The Washington herald., 1922-02-05

-sscond mountain.-' had never be-
fore catered upon winter with
90 much downrisht conndsnes. pride
and security. The valley was srosn-
ing with, fullnesss- Imegsne belonged
10. the soil, and had nsyer> sought
to depart from it. There the town
lay on the top Of the "se,onc noun
tains-fat. sslf-satisned sncsvsin.'
1t is, always difficult to make
strangers understand about the
-mountain." Prairie City, on the
river, lies much lower than Imo-
gene. Fifty miles west Of Prairie
City. there rises. from the plain
quite abrupt elevation. That II the
-nrst mountain" and on its top IL
1t Charles. with Its little stories.
its big Rsman Catholic church. its
half-srssds. ana its Hotel Dc LoE.
rh.r, II pIsnsy Of timber asout ST.
cnaxiss. ana aitsssthsr it isn't .
ssd place far those who Insist on
trsss ana vstsr IN. their scenery. al
thsugh the cemn1on-ssnss Dakotan
knows that water isn't necessary
and that the best land Is that which
Isn't sncumbsrsd with woods. Then.
on west Of st. Charles. after a
while you come again to the prairie.
and on another elevation. the sec
end mountain" ies Imossns
The town was said to have been
named, after the daughter of the
supsrintendent of the railrosd which
ran its Accommodation trains" to the
town thrss days 'wsek-for limo
gen. was at the end Of the branch.
and. the train which wsarily brought
It's srsat load 10 the station every
other, eight, started back to Lam
bert Cths point At which the branch
Joined the main lins) At daybresk
tn. next morning. with the same
crew. The people declared that
such an arrangement was an out
rage on the trainmsn and the ssrv-
lee . gross insult to that county
that was making Dick webb rich.
But NO competition threatened; and
n the trainmsn didn't like that kind
Of work they could quit. aueth Dick
webb. The people At frst were
glad enough. he addsd, to get any
kind Of trains and they would
Erumbls At the best.
One night In January there were
signs Of . storm. Some persons re-
Earded them lightly, saying that
the day Of blirzsrds had gone by.
Others were less nEht-hsartsd and
locked abroad with some anxiety.
One who felt especially fearful that
aiEht was Helen Brewster. She was
. brave. cool and saEaeious woman.
whsss experiences on the frontier
had made her the more hardy and
sslf-rsliant But the most eour-
aseous woman can not avoid . feel
ing of. nsrvousnsss when her hus-
band has been called away from
homs and detained beyond his time
Howard Brewster was the cashier
Of the ImoEens National Bank. and
he had often to 20 hsrs>snd there to
aid in the establishment OF national
banks in various parts Of the STATE.
Helen had never lost heart In spite
Of the perils. trials and miserable
vexations and inconveniencss OF her
life. At timer the missions Of the
dear old home in Pennsylvania.
with its sweet memories, its rest
ful calm and its snyirons of shady
walks. broad Streams and majestic
hills made the contrast acute and
painful: but she never permitted
herself to dwell long In such visions.
for duty and love eslmed her soul
Her present uneasy feeling came
partly from the fact that her little
t-year-old Rachel complained OF /.
headache. This was unusual, for
the mother feared that the child
might be falling III. And II she
should be-" mused Mrs. Brewster,
Il don't know what should do. I
haven't the least eonfdenes In DR..
Phinnsy."
No one had much cenhdsnes in
Or. Phinnsy. He was . very large
man with a long beard. and = low
voice that In some men might have
been reassurinE,- but In him was sx-
asperatinE. He had come to the
county in the early days and See
ing that the people suffered from
two efassss of maladies-IunE dis
ssss and malarial fevers-he had
applied himself stubborniy In an
attempt TO master these. He had
no competitor; he was the towns
sole Dependence.
The. signs proved only too true.
In the night came the blizzard
the most violent fierce apd destruc-
tive storm known to the Northwest
In = quarter Of . century. 1t
blocked every ear-whssl. destroyed