The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-05-27
4 the rail of The hotel piazza:

He spoke with a sleepy drawl tina
piqued curiosity, and 1 asked him t
tell us what happened if it wouldn't in
terfere with his nap. He smiled ant
yaWned and said:
Il was born and brought up in Lara
mic, Wyoming, and so was Arabella
Arabella Is my wife, I had known he
all her life and had always loved her
and she had done the same by me, ant
the course of our affections ran al
smooth as molten metal. In 1889 de
cided to marry her, and the day was Sc
for April 25, and we invited all ou
friends and looked forward to a happy
but commonplace wedding.
Just one week before the ceremony
| was called up to North Dakota ON
business matter which I did not thinl
would detain me more than three OF
four days.
"Arabella did little weeping on my
shoulder, womanlike, and said, What II
you never come back?' But l said, Now
you know perfectly well that | always
have been as regular as clociSwork. II
is only few hundred miles away, and
I'll be back and We'll be married exactly
at A o'cloc kon April %, and it will be
the least exciting and yet happiest we'd
ding that ever took place
Il went up to North Dakota and the
last ten miles of my journey I had to
make on foot. While | was walking
along 1t began to snow, and inside OF
an hour a blizzard was raging and
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.
"'When can return?' said /. He
| told me that if the blizzard was a real
energetic one it would be two weeks be-
| fore l 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 faith
less.
Il told the stranger my troubles, and
hefsympathized with me, but said that
no human being could live out in that
storm, and when I looked out of the
window believed him. 1t was terrific.
i had been in the New York blizzard of
| 1885, and 1t was sultry summers day
| to this one.
There was nothing to do but to grin
and bsar it. Maybe it would stop soon
er than my friend thought He might
be an alarmist, but it grew worse, and
by next morning 1t seemed to be only
just beginning to get in its fine work.
The mercury went so low that I'd hes
itate to say Just what the thermometer
recorded for fear of being considered an
exaggerator. The snow fell at the rate
of foot an hour on 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 than ran fifty feet up in the
air for just such occasions.
mot to make long story, 1t was five
days before the snow stopped, and then
we were showed in to the depth Of fifty
feet. And we Were down to our last
loaf Of bread But the thing that wor-
RED me most was the fact that 1t was
my wedding day. | sat in the Pitch
darkness, for our oil had given out,
wondering what Arabella would do
when I didn't turn uD. Suddenly we
heard a voice coming down the ventll-
ator.' Sibithson CROPPED his way to it.
who's there?' said he.
'''Its the parson. Have you food
enough?'
NO, indeed,v said smithson, We're
down to our 1ast loaf How are you
able to be about, parson?'
to-. he rto l,o+
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 provisions
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 ventiating
pipe How are you going to get out?
Shall | drop some food down the pipe?
"Smthson told him that we had not
eaten anything for ten hours, and we
We're beginning to get UP an appetite,
and the next minute a bundle Of pork
and beans was dropped down to us.
IF you can tunnel south of your
house for twenty feet you'll come out
Oil tiedl COuiltIy. II 81 HpiiiS anu StI
my shovel and dig toward you, and you
ought to get out soon.'
"Smithson thanked the dominic, and
we tackled the baked beans, and they
tasted like Neapolitan ice cream. Then
we felt like working. But l was feeling
pretty serious, because I knew that Ar
abella was beginning to worry. How
ever, 7 fell to with a good will, and
after two hours of hard work we met
in the snow tunnel, the minister and
me, and minute afterward we walked
out to open air and saw the strangest
sight that could be imagined.
North, as far as the eye could reach, |
the country lay covered fifty feet deep |
with an arctic snowfall. Souts of us |
the grass was just beginning to show !
green, and skunk cabbage were already !
pushing up through the earth. And in |
front of us stood the parsons lonely |
house. with a box of a church next !
door to it and not another building in |
sight.
1--WE grasped the parsons hand and |
told him that he was a white man if |
ever there was one, and then I asked /
him what chances there were of my
being able to get back to Laramie
"I4e told me that the road to the
station was completely blocked, and it
would be two days before l could get
through. Two days! I instinctively