The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1903-07-03

the great forces of nature which be-
numb and destroy, shutting the door
and walking up and down again as she
wrung her hand and pausing at every
shudder of sash and door 10 listen.
ooh, what sort o n Christmas eve is
this?" she cried. "Oh. Joe. Joe, Joe.'
But even while the bells were ringing
it seemed as if the wind were falling.
Jimmy said il was jest spit" she
murmured. "Praps he's right, one o
them quick squalls o snow, but one o
them can founder n ship taken una
wares, an, oh. it must have took him
unexpected or he'd be home!
What a long. interminable hour IL was
before the great. glad uproar Of the
bells was over! And then presently she
was sure it was time the boys and Sis
were at home, and without staying to
imagine they were plunglng and slip
ping and rolling and snowballing to-
gether on the way, the wind having
abated as suddenly as it had arisen, she
felt that everything had come to an end
and husband and children alike were
lost to her, and, full of wild unreason-
ing panic, she was crying like one pos
sessed when the door burst open and a
chorus OF glad voices smOte her-sweet,
oh, sweeter. clearer than the peal of all
the bells. Meanwhile, out in the bay
Joe had found his travis much richer
than he had expected, and he was so
busy In stripping them and in batting
and in setting them again that he gave
little heed to the rising of the storm till
its fury was all about him. "'Twon't
last long like this. Them student ones
go as they come. Jest keep her head ter
the wind" he said to himself. She'll
ride il out" And then the snow was
wrapping him, blind and thick, and all
at once the dark had fallen. WAL"
he muttered, "ef one O them concerned
big coal steamers don't come rippin'
along I'll weather il. It's a tussle, but
we're good fer it, ef the stick holds.
Pleasant an me-"
1t was a tussle. 1t took all his will
and all his strength TO keep the boat
trimmed to meet the squall and riding
on the top of the great seas that came
roaring and kissing on and only Just
fell short OF washing over and filing
the little Pleasant and when the furi-
Gus hour was past he would have given
all the rake of fish to lie down in the
bottom of the boat and get his breath.
The sea was still rolling, in long
swell succeeding swell, and the snow
was falling in thick sheet through
which not a glimmer of light pen
etratcd. Only a wide. faint dimness
seemed to swim up grayly from the
great tops and hollows about him. He
felt that the boat was drifting, but he
could not tell in what direction. He
thought perhaps the tide was running
in, but as he looked about him there
was nothing by which he could make
sure. The Ipswich light, he said, ought
To be just out here. The revolving
ruby and gold Of the light at the shoals
ought TO be on the other hand. Plum
island light ought TO be over his Shout
der. II he could but see spark Of
one OF them, he would know how to
shape his course. but there was not q
ray over all the wide welter OF the wa
ter through all the dim veil of the snow.
He felt as If he had gone blind. He
listened for the dull blare Of the whis-
Ting buoy but the snow mufiled every
sound, and one wave tossed him still
TO another.
1t had grown cold. The snow stung
now like sleet. Rope and sail were stiff
with ice. "By George, it'll be my wind
IN Sheet he exclaimed. and he fell
! back in the boat, and the thought Of
/ his wife's terror and grief struck him
| to the heart like knife. 1t was Christ
mas eve. and the children would be
capering and carrying on, opening oys-