80 TOM’S EXPERIENCE 
uine Illinois supper, too, it was, with tender fried 
chicken, done to a turn, and cream gravy, a big plate, 
of broiled ham of Rob’s own putting up, delicious 
fried potatoes, bread white as snow and light as a. 
sponge, butter, the rich fragrance of which you.can 
never forget, coffee with rich, bubbly cream in it 
that made it like nectar, and soon. I mention these 
thmgs to show you one strong reason why a good. 
many people don't want to go west. They are. 
afraid they can never have such living there as they 
do “at home.” They forget that wherever they are 
is ‘* home.” . 
So that evening after supper we were all gathered . 
around the blazing soft coal fire, and I asked Rob. 
what he would like to know about Dakota. | 
BLIZZARDS. 
‘ Well,” he answered, *‘ tell us about the blizzards, 
and the dug-outs, and the forty-five bushels of wheat 
to the acre, and——well, everything.” ; 
‘The blizzerd first, then,’ I said. ‘I’ve not seen 
but one, and that was not one of fhe worst, though 
it was bad enough. First there came a high wind, 
then in two or three hours a heavy cloud, not very 
black, and then the snow, first in scattering flakes, 
and then thicker and thicker. At first I lost sight 
of my neighbors’ houses—they were shut out by the 
driving snow—then my barn was hid, and « little 
later I couldn’t see ten feet from the house in any 
direction. The snow didn’t seem to come down—it 
