suicidal for me to go
any farther; that a Dakota blizzard,
the last one of the season, but perhaps
the worst, was upon us.
g eHrlIea ean =ctura7' said Z E1e
told me that If the blizzard was a real
energetic one it would be two weeks
before | saw home and mamma. You
may imagine my feelings. Hundreds of
miles from Arabella with less than a
week intervening before our marriage,
and no way of getting word to her. Of
course she would think me faithless.
81 told the stranger my troubles, and
he sympathized with me, but said that
no human being could live out in that
storm, and when 1 looked out of the
window believed him. 1t was terrific.
l had been in the New York blizzard of
1888, and it was sultry summers day
to this one.
'There was nothing to do but to grin
and bear it. Maybe it would stop soon
er than my friend thought. He might
be an alarlrist, but it grew worse, and
by next morning it seemed to be only
just beginning to get in its fine work.
The mercury went so low that I'd hest
tate to say just what the thermometer
recorded for fear of being considered
an exaggerator. The snow fell at the
rate Of a foot an hour OH the level The
house was soon covered up, and we
would have smothered in time if my
friend had not happened to have tin
ventilator that ran so feet up in the air
for just such occasions.
LOT To- e-+r.. .
days before the snow stopped, and then
we were showed i'll to the depth of so
feet. And we were down to our last
loaf of bread. But the thing that wor.
ried me most was the fact that it was
my wedding day. | sat in the pitch
darkness, for our oil had given cut,
wondering what Arabella would do
when / didn't turn up. Suddenly we
heard a voice coming down the venti-
lator. Smithson groped his way to it.
"'Who's thereY said he.
It's the parson. Have you food
enough?
NO, indeed, said Smithson. We're
down TO our last loaf How are you
Eble TO be about, parson?
"'Why, this is the queerest storm
that ever happened. All Dakota north
of us is covered, but yours is the last
house in the track of the storm. South
of here the ground is perfectly bare, SO
hitched up and brought some proyi
sions along and drove to the edge of
this mighty snowbank, and then | put
on my snowshoes and climbed up. It's
lucky you had such long ventilating
pipe. How are you going to get ont?
Shall drop some food down the pipe?'
"Smithson told him that we had not
eaten anything for ten hours, and we
were beginning to get up an appetite,
and the next minute bundle of pork
and beans was dropped down to us.
If you can tunnel south of your
house for 20 feet, you'll come out on
clear country. I'll go home and get
my shovel and dig toward you, and you
ought to get out soon.'
"Smithson thanked the dominic, and