Gilpin observer., 1908-06-04

the front room. The kitchen is when
the barriers of etiquette are let down,
or ignored, and where folks put their
feet on the kitchen stove, and the
old-time spirit of utter American
democracy finds fullest expression.
Here is the sphere of the cow-hide
boot, the Overall" the hickory shirt,
and the cheerful expression. Here is
the spot where comfort does not mas
querade in strange attire nor with
a forced smile.
To sit around . good fG1 In . kitch-
en- of a farmhouse, with raging
snow storm snarling at the doors and
windows, with pitcher of cider
which can always be refilled, with
plenty of hickory nuts and walnuts
on hand in the garret, with apples
from the cellar on broad-brimmed
plates, and with cookies or doughnuts
to fill in any stray abdominal crevices,
is to enjoy life. And of course, now
and then, rollicking tune from the
fiddle. There is something in a eli
mate where the rigor of the year
closes in for spell that appeals very
keenly to me. There is anticipation
in the message and farewells of late
autumnal days, and the signs on
the window panes OF the advance
guards of the north.
When we went into the pastures
and around the feed-lots where the
cattle crunched their cornstalks. the
snowbirds would scatter in dusky
bands. and watchful crows in the
timber cawed warily and swung from
their airy perches as we approached.
Along the rail fences the tracks OF
field mice showed. and around the
shocks of corn in the fields where the
men had been "shucking" out the
corn there were the tracks of rabbits
and quail. The slate-colored juncos
and chickadees fitted infrequently
above garden and orchard, and stray
hawks sailed past toward the river
bottom.
From the window we could see the
teams go past to town, some wagons
loaded with coal. some buggies carry
ing a lone driver. From the nostrils
of the horses the frosty breath puffed
and curled plainly in the nipping air,
and the wheels of the wagons squeak
ed audibly over the close-packed
drifts. The mail carrier came regu-
larly so long as the roads were pass
able, but when infrequent thaws rem
dered the highways an impossible
morass, We waited and watched for
him in vain. School children went by
night and morning, swinging straps
with book in maybe, or carrying
their pals or baskets with which they
had taken their dinners to school. The
drifts piled in to the fence corners,
and the landscape beyond and all
around US was etched against the dis
tant horizon as clear and sharp as a
cameo. The sunsets were magnifi-
cent; the starlight nights indescrib-
ably brilliant. The dawns came cold
and red, and red and cold the sun
went down. 1t was strange, still,
trance-like time. where you were
| thrilled with pictures Of snowy
fairy-land, and yet where the warmth
Of fire was like the greeting OF
your best friend.
Everywhere one looked on q frosty
morning there were the thin, waver.
| ing columns OF farmhouse smoke
ascending into the gray dome above
| Signals of life and endeavor: mute
heralds of greeting from house to
house.
Some days l would take my skates
and wade through the SHOWS down to
the lake, and where l could find, As
4 1l1 ~ lnh
had been swept by the brooms Of the
wandering wind, would skate by my
self among the shadows cast by
blanketed tree trunks and withered
vines Sometimes I would find in
fine traceries Of almost impalpable
snow the sign-manual Of others who
had come and gone with their skates
leaving the silent spaces more silent
for their going.
Along this lake, and further in to
where its swampy edges backed in
towards the river. there were the
tracks OF mink and rabbit, of raccoor
and prowling fox. Once / saw a fox
but it was for the fraction of sec
ond only. and his red brush disappear
ed like a shred of trailing autumnal
vine before a winter storm.
Cloistered as We were in this TEN
pie OF the most retired of all the sea
sons. we nevertheless found thou
sand ways Of enjoying both indoors
and outdoors. and as the months drift
ed from November to February we
scarcely felt the rigors OF the time
There were days. Of course. wher
the air was like knife: when an oper
door meant a blow in the face from
the wind: when a neighbor stamping
in brought an Icy breath from outside
that chilled to the very marrow al
most before the doors could be closed
But for the most part the winter
| Uoafhor voa uaralv hrocyDD onA IL