ting for did not come.
A true Western blizzard, growing wilder every moment, had set in, and we
finally realized that the train was not coming, and that, moreover, it
was now impossible to get back to the hotel. The only thing we could do
was to spend the night in the railroad station. I was the only woman in
the group, and my fellow-passengers were cattlemen who whiled away the
hours by smoking, telling stories, and exchanging pocket flasks. The
station had a telegraph operator who occupied a tiny box by himself, and
he finally invited me to share the privacy of his microscopic quarters.
I entered them very gratefully, and he laid a board on the floor,
covered it with an overcoat made of buffalo-skins, and cheerfully
invited me to go to bed. I went, and slept peacefully until morning.
Then we all returned to the hotel, the men going ahead and shoveling a
path.

Again, one Sunday, I was snowbound in a train near Faribault, and this
time also I was the only woman among a number of cattlemen. They were an
odoriferous lot, who smoked diligently and played cards without ceasing,
but in deference to my presence they swore only mildly and under their
breath. At last they wearied of their game, and one of them rose and
came to me.

"I heard you lecture the other night," he said, awkwardly, "and I've bin
tellin' the fellers about it. We'd like to have a lecture now."

Their card-playing had seemed to me a sinful thing (I was stricter in
my views then than I am to-day), and I was glad to create a diversion.
I agreed to give them a lecture, and they went through the train, which
consisted of two day coaches, and brought in the remaining passengers. A
few of them could sing, and we began with a Moody and Sankey hymn or two
and the appealing ditty, "Where is my wandering boy to-night?" in which
they all joined with special zest. Then I delivered the lecture, and
they listened attentively. When I had finished they seemed to think that
some slight return was in order, so they proceeded to make a bed for me.
They took the bottoms out of two seats, arranged them crosswise, and
one man folded his overcoat into a pillow. Inspired by this, two others
immediately donated their fur overcoats for upper and lower coverings.
When the bed was ready they waved me toward it with a most hospitable
air, and I crept in between the overcoats and slumbered sweetly until I
was aroused the next morning by the welcome music of a snow-plow which
had be