The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-12-30

:, a.v. nv stonping the operations of the col:
i;ars always produce d scarcity or coal
aho,,t the first Of the year, 1t has been
i greater this year than we had ever KNOWN
| Il. or there has been greater demand ioT
| coal and il has thereby been made TO ap-
| near scarcer, whethersitbe really so or not.
| It is difficult. nay, almost imposstnle, 70
obtain good lump coal at any price, anu
the article which is in Market Is IN gensIai
about as coarse ~ the coarSest uhPo"ueI,
and ia half dirt at that We wonder that
some cntcrnrising person has not thought
| ne ho,.;n1 coal here at all housekeeping up
| cnnt;nIIal supply, so that it can always DC
had depot OF that kind, we should
tnink. would always be profitable. We
s,Ispect the poor have suffered very much
during the spell.
The folly of child is sometimes better
than the wisdom Of the wisest man. We
certainly do not lay claim to any very great
share of sagacity yet, having often heard
old farmers say that heavy. crop OF per,
simmons was always indicative Of hard
winter, we ventured. in our folly, to say as
much in another paper. There are certain
men so very wise that they know, or fancy
they know, the causes of all things. Some
of these derided us for expressing belief
in the truth of this sign. The connexion
between cause and effect had escaped their
omniscience, and the thing, of course,
could not be. Well! Ask any farmer who
comes from the country if he has ever seen
larger crop of persimmonS than the pres
ent. II he shall say he has, then we will
admit that we had no ground for the con-
clllsion to which we were led on former
occasion.
AS this editorial is written pretty much
at random upon matters connected with
cold weather IN general, we propose giving
the Drummond Lights another opportunity
to show their Smartness ut our expense.
We delight above all things to be the cause
of wit IN others, especially in class OF
men who do not often commit the SIN OF
excess in that particular. What DO these
most potent, grave, and reverend gentlemen
think of the goose bone? We have known
an old lady to foretell the character of five
winters by it, and each representation
came true 10 the letter. Now, if any OF
them wish to know what manner Of winter
that Of 1929 will lie. we engage to give
them 4 true description of it by the first
day Of october next, and we will consult
no other oracle than person of our ac-
quaintance, who shall judge by that touch
stone alone. We do not pretend TO assign
the reason that were rs hard as it were to
tell why it has pleased Providence 10 make
our Drummond Lights SO much wiser than
other people; we only oferto foretell Wnat
manner Of winter it will be.
The belief in the goose-bone ms n prog
no>ticator of the winter is far more extern
sve than many of our readers, perhaps, /,
suspect. Ii was first brought to Virginia,
rs far rs we are able 10 learn, by the late
Peter Baker, of Goochland. This gentle
man was born, we believe, III PennsylVa-
MIA, and emsrated to Virginia shortly after
the Revolutionary war. He was man OF
strong practical sense, close observation,
and was one Of the most successful farmers
of his day. When he first came to the
ncichborhood, in which he afterwards re-
sided, the inhabitants laughed at his super
stinon, as they called his belief in the inial-
Iibility Of the goose-bo1e. But before he
WAS done he made so many predictions
which turned out TO be true that he turned
the laugh completely against them. Many
of them became converts, and remained Ill
that belief to the end of their lives. The
winter Of 1866 was one Of the warmeSt
on record, there having been scarcely a
freeze during the season. During the fall
Of 1895, Mr.. Baker, who was IN feeble
health, attended a sale, where he found seVe-
raj of his neighbors eagerly bidding against
each other for straw and forage, OF which
there was asremarkable scarcity ut that
time. To one OF them he said that his
anxiety to buy these articles and his dlsap-
pointlnent in getting them were matters OF
no moment, "for." said he, Though In all
probability I shall not live to see it, you
will tind the coming winter the mildest you
have ever known" 1t turned out precisely
as he had foretold. Mr.. Baker, who GER
tainly was no glack, did not pretend to
have made this discovery himself. 1t had
been established by the observations OF
MANY succeeding generations of men before
it came into his possession. Having never
known it to fail, he could not but believe
it. though neither he nor any other man
was ever able to assign 4 reason for it.
We have heard much said by the old peo-
pie in our younger days about the Writer
of 1894, and still more about that Of 1850.
We are very much disposed to doubt
whether either Of them was harder upon
the constitution than the present. he cold
was longer continued, and the system be-
came braccd up TO meet it. At present, on
the contrary, 10 sooner are we strung up
to the proner point than warm dizzy comes,
and causes the system to relax, and prepare
| for the greatest possible amount OF suffer
ing from cold spell, which comes on with
the suddenness of thought.
We have never known the mails more In
terrupted by the weather.
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