Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1869-11-16
From Appleton's Journal,
The Iceberg. uIo

i ny DIR. I. I. HAYES.
I "Obserre the little bit Of ice that click.
In your tumbler at dinner.time. Observe
1t closely, and you viii perceive how very
small a part of it floats above the surface
of the water--nct more than one-eight
Mt the farthcst-while the remaining sew
en-eights float beneath. Is1s7
Now, this little bit Of ice is an icebero
In minieinrA IN ;aabars, IN evar,I i
feature, except tina. it iIId not, III iii ii-
man probability, come from Greenland.
In shape, in general transparency, in the
play of light upon it, in its prismatic
character, in its frequently cavernous form,
in the general shane of the projecting
tongues which lie beneath the surface Of
the water, in the delicate mist which plays
around its summit in the warm air, it is
the very image of those great, floating
monoliths of the Arctic frost which come
sailing down Bafin's Bay with the polar
current, in all their stately grandeur and
magni6cence, scoruing, as they tread theil
watery way, the great billows Of the ocean
with cold disdsin, sending them away,
moaning and shattered, in defeat, chilling
the air for leagues around, yet gathering
to themselves the gorgeous colors of the
sky; immovablc from their steadfast
course and majestic as the 'slyery moon,
that, like an cebergs, 'bathes its sides III
thetrsmbling wave
1.-The iceberg is the largest Independent
floating body in the universe, except the
heavenly orbs. There is nothing approach
ing it, within the range Of our knowledge,
On this globe Of ours and yet it is, as
we have seen, but fragment of the ice
stream, which is, in its turn, but an arm
Of the ico-sca.
"Aud yet the iceberg is to the great
quantity Of Greenland ice as the pairing
Of fngcr-nail to the human body; as a
small chip to the largest tree; as shov'
elful of earth to Manhattan Island. Yet
magnify the Bit Of ice in your tunolel
until it becomes, to your imagination, a
'''h mile in diaaeter each wav. and you
| have q mass that Is Iar rom UNUSUAL. Auu
to this a mile, two miles in length, and you
have what may be sometimes seen.
have sailed alongside of an iceberg, two
miles and u half, measured with log
line, before coming to the end of it.
"The name signifies ice-mountain and
it is truly mountainous in size. Lift II
out Of the water, and it btc mes noun
tain one thousand, two thousand, three
thousand feet high. In dimensions, 1t il
as if New York City were turned adrli'
in the Atlantic ocean, or the Central Pars
were cut out and launched on the saInt
place. An iceberg Of the dimensions o
the Central Park is far from unusual
And its surface is not in form unlike ]
either. 1t is undulating like the Park
and cracgy, and crossed by ravines, anC
dotted with lakcs-the water Of the lake
being formed from melting SHOWS OF th'
late winter, and also of the ice itscit al
ter the SHOWS have disappeared before tn
influence of the summers sun. | hay'
. even bathcd in such lake, although | an
clad to say but once, and that was i'll 'thos
days of other years, when the youthful in
sanity is strong to say, Il have done it.
disease which | believe to be amenabl
only to that treatment popularly known
sad experience Skating on an iceber
lake is far more satisfactory and sensible
ave stood upon the summit OF tn
bluff, overlooking the ford and the ice
stream.
1.-THE ice-stream had been constant
emitting sounds, sometimes by the break
ing off Of small fragment from its Iron
sometimes by partial crack opening ia
Il ~
up in the body of it, as it strained IN II
rocky bed but now a loud report as
deep.mouthed thunder, broke from j
profoundest depths--scemingly indeed {
if from the very bowels of the earth.
fairly shook the ground on which We stoo'
{. Philip said, quietly, 'rhs ice-streai
is going to calve."
uAn instant afterward the report vi
repcated, louder and still more startlln
D The shock beneath my feet was more Sc
% ,ibly felt: it seemed like the first warnl'
cry of coming earthquake. w
: =, Philip said again, See it is rislnI
NJ "a portion of the glacier was ben
= lifted by the sea. A great wave was ro
r, inc back with this movement of the i'
and was dashed wildly against the ice
4 front. -:
y nAn instant more, the sound, viii
y was before 50 deep and loud, now bro
r through the air with crash that was
q. most ueafenng---as when a heavy gun
.. fred near by. bf p
III ssf knrv tbat a hionstrous crack '