Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-09-13
Under thu Snow
By MIRA CHARLOTTE KLINGER
Copyright, 1918, Western Newspaper Union.)

WneW SdSpeu JOnn OuLDdT pOSl-
man, and tried to steady himself as a
blast of wind took him off his feet. He
fell sideways into a snOwbank and then
struggled to his feet to gather up a
score of scattered letters and newspa-
pers.
He finally righted himself, scanned
the yard space in front of Widow
Lanes cottage scrutinizingly and pro-
iceeded up the steps of the humble little
!habitation.
"Aren't you done out and chilled
through" greeted the wholesome,
,heartsome Mrs. Lane. Come in and
warm yourself and let me get you a
piping hot bow of ginger tea"
always thinking of others, aren't
your" spoke honest John, appreciative-
ly. II believe I'll accept your kind offer.
If that ginger tea of yours is as fine as
the famous lemonade you cheered me
up with last summer, this certainly is
the house of good cheer"
John took off his mittens, blew on
his fingers and her deposited on the
table from his mail bundle two letters
and a newspaper.
"Two? Both for Mr.. Isham," spoke
the widow in a tone of interest and
'gladsomeness, as she glanced at the
letters. "He has been dreadfully anX-
Iious about one he expected and l hope
it's one of the two" Then she hustled
about and, with the sincere thanks, the
veteran mail carrier, warm inside and
outside and nightly cheered, departed
on his difficult way, for roads and lots
were two feet deep with snow.
Mrs. Lane had but one boarder, Ern-
est Isham, in whom she took almost a
motherly interest, for he was a fine
young fellow and lightened many of
her household burdens with his handy,
accommodating ways. She kept watch
ing eagerly from the front window. FL
inally she ran to the door n Ernest
Isham found it open and welcoming
him before he had reached it.
1.-TWO letters announced Mrs. Lane,
lc~heeringly. "Oh, dear!"
Ernest had eagerly scanned the en-
velopes. His face fell. He sank to a
chair with a groan.
TITS the last chance gone" he said,
m~ournfully. Neither of those is the
one 1 expected. 1 give it up now, for it
would have been here today at the
latest, if ever"
"Poor boy Your heart was set on 1t,
wasn't 1T"
"You don't know what the disap-
Ipointment means to me, Mrs. Lane"
said Ernest. at signifies the death of
my ambition it may mean the loss of
the only girl I ever loved" He bowed
his pale face in his hands and Mrs.
Lane regarded him p~ityingly, her eyes
filling with tears.
She went out into the kitchen and
completed her arrangements for the
MONDAY lunch. Then she came back
to Ernest and touched him on the Shout
der.
"Now 1 want you to eat a good meal
and forget your troubles" she said,
and he could not resist her kindly
,,thoughtfulness and tried to feign an
appetite.
"You know that l have been basing
great hopes upon IN invention" he re-
minded Mrs. Lane. 81 have had some
announcement. The recent blockade
has called for some device to melt or
remove the snow. 1 have constructed
ia model Of a portable tank which plays
a blowpipe gasoline spray upon the
snow. A boy can operate it and 1t will
melt one hundred square feet in thirty
minutes. 1 have needed capital to
make one large working machine. 1
wrote to a wealthy cousin of my moth
ler last week to assist me- 1 believed
that he would. You know how he has
ignored me. Then there is Alice" and
Ernest sighed drearily.
Yes, Mrs. Lane knew about Alice
Markley. She was a girl who within a
month must go thousands of miles
away with her only relatives, her
grandparents unless Ernest could wed
her, but he was at his greatest moment
of stringency.
Alice was calling on Mrs. Lane the
next day when Ernest came home in
better spirits. eff I can make a salts
factory test with my working model a
manufacturer offers M some encour-
agement," he said, and went out to the
barn, where he had constructed the de-
vice, and brought it out in front Of the
house. He lit the flame, Alice and Mrs.
Lane watching him, and started the
hand-propelled machine along the yard.
"Why, wonderful! !" exclaimed Mrs.
Lane.
Directing the spray of fire, Ernest
cleared a ten-foot path clear down to
the ground within a few minutes.
"Oh, Ernest, it works like q charm!"
cried his delighted fiancee, following
the path. "Why, what is this? A let
ter. and directed to yod." Alice ten
dered an envelope, and John Dunbar,
who had never missed 1t that stormy
Ion lator fn1rod out how Ii CANA to