Connecticut western news., 1873-01-10
From The South.

LEAR NEwS-AS this will not reach you
 'ill mid-holiiay, allow me to hope you passed
 merry Christmas and wish you 8 happy
 neW-year. We ure passing through the
 most eVentful period of our existence
 Wherever the line of perpetual summer is
 drawn, it is far south of this. No longer
 do the tad-poles and lizards sport lovingly
 ln their native pools: no longer do the alli-
 gators awake the echos with their deep
 double basso; no longer do the grasshop-
 pers climb the dry stalks and enliven us
 with their soulstirring chirr-r-r-r-r. No,
 not muchly. The face of (Virginls) na-
 ture is changed. All-all are silent. The
 waters of the old Ohio glide peacefully and smoothly along, bearing upon it's bosom
 what? those floating palaces with their liv-
 ing loads of freight, and ringing bands of
 music? I guessnot, but cakes of ice about
 forty rods square and foot thick. Mer- cury six degrees below zero this very mor- ming, A thing unheard of in the history of this town. Whew! Jerusalem crickets how cold it is. If this is the sunny South what can be the shady north?
 Navigating the Ohio has about closed for the present. Occasionally steamer how ever, more veuturesome than the rest, at tempts her way through the mass of float ing ice, but they generally pay dear for it, in the loss of paddles, or an ugly hole through the hull. The river is very low and none but the lightest draft steamers at tempt to run. There is less than four feet of water onIthe bars. Thousands of tons of freight line the wharf boats awaiting transportation. Hotels crowded with travellers, anxiously enquiring if boat is expected. Your correspondent made a trip to Portsmouth, and back, mak- ing the return distance forty-nire miles in twelve hours fraction over four miles an hour. This cold Weather has seriously interfered with immigration It has been the custom to purchase lot, stake out the building, move on to the ground, put up steve and take boarders; building the house at leisure, but now they put up a frame first, then advertise for boarders, and cover the buildings atterward. There is, upon an average, three buildings put up each week. Work is plenty, but wages low. We are expecting, from present indi- cation, grand rush of immigrants in the spring. Building lots are being sold very fast One building firm has just advertised for for twenty-four carpenters. Now is the time for eastern mechanics, with few spare dollars. to come outand locate. Buy a lot for $450 ; put up thousand dollar house, and rent it for twenty five dollars nonth, and in less than two years your property will more than double in value. material is cheap; timber and lumber SIS per thousand, shingles $4.5O to $5.5O; lime 75 cents to $l.25 per bar rel; brick, at present, $7.5O. Then, again, living is very cheap. The best of cord wood fitted for the stove, only $5 per cord Coal $3 per ton, and a better quality of beef than can be found in Old Salisbury. for 10 cents per pound, from anywhere be- tween the head and tail, it is all the same price. Nice fat chickens $2 per dozen. Clothing-well, you wont need much du- ring the summer; linen collar and an um- brella will be sufficient, t,-furniture don't bring any of that, as from the most com mon to the most magnificent can be bought here for less than what the lumber cost, East. Now what more can mortal man ask? Hoping to see many of my old friends here in the spring, bid you adieu. D.
 HUNTINGTON, WEST V1EGINIA,l
 Dec. 23, 1872.