Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-25
SOME ALTON ATOMS 4
ON THE WEATHER AND,
THE sNow-CREsTED HILL.
DID THE BEAR EAT THE BABY?
Grewsome story of Pickaninny
That Disappeared Under suspici-.
on. ciroum.tnnce.5- The Horse
That sighed.
That Sighed,

Iaat S18 Het0s -
ACTON, VA. January 24-(Special)-
The weather as subject is threadbare.
In reality 1t Is worse and more Of it.
Tuesday another layer OF snow whirled
down upon the thick; white crust OF last
week. All night It stormed. ana by
morning We were shut in-snowbound by
the looming mountains In a circle. Meth
er. butcher nor baker nor candlestick-
maker could come arear.
Wednesday the wind drifted great
patches about the open fields. and the
neighbors waded through to compare
notes. 81 - 81
All this is timely and healthful. Tbs
air is stingling and cold; the clear ozone
Of this high altitude is invisorative. and
our doctors report but little sickness
It Is. the conditio Of things terrestrial
tho state Of our county roads-that try a
man physically and tempt him morally
If thoughts were things, string OF hery
explosives would sometimes stretch from
Alton to the Courthouse.
Arten1us Ward SAID Zone good thing
about George Washington was that he
never stopped over. It is plain that the
happy Artenlus" knew nothing Of Nell
son roads, or was ignorantsthat the
from Alton to the Mountain Top With dis
patches to Fort Du Quesne- 1T was
Just after the slust of a big snow had
melted with the native clay, he would
have stopped perforce or called for re-
Inducements from the State capital at
williamsburg. It Is mud even; mud that
sticketh closer than the Siamese twins,
and is harder to be rid o. than SIM
Fortunately up here, where the horses
foyI. = To mo
prisoned. and tits certainly more humane
struggling for ones life and limbs than
riding after hounds for pleasure.
s5ssss5s
THE TROUBLES OF "A HORSE.
/ felt very sorry for a horse the other
evening, and wished at the time had
authority to have the poor animal arrest
ed and sent up for sixty days where it
would be taken cares Of properly. he
animal was a5stranger. to me, but 1t was
hitched to a post where 1t stood without
a blanket or a robe, although there were
both in the handsome road cart to which
1t was harnessed, When the wind whis-
tied keenest down from Bald Knob. that
horse gave a long-drawn, sepulchral sigh,
and ;shivered in the chill January blast as
If it had been human being.
Did you ever hear a horse sigh
It goes all through: ones heart with
Sucn5 a. Year. iollelyt SouAio.
Ss
THE TRAMP EVIL.
OF the tramp evil we have more than
our share. These highway proletarians
infest the different roads down through
the Rockfish valley, and in consequence
small rohberies are on the increase.
Sweet is.ch9rity, but som etimes 1t needs
a distinction. Country tramps are often
SO Hospitality treated that it encourages
idleness.
Is something lacking in governmental
system that fosters idle wealth for some
and cannot give the assurance Of work,
with adequate. pay, to relieve the suffer
ing and poverty Of others
:. GSssss s5sss sss5 80 9s.5
AsBEAR AND sA.PICKANINNY.
A report from upper Rockfsh tells Of q
horrible thing that happened last week
In the backw GODS 49, !.
The intense cold, It seems, has forced
the wild animals down toward the set
Element for food. a colored woman
named Lizzie Blair, lost her child In a
fearful way. Early in the evening the
woman's husband has occasion to go else
where, end told his wife to join him later
at a dance: to be given not ETAOIN
at a. dance to be given at cabin not
SO very far from their own. IT. was
agreed that he should meet her at a fence
near little piece of woods. take their
infant child. and Ego with her the rest
OF the distance ..5.ss.
The woman started later than she In
tended and 1t was quite dark when she
reached the fence. She saw, dimly, q
figure that seemed to be standing on the
other side, and put the baby over the
fence as she turned to climb a lower
panel. Z. 81,
THE woman at first thought her hus-
4ha nd was trying to fool her = as she
said. when she coui4 not find him or the
child. but ran on calling him by name.
when she me. him Just coming toward
sthe1 fence. rs.
He had not been there. nor had he seen
ANYTHING Of the child II Lights were got
ten and a. search made. Nothing could
4be seen or heard.
s IA the morning the tracks OF an itn-
mense bear were found leading on
through the 4thicket. and up toward the
QUILTING BEE HUNGRY e
s some few bubbles Of "a temperate Kind
sparkle on aociety's wine: For Monday Mo
( there's asdaintya three cornered note TO g
snuiitinR bee at sat.asHungryssT Town. name
foo suggestive for cheerful acceptance
Rwednesdayaa = church sociable-exclustye-
{ r. Tor ladies' scons1 der the clothing and
ans M inten nance of a human walt that
3itEe5 Toby has .1ss. groWed.
'zThursday4s Ne s sturdy yeomAnrye re
seaHed a4os g opse-raising for Door OLD
L nroSher tR -. Z. d who has been drifting
ssram ia "a verse Tor TN ysafsS and who
hol6s s afsslt reee1p fer longsytty tna9
EsoSses atys ~ so1
EhIas mnnUs knoW.