New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-01-18
mittees on the Judiciary, on Pensions, and on
TIE SNOW STORM.

Science has not yet mastered the winds, and
knows but little of the laws which govern that
invisible substance which, TO the hight of fifty
miles or so, envelOps the revolving planet
Immense forces, imperfectly explained on
fho bvpothesis Of IN ever-shifting vacuum,
dwell in the atmosphere, and we are
continually surprised by their action The
Prince of the Powers of the Air keeps his
secrets well Had we but known them, and
could have predicted the snow storm of yester-
dav, great things might have been done; the
market price Of shovcls would have risen, and
sleighs would have been preengaged ut pre-
MUM.
This great storm began in New-YOrk about
IN. m. of Thursday. With vast white wings
Il sped from the northeast, embracing line
Of coast from Maine to Philadelphia.
II descended in the night, and by
day-break thousands of miles were COW
cred with deep snow, and the millions
on millions of flakes were falling. In
Boston such n storm has not been known for
ten wears; tho shipping in the harbor was
buried, and off Cape Cod storm-beaten vessels
struggled in the white gloom to find a harbor.
Portland, Providence, Albany were covered,
and in New-IIaven the snow fell to the depth
of six feet with drifts of twenty feet.
Here the streets were chokcd up, the
running of the cars almost suspended, the
ice in the rivers and bay shrouded in white
clond; pedestrians trampled out paths in snow
knee deep; travel, pleasure, business were inter
runtcd: we were snow bound NewYork on
Thursday morning looked as pure as n Sunday
after the Excise law had been enforced; by
night it was as dDgy as a Sunday after Cardozo
had issued IN injunction. Thus the feet of man
tramplcs into foulness The pure gifts of Heaven
and the blessings of Republican Legislature.
The misunderstanding city finds the snow to
be nuisance. The boys who have gained an
inexhaustjble store of snow-balls, the young
folks xhO dance along in merry sleghs, and
the industrious men who, starting up from no
one knows where, shovel away the mbidden
visitor into the gutters-thcse are delighted
with the storm. Here it fertilizcs no land !;
it seems to do little good. Despondent people
predict that the weather will freeze and then
it will thaw, and then il will freeze, and then
thaw again, tin the streets are conglomera-
ton of mud and ice. We know how hard it is
10 get rid of the snow in great cities; the stony
streets refuse to absorb it, and if we shovel 1t
from one place, it is only to shovel it
to another This storm. which now
appears to have ended, will possibly torment
us for weeks Yet who can be angry with the
snow The beautiful snow Ii is fair when
it dances in countless flakes, and fair when
its dazzling whiteness makes the familiar land
scape strange. II falls, and in an hour tho
face of the world is changed. This
storm came to MS from England, where
in London on the Cd instant ii fell 10
such depth that Macaulay'S celebrated tray
eler might have engaged in his favorite study
II has reached Cincinnati, and we bid
it good speed to the West TO cover the prairies
aud make the Black Mountains white. We can
only hope that the wind which swept with
it across the Atlantic has been merciful,
and that we shall not hear Of ships driving on
rocks, and laundering at sea, and men drown
ing in the same mighty storm that las laid
for our bellies and bcaux a ghttering pathway
for their jngliug sleighs.