Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1902-01-16

SchoOlhOuSe, but he would not No
matter how deep the snowf and fierce
the winds he let them col alone uIl-
aided, unless neighbors gave them
helping hand.
When January, the wbrst month
cf the season. came, he made no effort
to assist them. So wide WAS the gulf
between husband and wife now that
he even let the New YEARS. Day pass
without the home celebration they had
never missed before. Evenk that light
when Anna Torgeson CAM to where
he brooded in his chair, and, weeping,
begged him to be the man of their first
days. he pushed her from him and
answered.:
II am not Of yours. II have not
| changed. It is you that I'D !, chalged.
Let me be-" NJ
Anna Torgeson went ON Lwitl the
school, praying every night III helGod
that her husband might III . avlken
| and be one with her agaik II the
school she was the most apt upil.
She was the first to learn Ito yrite
English, and the first to be ableW tGpell
English rightly. Her neighborfs, many
Of whom had known her IbefIpo, her
| marriage, rejoiced over her proI gss.
"Torgeson will be proud de ltliWife
yet" they said. Ii
But Torgeson remained fktterly
against her. Only the babitk gave
her love and comfort rfs
| A January day came when tie sun
rose warm over the snow {Hvered
prairies and in the air there vas a
false whisper Of spring. Th Hay
| Meadows folk on their way 3 the
! school shook their heads. Th had
learned that this beauty of ma he, at
such a time, meant coming terror Of
binding ,sleet and deathly lcola, All
| through the morning theA sunshine
flooded the interior of the st)hoolhouse
and the water dripped from |the snow
covered sod caves. but the pupils with
III did not trust the warmth. At noon
they ate their lunches by THE open
door. but none failed to notkc, the
! gre wing grayness Of the sky ia the
north and the change in the SWEEP of
| the wind.
When school closed frightfu! bliz-
Zard was upon them. The thermom-
eter had fallen to far below zero and
| the air was filed with sleet that cut
the skin like chopped glass The Twelve
! pupils of the school looked at each
other in the growing darKled. Every
woman present had manIto guide
her home but Anna Torgesof Every
child had a man protector bui the chill
dren OF Anna Torgeson.
'The rest of you will so on said
Anna Torgeson. "There is some fuel
here. and my children will stay un-
til this is over"
Some offered t. guide her home be-
fore they went their own way. but she
said the storm was growing worse
every minute. and they must hasten
for their own safety. They scraped
together such food as they had left
from noon and gave it to her. 1t was
not much for four mouths, bat for the
baby there was Anna Torgeson's s
breast. just as the others prepared to
leave, Anna Torgeson called to one:
"Stay moment. Torgeson will
| worry. I will send note. Get it to
him somehow when YOU can that he
may know am safe''
And she wrote in English:
"Dear Husband: I am safe In the
| school with the babies. Don't worry
about me. ANNIE TORGESON."
= .
Late that afternoon, with the most
awful storm he had ever known howl
ing about his home, Torgeson got that
| note, ard the bearer did not dare leave
him for his life, so fierce was the blast.
II can't read it," grumbled Torgeson.
So the other read it to him, and
then Torgeson crumpled it in his hand
and said:
"Let her stay there. She cares more
for the school than for me-"
He sat before his good fire Hotlafter
hour, and once and awhile IWf1n be
thought he was unobserved Hle Eould
glance at the writing Of the Note he
could not read. At midnight lhe could
stand it no longer. He was Tol1geson
the obstinate, but his wife ard babies
were over in that schoolhouse without
much fuel or food. He took with him
the man who had brought the note. and
they brought the horses out Of the
stable and they fought as m|enA never
fought before against snow AIA cold,
and they gained the school, 3aA mile
away. in two hours, and sofgleson
beat open the door and the bllst ckne
with him, but the anger and the old
pain had gone from him forever.
Bending over the stove to Eeep her
self and babies alive, Anna torgeson
= heard his voice, knew by it's rote that
: out of the horror he had struggled
with to reach her new low end hope
had come. and she 1eaped to him and
: was caught in his arms, never to Ae
. put from him again. H. I. Cleveland,
in the Chicago Record Herald. -
e Fish Of Other Days.
The discovery in the sands bf Jerti
q anyage, at Woking. England. Iof well
| ~ -.