SNOWED IN 



It gave me quite a start. I had not thought 

 of it before, but that old roof was hardly able to 

 stand under two feet of snow, and it complained 

 when the overhanging boughs emptied an addi 

 tional load upon it. It might collapse at any 

 moment. With a great deal of difficulty I got 

 the door open, for it opened out and the snow 

 was piled against it three feet high. Then we 

 tried to get the yellow dog to play the part of 

 Noah s dove, but she utterly refused the role, 

 and only sniffed at the white bank, and wagged 

 her tail with the general significance of &quot; No, I 

 thank you, master.&quot; After much pushing and 

 floundering, I made my way through the drift 

 far enough to get a view of the roof, and found 

 that on the northern side of the house the snow 

 was piled up halfway to the eaves. Then it 

 occurred to me that there was an unused hemlock 

 board lying against the kitchen, and if I could get 

 that on top of the drift, I could stand upon it, 

 and with an extemporized hoe pull a great deal 

 of the snow from the roof. I must have worked 

 the whole morning at this job, forgetting for the 

 time being everything else ; pulling out old nails 

 here and there with a hatchet, for I had no ham 

 mer, and finally, with incredible exertion, getting 

 upon my plank and finding that I could dislodge 

 with superhuman effort about five pounds of 

 snow at a pull and the roof must have been 

 carrying about a ton and a half. Just as I was 

 getting discouraged, about ten feet of it gave way, 

 and sliding down, landed upon me like an ava- 



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