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MUTABILITY.
I walked by the salt sea—
A wave came leaping up to kiss the strand
In dimpling ecstasy,
Then died away upon the silver sand.
Far o’er the mountain’s height
A shining cloud came floating like a dream,
Then vanished from my sight,
And left no trace of its traml-acent gleam.
I watched a being fair
Untold in beauty—innocent and free,
Yet e’er I was aware
She, too, had vanished from the world and
me.
—Ada Iddinrjs Gale , in Current.
IN A B1IZZAED.
BY HAMLIN GAEL AND.
I was setting up type m the office of
the Boomtown Hpike one bright day in
the February, 1882, when I heard a voice at
window saying: 1 ‘Hello, Seagraves!
wan’ to hold down yer claim?” The
speaker mitfened was peering in at me through his
hands. I shook my head, but
motioned for him to come in, which he
did. As he stood before the rusty can
non stove I remonstrated with him for
;his
“Now I’m an honest man, Mocfre. I
■don’t want to take advantage of any one,
not even a drummer for farm machinery.
The fact is, I’m dangerous. Why, there
ain’t a man in this Territory that would
ask me to go out on the prairie with him
if he knew my record. I’m sure death.”
“What do you mean! Explain y’r- J
self.”
“I will. I’ve been out on that pre¬
emption of mine promptly at the end of
•every October, thirty days since the last day of
and every time it stormed. The
first time it rained, the next time it
snowed and blowed, and the last time
Murray and I went out to the claims we
spent three days in his twelve-by-four
teen shanty with the horses. AVhy, I
can’t go to Heron or to Belleplain but a
terrible storm sweeps down on the poor
people. Therefore the boys fight shy of
me.”
Moore was whistling through his teeth
at my yarn. He didn’t put much im¬
portance upon it.
“Oh! I know all about that; but I
■don't scare worth a cent; and besides,
•look at the sun sh'ning out there. Now
you get your toggery on and we’ll be off
after dinner. Bailey’s going too. Now
rustle—I’ll see ye later. ’
This settled the matter, and accord¬
ingly possible I got things into as good, shape as
in the ofiiee, and went early to
dinner at the .Western House. The boys
at the table weie also talking about
going the out on^their claims, and cursing
bind officSj because of the ruling
which obliged them to be on the pre¬
emption once a month, no matter what
the weather might be.
“I guess we're about all in the same
fix,” said Adams; “there's Bailey and
Moore and Shelby, myself and-”
“And Seagraves,” I said, quietly.
“Wh-a-at! Not you, Seagraves?”
“You bet I am.”
“That settles my hash; if Seagraves
goe<, I don't, you can bet high on that.
I’m not ready to turn up my toe 3 for the
-coyotes to gnaw. ”
I’m “Gentlemen, I’m sorry for you, but
dying.” going to break my record or try a
And about 2 o'clock, behing Moore’s
little team, well nigh buried in blankets
and robes, we drew out of the main
street and headed west amid a chorus of
yells: “Git there,
Eli!” “Seagraves is sure
death: push on the reins,” et emtera.
The sleighing was excellent, and the
vast level plain, as bare as the bosom of
a frozen sea, was sparkling under a brill¬
iant sun shining trom a deep blue sky.
Our course lay stiaight into the wilder
nest to the west, a distance of nearly
thirty miles—an easy trip if the roads
were good all the way.
Bailey and Moore kept up a lively chat¬
ter over their huge buffalo coat collars,
and hailed every passing team with jolly
shouts, and when we were about ten
miles on our way, Bailey said: “I guess
'Seagraves will escape this time.”
I lifted my head and took a look at
the northwestern sky; then said: “No,
boys; “we’re in for it sure.”
And we were; for, borne on the wing
of the north wind, a great fleecy dome
of cloud, slaty blue below and silver
white above, was rising, vast, wide as
the northern horizon, seamless, dim, and
noiseless, sweeping with the speed of a
shadow upon us. The day was yet brill
iant, but the frost-white edge of the
«loud had already slid across the face of
the sun, making the depth of the dark
blue dome the more ominous and stern.
It would be dark in two hours.
“Well, and boys, the blizzard is coming,
sure, there are just two things to do
—to push on as hard as we can for the
claim, or turnback.”
“There’s no turhing back to this
crowd,” Moore replied, as he touched
the ponies with the whip. I submitted,
though with some misgivings, I am free
to confess.
The road was getting worse now as we
W'ere shanties, getting beyond the settlers’
and beyond the travel to and
from the town. Houses grew more and
more and the infrequent, the wind began to rise,
snow to sift along the plain,
softly, spasmodically, yet insidiously,
and almost before we knew it the road
was full of drifts. The further we went
to the west, the wilder and more bare the
prairie side became; soon we would be out¬
the line of actual settlement. Bailey
was five intending miles to get off at a point about
before we reached Moore’s
claim. His claim lay four miles due
south from a certain corner stake which
we were to pass very soon, but us we
were determined approaching keep the stake Moore and I
to him with us, and not
allow of hismukiDg the venture at night,
Accordingly both Moore pulled up short, and
we looked immovably atourfriend.
Baib-y was a brave man when there was
anything he depending on the venture, but
as rose to his feet and looked around
him he hesitated.
It was a fearful scene. As far as the
eye could penetrate the stability of the
prairie seemed changed to the furious
lashings of a foam-white waste of waters,
Great waves of snow met, shifted,spread,
raced like wolves, joined again, rose,
buffeted each other till puffs of fine snow
sprang into the air like spray, only to
fall and melt in the sliding streams. All
was less, unreal, ghastly. Ho sky but a form
earth impenetrable mass of flying snow;
no except when a sweeping gust
laid bare a long streak of blackened sod
that had the effect, the terrifying effect,
of a hollow, fathomless trough between
the hissing waves, and over all the night
and tempest were speeding like the
flight of twin eagles.
Onr companion set his teeth, and
made as if to spring out and set forth,
“Sit down,” we shouted. “Do you in
tend to commit suicide?” And, with a
laugh at his relieved expression, we
pushed the ponies on toward the west.
“We must he merciless now. AA r e are
too far on to turn back, and if we are
not fore delayed deep we can reach the shanty be
night,” I shouted in the ear
of our driver. There were now but two
shanties where we knew of people living,
and both of these were some miles from
our destination. One of these we soon
reached after passing the corner stake
alluded to. If was a small frame shanty
banked to the roof with snow and sods;
indeed, the roof was also of sods, laid
on for additional warmth. It was low
and mean-looking at ordinary times, but
now, as the door opened and the red
light drifts glintiDg streamed out falling over the
it had through the snow,
a singularly attractive look. The
house was full to overflowing, we were
told, and there were no places for our
horses at all; they would have to stand
out if we stayed. “But we ain’t goin’to
stay,” said Moore, grimly, as he pulled
out into the road, now a mere trail, to be
followed with the greatest di fculty.
Just after turn'ng into .til's faint track
there came a team of Inrs'es rushing to
meet gallop us. As they passed us at a swift
we saw that attached to the bar
Dess of one was a boy’s hand-sled, upon
which a long plank was bound, and
lastly a young fellow lying atop, on his
side, in the way boys coast down hill,
He had a round red face, on which was
a fearless laugh, and he shook the leins
above his noble team, and plunged into
the darkness of the east on his way to
the settlement.
The storm had steadily increased in
violence, though each stage cold seemed the
limit of its fury. The grew ever
bitterer, the night was almost upon us,
and the snow filled the air, and we could
see but a few rods inany direction; but
our only resource was to press on, out on
the prairie, wrapped in madly swirling
clouds of snow. But we were all AVest
ern born, and not only knew our danger,
but how to meet it as well. Our tiail
was now entirely lost, and there was
nothing left but to steer by the wind and
the section lines. For a mile or more
we had been following a furrow which
had been plowed along leave that the section and line,
and we must now bear to
the southwest.
Therefore, taking the wind (which
we knew to be in the northwest) on our
right shoulder, we struck| out in a
straight knew line for the place where we
the shanty belonging to Moore
must be. We ought to come near
enough to it to see it as we passed; if
not—well we didn’t like to think of that.
As our course must be made with the
greatest care, Moore drove, while Bailey
and I took turns in rigidly keeping the
wind upon the right ear, and in walking
in the track behind. The track we
kept straight in this way, and increased
our chances of findirtg the house.
We were now moving in* a circle of
half-light, feet outside of which, i hundred
away, was darkness. AVithin this
half-light all was distorted, fantastic. A
sage-bush, a clump of weeds, or a tuft of
grass assumed huge proportions, and
through the treacherous gloom looked
like a barn or a stack of hay in the far¬
ther reach of the eye. A bit of shingle
not fifty feet from my eye looked so like
a cabin on the side of a distant swell
that I called joyfully to my companions
that I had found the house. It fright¬
ened me when, a few steps further on, I
f arae to the wind-blown bit of wood,
and my vision of the house and the
snowy hill faded out into the depths of
the storm. The snow flew so thickly
that we could not see the ponies at times
as they labored heavily though the deep
snow, for we were on the unburned
prairie now, and the snow was mid-leg
deep. far At intervals we would stop, and
go as as we dared to the right and
left, and stooping down, look under the
snow to discover the house. Our course
since leaving the section line was so slow
and painful that it seemed as though we
had bean traveling more than an hour,
and finally Moore pulled up and turned
to me with a look of grim resolution on
his face that told that we had arrived at
the same conclusion,
.passedthe “Seagraves, we’re in for it. We’ve
shanty without seeing it.”
“That's about my idea. And more
than that; I will not go a single step farther
in that direction. There is nothing but
a trackless prairie out there. Our only
hope keep now is to turn to the southeast and
If going till we strike the settlement,
the ponies keep up, we’re all right.”
“That’s about the size of it, if we’ve
gone by the shanty, for my claim is
about the last one in the township, and
the next is unsurveyed. So we’d better
turn and strike for the Norwegian settle
ment south of here. But where’s
Bailey?”
True enough! I sent my eye around
the circle: he was not in sight. While
we were making talking he had lost sight of us,
and a detour to see the house if
possible, could might be ahead or behind us,
we not tell. We looked at each
other an instant in fear, then halloed in
chorus. No reply. If he were to the
south, his cries could not reach us; and
if to the north, ours could not ieach
him. Again we shouted and again lis
tened. No reply, though we strained
our ears in the steady cease'ess roar and
scream of the storm. For th ; first time
I was afraid. In such a ferocious tem
pest and in such deadly cold a man could
not live long. AVe took turns in shout
ing, but no reply came, till a lull in the
wind not only left the air clearer, but
softened the tumult in the eir, and we
heard a faint cry in the distance
“Help!” It seemed so far off that it
had no mare force than the cry of a
kitten. AVe could not tell whether it
was on the earth or in the sky,or whether
we imagined it, but said soon it came again.
“He's at our left,” Moore, pulling
the horses about, and following the cry.
At every few rods we would stop and
shout, and listen for his cry, which grew
each moment stronger. But he was not
approaching us; he was waiting for us
to come to him. Soon we were within
speaking distance, and he was directing
us where to find him. It was strange
that he did not approach with us. We thought
he must have met some accident,
when suddenly he stood beside us. AVith
a single word, “Follow me,” he started
off, the horses following him. AVe could
not see him, but we knew he was on the
track of something. heavily Soon we with came upon
a small barn banked snow,
and with hoarse cheers we shook hands
and yelled: “I and told you so!” AVe had
hit the barn, the house was near by
and easily reached.
Withodt stopping to talk of our good
luck, we sprang out, and in a few mo
ments the ponies were safe from the bliz
zard, their noses deep in some, hay and
oats. After rubbing the ice and the snow
from their coats, and starting circu
lation anew in their stiff and weary legs,
we gathered our robes and things in our
arms and made for the house, which we
reached in a short, breathless run.
It was a frame building, 18 by 24,
which Moore had erected for a summer
residence—a mere shell of a thing, with
only one thickness of boards on the
sides, through which the snow drifted;
and as there was no banking, the cold
air also streamed up through the floor;
but relatively it was a palace. It was
shelter and light, for there was a stove
and some kindling, and a box of coal.
AVe need not freeze for one night any¬
way. AVe soon had a fire roaring in the
rusty stove, and a light in an unwashed
tubular lantern. AVe also found a coffee
can, and soon had a can of coffee siz¬
zling on the stove. Then we took the
time to ask Bailey about his adventure.
It seems that in making a detour he had
caught though a glimpse of the barn, and
the storm the next moment cov
ered it, yet he determined to push on a
a little farther and make sure of it.
l uckily he did not get quite out of ear¬
shot, and the whole ended fortunately,
but it was a big risk to run. As our
frozen mince piqs began to warm up
and the coffee to send off a fragrant
steam, Moore sang, exultantly,
“The wind howls mad out-doors,
The snow-clouds hurry past.”
AVe made a great pictur'e as we sat
around the red-hot stove, with our fur
caps and byffalo overcoats on. The
lantern threw a red light over us through
its smoky side, and the open jaws of the
coal stove brought out every line of our
faces as though we were the witches in
Macbeth huddled around the caldron.
On our heads the sifted snow fell at
intervals like showers of red flakes of
and gold, while the frail structure creaked
lashed groaned in the blast, the snow
the windows, and rushed like a
pack of wolves about the door. After
food and warmth, we sat thus talking
and singing till we felt weary and sleepy
with the cold; and then our host led us
to the upper story of the house, where
the bed stood which Moore used when
he came to sleep on his claim, and upon
this we piled our blankets and robes, and
then under them.
AVhen I awoke the next morning all
Was still—still as the grave; not a sound
save the heavy breathing of my com¬
panions and the occasional creaking of
the wood under the terrible cold; as
still ai though the snow had buried us
deep under its soft weight. And I
shall never forget how it looked as I
stepped out into the morning air.
No one would ever dream that the
night before this calm plain had been
lashed and driven by an appalling tem¬
pest. The terrible ride of the night be¬
fore seemed almost a dream. There was
no receding swell upon this ocean, a3
upon the Atlantic; on the contrary, it
looked so marble-like and still that one
could hardly imagine it ever being
moved again. The brilliant sun flashed
from millions of ice-points on the snow,
making and diamonds—a a broad way of d tzzling gold
ing the royal Its wey for the com¬
of morning. glory was al¬
most, not quite, a com pen ntion for the
experience of the previous night. r l hat
night, as we sat around the cannon
stove in the AVamburger grocery in
Boomtown, Moo:c told our story “ with
trimmings,” the actual fact adding among other things
that the thermometer was
thirty eight below zero. The other
trimmings which were not facts I will
not mention. Moore is a good fellow,
and undoubtedly regrets the exaggera¬
tions which the enthusiasm of the mo¬
ment induced.—- Harper's 1 Veehly.
A Deformed Prince.
The Crown 1’rlnee of Germany’s eldest
son and heir to the throne is Print e AVil
helm, of whom the Countess von Krock
ow writes: “The Germans cannot for¬
give an heir apparent of the throne hav¬
ing been born mediocre in figure and
imperfectly formed. Prince AVilheim.
lias a knobs. crippled In arm. the The hussar lingers uniform, are
mere
there is a pocket, and he wears it because
the three fingers of the helpless member
can be hung in the pocket. Otherwise
it hangs awkwardly and helplessly in its
sleeve. His horses are especially trained,
and before the Prince is to mount are
ridden three-quarters of an Hour to wear
them down, lie can just manage to hold
the reins. AVe were together in a coun¬
try house. I looked with the hostess
at the fork with which ho eats. It is of
silver, and not conspicuously different
from others, but fixed to the under tine
there is a sharp small blade. AVluit the
Prince cannot cut with the one hand
and this blade he does not undertake to
eat. The right hand and arm arc large
and of extraordinary deformed dexterity, but growth, the
little finger is by a
which the Prince only imperfectly con¬
ceals by wearing rings nearly up to the
third phalange .”
_
There are 10,548 more men than women:
in Manitoba.
