, 1870-12-23

or the cars OF all roads whose necessities
i. convenience may require such transit,
n imperative necessity.
BELOW ZERO.
Winter Chtistmas-a -a]eighing- GOLD
below zero! Hear The
oells! We are not going to borrow from
Poo any suggestion about the jtngling
md the tinkling OF the bells. But We
have discovered the object Of winter. The
mission OF this whisuing, freezing, icy
visitor is to compel sosd,d humanity to
forget everything else and enjoy itself.
Who can possibly care whether money is
uade OF lost; whether San Domingo ia
bought or sold whether Paris surrendezs or
keeps on eating puppy tarts; whether Su NJ
ner and The President agree or fight, whsu
the supreme joy of existence consista in
keeping warm inaids and out, and tho chief
end of uan il answered by turning one's
back to the blazing crate, and bearing
ones coat tails under each arm rs precious
" as if they were ladies in full dress going
TO the opera? Winter is the insuderable
egotist; il is Indifferent whether it renders
us ecstaiic or miserable, so long as it ex-
acts our whole attention. But va must
neither zee, think, nor knew anything
else It is the hours irresistible despot,
whose DEGREES enforce themselves. We
shall be long, for-it Is winter: W.
must buy that new velvet cloak
now, which we had looked upon rs dis
tant a1tiction, because-it is winter!
From the children's suits 10 the gas bill,
the Christmas nick-nacks, the present for
Bridget, everything gets in hurry, and
comes at us on full zun-because it .is
winter. We face tho blast OF win nter as
ws face our d-esor, thinking il We are
a~-~tng old or weak, or rheumatic, be will
earch' out the weak point, and give Us
twinge just there, to teach us that wa owo
mortality an unpaid bill. If tho biting
air shoots, in sharp psngs, through those
mysterious receases Of the ches. which
no welt-ordered Christian Is expected to
know much about, seeing that hs does
not make business OF cutting up
his neighbors, We mentally quake, and a1-
c]rim, "Ugh, what dencedly disagreeable
day this won1d be to be buried in" But il
the dancing Boreas finds in us only q
laughing partner, who can wlitl him round
and round, till he is tired, and send him
vhsiing on his way 10 cut up his p,anks
with feebler folk; il the gay red blood
courses in swifter tumult through our
veins With each embrace We give tho rough
old wrestler; and the fierces bis blasts, the
richer We feel in all the rampant pride and
joy of life, then We boast of Winter as our
truest friend; wo give him call for cali;
open the door for his admission; invite
him to be at home with US, and even 70
sle'Gh-riding in great, wild, skylarking
parties, by moonlight-to bold joint con-
verse with old Winter md young: May at
the same time.
Dr. franklin has uttered a world of a}-
surd things, but his most monstrous Is,
that he could attain to the whole ecstasy of
sleiEh-riding by putting his feet in leo and
salt and resolutely keeping them there till
they froze. No man can estimate the
mischief single philosopher can
accomplish by such isothesml heresies.
II but q single manageable couple arc in
duced thereby to remain at home on a
solitary Decembernight, when, but for Dr..
Franklin, they would be abroad unlcr the
Atars, watching the northern aurora and
practising the sublime art of :. smuggling
up, who can estimate the disastrous
effect 2
What compensation can the world derive
from drawing down a very inferior order
of electricity from the clouds, which will
atone for the heresy Of teachings which
wholly overlook and sven discourage the
manufacture Of those electric and magnetic
influences which lift us mp to the clouds?
It is strange that, in the classic and an
cient Pantheon, Winter cut no more promi-
nent figure.
But, unfortuuatel ;, most OF these theo-
logical myths sprung Up in the warmer
clmcs, which winter has never reclaimed.
The Queen Of their heaven was Juno, the
goddess OF fertility, and the ladies' Of che
Olympian Court hare strong family re-
semblAuce 10 the ladies of :he French
Court, in the times Of Louis XIV. But no
.aeM nsale amone uese Hncien' hytns
eApiea@e" = majesty 30 30 Posent IN ata oes-
po..sn ~ ~n'e.. Inc tn1ee o.nef aes-
eoos ao pfePatAt'oa 1o1 ea's* 1oey aTe
given to e1s1tion, accumulation, and
eosIu- Anl, ~ ' e1pena.ufe aao
o''e'soo ~, WINE. locAs up mo SOIL
saying LII Il mol Il closes
our Po1's aaa says to AZ the
wheels o. commerce, "Kess. It drives
~aa from the outer world to hill hearth,