The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-05-19

a stick of wood from the woodpile.
This he sawed into stove lengths with
hand saw.
The wood was dried in the oven
and piled into the stove and eaten up
like tinder. Then Mart put on the
life line and made dash for more
wood. After this grist had been de-
voured by the kitchen stove, John
begged and insisted ON being allowed
to go for stick. The woodpile lay
south of the house, hardly fifty feet
away, and you could not miss 1t, al
though you could not see it. After
some persuasion Uncle Tom fastened
the clothesline with firm crop about
the boy, the door was opened and out
he darted.
The instant he emerged he seemed
to be wrapped in suffocating blan-
ket and pierced by innumerable bits
of glass. The time spent In reaching
the woodpile occupied only few Sec
onds, but he almost fell before reach
ing it.
He seized a cord stick and half ran
and was half hauled into the house.
He was speechless from even that
short exposure, and for few seconds
fairly numb. His uncle looked at
him.
You can't go out again, John" he
said. tits as much as Mart or ]
want to do to tackle that blizzard"
And with the rising of the wind
and the plunging of the drifts 1t
seemed to the boys imagination that
the storm was besieging the house.
The thin and fragile window glasses
were re-enforced with wood, there
being no shutters, and snow fine as
the finest sand crawled in at every
crevice and was sifted down like pow
der on the beds above. The grand
mothers bed was brought down from
up stairs and placed close to the
stove. John distinguished himself by
finding an old cross-cut saw in that
corner of up stairs called the garret,
and the men sharpened 1t up and al
lowed him to help saw the sticks
they brought in.
Outside the wind raved and tore al
the cottonwoods and walnut trees
breaking off branches and moaning
away in the distance. The winds
piled up the snow against the house
until the men were sheeted with il
when they rushed back from the
woodpile.
Three days and nights the carnival
of an icy ghost dance kept up, and
three nights they had but fitful
snatches of sleep in the intervals be-
tween the hurried races to the wood.
pile.
At last the strength of the storm
was spent, and Wednesday it cleared
bitter cold. The men and the boy
hurried to the stable. The stock
were all alive, but weak. They had
eaten the feed left in their boxes and
managers, and then broken their hal.
ters and got at some of the "slue
grass" which formed the roof of the
stable. The snow had so completely
covered the low structure in many
places that they had not suffered un
usually from the cold.
Every chicken and turkey on tbs
place had frozen, but the hogs had
burrowed into a strawstack in theii
pen, and were squealing vociferously
for feed.
Away to the river bottom the trees
rose dark as scaffolds, and grea
white sea stretched in all directions
as far as the eye could reach. The
air was still, but nipped sharply a
the boys bare cheeks. 1t was hi!
first blizzard.
To the northwest he saw the Sat
terlee windbreak, and wondered how
it weathered the storm. And as {
solitary hawk, strong of wing ant
gray as the drifts beneath him, swung
high over the prairies, he turned t
the house.-Youth' Companion.