The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-08-06

place IN the hearts OF The journal
readers as a relator OF personal
"reminiscences because ! could not DO
that If | wanted to. His go back fur-
Their than mine and are better told
But this trip down among the farmer
boys recalled a lot of old memories
that had been dormant for years and
/ cant help but relate one or TWO
now, with the hope that Prof Allen
viii not think l am encroaching on
his preserves, especially as L promise
not to be guilty of the same thing
again.
Down by the well on the old home
stead I found a big cottonwood tree.
It is nearly as big now as one OF
those sycamore trees around the court
house in Pensacola / planted that
tree, or the cotton cutting from wn1ch
the tree was grown, twenty years ago
in a fuTTOw of the fire-bTeah- every
claim house had to have a plOWed IRE
break around il then to prevent pTdl-
RE fires from burning the place up)-
l never expected to see tree grow so
big out of that dry prairie soil Even
if it escaped death by hot wind or
prairie fire Then there were some
ash and elm trees which 1 planted
where / never expected them to grow.
They are good sized trees now AMI
they make a fine shade during the
summer where shade was mighty
scarce and badly needed twenty years
ago Among these elmS and ash are
some rose buShes-badly scattered
and poorly cared for, but still there
which mother planted and which the
man who now tilIs the soil tells me
have exceedingly red and beautiful
roses on them during the summer
season. The fact that they have sur
vived all these years Is evidence to
me that a remarkable change in eli
mate has taken place within the past
decade in this western country.
One of my school mates in the little
school house which still serves its
original purpose recalled several in
cidentS of our school days which 1
had not thought of for years. He and
! sat together at school and he asked
me if l remembered about rubbing
my hand down mis- back one day while
school was in session. He had several
bOilS on his back at the time and his
shout not only woke the echoes OF the
school room. but it brought the teach
er down upon him with an additional
punishment, while ] escaped. Natur-
ally ne remembered this incident
much better than l did Another
wanted TO know If | Temem bered
about carrying coffee and doughnuts
to the school children at the school
house the next morning after the
great blizzard of January II, 1883. L
had not thought of it for a long time
before, but the incident Is as clear in
my mind now as though the great
storm had occurred only yesterday
Every resident of the Northwest has
a distinct recollection of that blizzard.
It swept a wide territory and 1t LETT
death, suffering, anguish and destruc-
ton that has probably been unpara-
IelIed in the history of similar occur
rences- My younger brother and my
self. boys of II and ii, respectively,
did not 90 to school that day, but
our two sisters, aged Q and ~, went
as usual in the morning to the school
house a half mile distant. We boys
had TO get some hay into the barn
for the stock and while the morning
was warm rather heavy breeze from
the southeast had inteTfered with the
work and il was noon before we mad
accomplished much About noon we
noticed that the wind all at once had
died down and We were cOngTatulaung
ourselves upon that fact VIXEN a light
puff from the northwest struck the
fork-fuH of hay which ! had raised to
throw into the barn This was fol-
lowed by another, and that by a third,
like the pUffS of locomotive just be-
ginning TO move Then the gusts
came faster, but apparently with a
whiTliRg motion, and with them the
air suddenly filed with a soft damp
snow that melted almost as soon as II
struck the earth In less time than
it takes to tell, the wind was
blowing a perfect gale and the air
was filled with a driving, whirllns
seething mass of snow that made It
absolutely impossible for one to see
or to even keep his eyes open Has
tily closing the barn door, my brother
and started for the house, some four
or five rods away, and were apprised
when We reached it only by humping
up against the side of the building.
Had We missed il by six inches or
more, as many people did, We should
probably have persisted that night
just as scores of persons all over that
region did who were 50 unfortunate
as TO be caught out in the storm
If | should live to be a thousand
years Old | could never forget That al
teTnOOn and night The temperature
early began to fall. while the gale in
creased in violence, until the mercury
reached some 35 OF 40 degrees below
zero and the frozen particles of snow
that had AT first been soft and wet.
drove into the flesh ike needles or
filed the hair of the unfortunate
beasts that were out in the storm IN
til they wore a veTitable coat OF ice
We had some fuel in the house, out
not enough to keep the fire going con