A LITTLE NORSK

OR

OL' PAP'S FLAXEN

By

HAMLIN GARLAND

AUTHOR OF MAIN TRAVELED ROADS, A MEMBER OF THE THIRD HOUSE, A SPOIL OF OFFICE, JASON EDWARDS, ETC.

NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1892

Copyright, 1892, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

Printed at the Appleton Press, U.S.A.

On the Plain.

_My cabin cowers in the pathless sweep Of the terrible northern blast; Above its roof the wild clouds leap And shriek as they hurtle past. The snow-waves hiss along the plain, Like spectral wolves they stretch and strain And race and ramp--with hissing beat, Like stealthy tread of myriad feet, I hear them pass; upon the roof The icy showers swirl and rattle; At times the moon, from storms aloof, Shines white and wan within the room-- Then swift clouds drive across the light And all the plain is lost to sight, The cabin rocks, and on my palm The sifted snow falls, cold and calm._

_God! What a power is in the wind! I lay my cheek to the cabin side To feel the weight of his giant hands-- A speck, a fly in the blasting tide Of streaming, pitiless, icy sands; A single heart with its feeble beat-- A mouse in the lion's throat-- A swimmer at sea--a sunbeam's mote In the grasp of a tempest of hail and sleet!_

Contents.

PAGE

CHAPTER I. Her Adoptive Parents 1

CHAPTER II. Her First Trip in a Blizzard 9

CHAPTER III. The Burial of her Dead Mother 22

CHAPTER IV. Flaxen Adopts Anson as "Pap" 32

CHAPTER V. Flaxen Becomes Indispensable to the Two Old Bachelors 38

CHAPTER VI. A Question of Dress 46

CHAPTER VII. After Harvest 69

CHAPTER VIII. An Empty House 78

CHAPTER IX. "Baching" it Again 86

Table of contents (by pages)

• 1: A Little Norsk; Or, Ol' Pap's Flaxen by Garland
• 2: The snow is driftin' purty bad
• 3: The boom had not yet struck Buster County
• 4: Bert hurriedly unwound the shawl
• 5: Which Bert tried to stop by rubbing
• 6: It appealed to him more than to Anson
• 7: Maybe you'll find some more clothes over to the shanty
• 8: When Anson woke the next morning
• 9: An' the mice a runnin' over her
• 10: Gearheart crunched away over the spotless snow
• 11: At sight of the ruddy face of Anson
• 12: Now wandering up or down the swales
• 13: Which I reckon is called a shimmy
• 14: Bert and Anson swore by Belleplain
• 15: Bound for Belleplain after groceries for harvest
• 16: Anson tried to look indifferent
• 17: Screamed Reeves as the punishment increased
• 18: When Anson returned to the house after putting out the horse
• 19: Bert ain't partial to sociables
• 20: Said Anson through his set teeth
• 21: Coughed Gearheart in beginning
• 22: Anson was a rather handsome old fellow
• 23: I can git ready in about seventeen jiffies
• 24: I s'pose things are in purty good shape around this seminary
• 25: Peter is a good 'eal bigger'n Boomtown
• 26: You'll make ol' pap feel turrible
• 27: Once or twice Anson said She's about at Summit now
• 28: Built huge black drifts wherever there was a wind break
• 29: Who d' y' s'pose this Kendall is
• 30: Gearheart irritatedly broke out Ans
• 31: Gearheart stopped and gazed thoughtfully upward
• 32: He simply judged Anson by himself
• 33: Anson was wofully disappointed
• 34: Flaxen had been gone almost a year
• 35: While Flaxen went off into a peal of laughter
• 36: Gearheart crooked his finger at Ans
• 37: Finally Anson spoke The fact is
• 38: Anson handed the letter to Bert
• 39: It hurt Anson terribly to see how eager she was to get away
• 40: Which was a great disappointment to Elga
• 41: When Anson got back to the hotel that night
• 42: Anson was met at the door by a hard faced
• 43: She said to Anson a little after
• 44: Expressively glancing at Kendall
• 45: Springing steps Anson remembered so well
• 46: Shouted Anson in the Western way
• 47: Anson replied with a little gesture
• 48: Anson held out his palm to catch the sunshine in it
• 49: Author of The Wreck of the Grosvenor
• 50: With an Introduction by Edmund Gosse
• 51: Author of The Hoosier Schoolmaster
• 52: UNCLE REMUS His Songs and his Sayings
• 53: And letters from Thomas Carlyle
• 54: Ex United States Consular Agent in Alexandria
• 55: And Illustrations from sketches by Lord Dufferin