The weekly Anglo-African., 1859-12-03
TEE FROZEN GUEST.

| point where had started-and put up Tor
the night at small log cabin, with two
rooms on the floor, an unusual luxury in
that part of the country at that time. for
most cabins contained but one but then
this was reckoned as sort OF tavern, and
was kept by an Illinois man, who seemed
to understand the practical business OF
''rough;ng it" in a new country pretty
well.
Any one who has passed winter in Min
nesota may know something of what is
usually denominated there a blue day,
which signifies nothing more nor less than
an exceedingly cold day, such as is rarely
if ever experienced in Massachusetts. 1t
is true that people get used to it, and do
not feel it, or seem to feel it, quite as much
as they would here.
will give you an extract from letter
received from an esteemed friend in the vi
cinity of the town of Redwing, although
the town was neither built nor contempla-
ted at that time. He says:
II have been carting fencing stuff to-
day, distance of four miles, over a light
crust of snow which fell last night. 1t has
been a comfortably cold day-not what we
call blue day here, by any means, but
you might, if you had it east; it was only
% degrees below zero this morning, but it
rose twelve degrees from that before noon.
You see | cannot do without my thermOm-
eter, although [ am content at present with
a log cabin. What would you think of
getting up and feeding your cattle at 80
degrees below zero? What do you say 7
Il have done it once or twice since have
been here p
But in spite of this seeming bravado of
the cold the people do sometimes get fro
zen, as the little incident am about to re-
late will show. | had crossed sixteen
mile prairie, and put up at log tavern con-
tanning two rooms. 1t was an exceedingly
cold morning when | started, and think
| was advised, then, not to leave till the
weather moderated but | was anxious to
get on, and so | started, in spite of their
friendly protestations. | was warmly
dressed, and wore a pair of boots tanned
with the hair on, which gave me courage
to believe that might safel y contend with
the cold
Instead of the weather moderating, as it
had been prognosticated, it grew colder and
colder every moment. l never saw such a
blue, still, singing cold day in all my pre-
viOus experience. 1t seemed actually as
though my breath froze before it escaped
from my nostrils, and / was compelled to
brush the pendant icicles from my nose as
often as once in five minutes.
When Preached the log-cabin tavern be-
fore mentioned every joint in my body
was numb and stiff as though my whole
frame had suddenly become petrifed. l
should have persisted, | think, had another
mile been added to my journey. As it
was, felt thankful when | reached place
of warmth and shelter
Besides the usual occupants of the cabin
there were three or four persons present,
who, like myself, had been forced to dis
continue their journey to avoid the intense
cold. They were talking with the host in
relation to some person whom they called
Steers, who was supposed to be on his way
from Central Pc Mt with IL load of grain or
lumber, or some ing-I forget what. AT
all events, he WIS expected with an OK
team. One remarked that any other man
but Steers would be frozen, if he under
took it Another suggested that he would
be fool if he started at all. A third,
wishing to be facetious no doubt, added
that he reckoned he would be "hump of
ice" 1t grew colder as the day advanced,
and | began to think there might be danger
of freezing even in the cabin, although the
the guests kept cramming the fuel by arm
fuls in the big cooking stove till it was red
hot in every spot which came in contact
with the fire.
About an hour after sunset, and while
we were yet seated around the table, eat
ing our pork and potatoes, we heard team
approaching over the frozen crust Did
you ever observe how far you could hear
the slightest crack of the surface incrusta-
ton on one of those terribly still freezing
nights?
The approaching team drew nearer
came opposite paused, crushing down the
crisp snow as though it had been so much
glass.
"That must be Steers p cried most of
the company, and in spite of the shudder-
ing cold, which you could almost fancy you
saw creeping through the solid logs, there
was general rush for the door There
stood the cart and oxen, and there sat the
driver. Neither moved. The landlord,
who was an old acquaintance, ran out and
seized the new conner by the shoulder.
The next instant he started back with a
look of horror. Heaven preserve us y
he exclaimed, "but the man is dead fro
zen to the wagon v-Chriaian Watch
man.