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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1888)
m THE WEST SHORE. Mb bur g man at my M and gave expresSion in f,. word, the thought that uppermost in r&y tnirjl , , " !h too how, Mr. Maoon, m 1 smdu ... ti 1 T V. a nn it g tijn r IribuU to j.accnus, i u uu-fvrTtHMcM-:.(M. of rfhiDHibility-acfjDBciousneBB lUt I, ar.d yoo, and all rnf-n of our stamp, who know ourl?t k in many ways, BUpf'rior to such as arc, in a peat momure, rcKjonHible for tragedies ,f thii lind, inasmuch m we not only fail to set a fun umn th" curw hut contribute our mite to it f very timo we clink glawics over a bar. P tl,f thought 'trike you fw far-fetched? I Bup jt il ; but, (Jod ! it reoU heavily on my soul at thin moment Would " He q 1 bnly lift'-d hia lnt bond, and interrupted m with a wild, imjxrative gmture, M Htp I in merry 'i name !" he cried. "Every word jou utUr given a wrench to the iron that enter al my ul long Mure I ever aw this mr wretch. Iljuibility! (irffit (iol ! If this were all !" HeturnM abruptly away, and going to the door, vu it, m if to plunge into the storm and dark it without. 1 followed him, striving to explain that 1 bad t?n without dreaming that my words might U ar any jt ial aignifjeance for him, and laid my land on hi arm, rn.trainiugly. liut the storm iudf prwntl K (ftrri,.r jjC noj J)m e I'u.y wind had pilrd the now in a huge bank agaiutlh i!.,r, m high m the caves of the cabin, and them it t-., & w,lid wall, burring egress. I drew him gently away and cloned the door. M My friend," I ai,, if ny WorJ( womJcJ !-K your forgiun, (lrpnrileil lh wouJ do m they would never havolnlon. Commit by my hearth, and help m t l,Rr the loneli-t-' M of thu rather tobRMtnaiion. Wo are prison- .utiil Uch timoaa wo chu,e to tunnel -uray -ut throuKh thnow drift" . ,,M1uft 'hout a worJ, and sat down sittim, y ,!,;VK,uu;h i the cabin, all Ilo. Lf a I Uw u male preparation,, f . --UMfallaton'ia r bring one We fi'oia twt)'" 1 V M , N S 1 ai J, must try to make a coffin. I think I have boards enongb, if I can find them in the snow. When we have prepared the body for burial, I will dig a pass age out through the enow, and we will see what can be done." " We will take turns at the shoveling," said he, and during the hours of hard work that followed, he did his share manfully, though his way of handling shovel and 6pade betrayed the fact that his acquain tance with these useful and time-honoied implements had been hitherto of the formal and distant sort. When the short, storm-darkened day drew to its close, a grave had been made in the stony hillside, close by the little streamlet, whose tinkling voice was now hushed to silence by the frost king's icy mana cles. Here the lifeless form was laid to rest, and soon the night winds came and heaped his grave with a mound of spotless white. " When the snow goes off, we will put a low wall of stone about the grave, and put up a board bearing his name and date of death," I said. " Henry Mor ris, I believe you said, was his name?" " Yes, at least that is the name he gave me when I first met him, two months ago." " It seems a pity that we do not know whence he comes, or whether he has any living relatives," I con tinued. " If there should be an old mother, or a wife, somewhere in the world, waiting for him, it would bo some comfort to her to know his fate; life long uncertainty, in such a case, must be a terrible thing to bear." Roy Mason's beautiful lips curved in a bitter smile at my words. " Yes," he answered, slowly, "it might be a relief to her to know that he is out of the world." There was a tinge of bitterness and an undertone f m!8ery ln th rds, to which I had not then the key, but which, later, I understood. The storm continued, at intervals, for nearly three weeks, and the depth of the snow on the mountains became so great, that, looking up to the heights S'Kr thUght f P88iblesnow bl JJv!11 f hing wiped away like a picture off a m; Jested, ruefully, a good he" 1M We much l0D take " Thon t i ii hl8 rare smiles. I1 T11 Pray spirits of storm and sun- ing lorlT 7'" I answered, with feel 1 eb of ell to own tha three short ! Con! 1 had lost my heart to 1 A Perfectly congenial companion, of my own exs,