The Republican journal., 1873-01-02
Letter From Boston.
Correspondence of the journal.

| The past week has tried the holiday temper
of anumber of people whose Sunday constitution
naturally fit them to angels wings and crowns
of glory from their youth up. Lots of others
without that goodly reputation, have suffered
likewise, being quite unable to do justice to the
occasion. Anything but freezing, say they,
even that place not mentioned by tongues polite
would be better than this grim uncompromiS-
| ing cold that raked the continent from east to
| west and then left US buried under snow banks.
These snow blockades touch easy going hui
manty nearly. The mlkman fails us in our
| hour of need, and the milk of human kindness
being of insufficient richness to set for cream,
| the morning coffee is drank in bitterness at the
usually pleasantest of meals The head of the
| house would seek refuge behind his newspaper
but alas, even that indispensable luxury is be-
lated The babies rashly refuse their oatmeal
| in the natural state, and beWildered house,
keepers look out upon the snow and in upon
| their arders and we'll, we know what
men would do under the circumstances, and
what we shall do when all things are equal
| Discomfort reigns, even if the water pipes have
| not frozen, for ten to one the fires won't burn
| twas there ever fire, a legitimate one | mean,
| that did its duty when the mercury was below
| zero?) everything breaks from the frost, every
| body growls, and ''the whole world seems out
of comfort" Half Boston goes TO roost in the
surrounding towns, and Thursday afternoon
the wise ones turned their faces as well AS
thoughts towards home. For the way of the
horse car is to disappear at such inconvenient
seasons, and for steam to evaporate in the snow
banks. The storm began delicately enough ;
"too cold to snow much,' said the dilatory, but
| by five O'Clock we remembered the fates of our
| friends seven years ago and girded up our loins
! 1t was q disastrous night. Men died on the
| thresholds of doors opened to received them,
others sank exhausted as soon as they reached
| their houses. The suburban trains stopped
running after seven P. M. and a train Of two
cars and four engines that left the Boston and
Providence depot at half past eleven for Dedham
| managed to get there the next morning about
| five, distance of only ten miles. A Bostonian
boasts that during the past five years he has
| slept every night in that ancient and lovely
| town, leaving for the city every morning at
quarter past seven and returning at the witch
| ing hour of 11.30 every night. Such regu-
| arity of disposition would lead one to suppose
some romance in the matter; but such is not
| the case. Its pure love of country, that even
| the storm of last week could not quench, and
| our undaunted traveller performed his ten miles
| in nearly as many hours to his own satisfaction
and CONTEXT.
| People that had fire siit..e9 10 mug, huggeja.
| them closely, and Chris,m mas festivities We're
postponed till thaw, for the storm presaged SO
much suffering it was scarcely ereditable to
! be Jolly. Each shrek of the wind made the
quiet ones think of those the sea, and pictures
came like Banquo's ghost to sit at many boards.
| And at sea, within only few hours of home,
were men battling for their lives to die frghtful
death upon our dangerous coast. The loss of
| the peruvian" with her magnificent cargo and
| thirty souls, has made the entire community
| shudder. Landsmen in their hours of ease and
bodily comfort can hardly imagine the horrors
of that storm to sailors, and especially now that
| shock has followed shock, and sensation rushed
after sensation, we feel inclined to cry "What!
| another." and then forget all about 1t in our ex-
pectation of some other i'll. An old salt who
| has sailed longer than ever Capt. Kidd, told me
| in speaking of this last disaster that man
couldn't live minute in the water such night
rs that was, and that all the suffering came be-
fore the ship went to pieces, hope he was right,
and thus suffering became its own anasthetic,
| and they never knew what killed them,
! Among other uDpleasantnesseS is the burning
up in the snow of our forlorn hope the new
| small poX hospital. 1t was lovely sight as
seen through the falling flakes thickly frosted
window panes, but we could forego such costly
illumination rather than elbow continent cti-
caahcs dsihg hefir tools IS orng people Of
all trades are now feeling the full hardship Of
no work and bitter winter weather, But YOU
| have no idea how much private charity has done
towards helping them; kind of charity that
does not let its left hand know what its right
hand doeth, though good deeds are sure to
| be found out. The benevolent wife of our ey-
| Governor has paid the board of twelve women.
| thrown out of employment, ever since the great
| fire; and another lady who is herself loser has
| taken two young girls into her family until they
| can return to their former employers. So what
| with small poX and fires, and constant leves on
the poor boxes, and the mercury tumbing I'M
der zero, We have had ''Merry Christmas''
| By compensation we have the wintry comfort
4
| Even the bloom of this cold rose was brushed
OH IN the good old time. There We're bells and
| bellies In those days of the brave old siX-seated
family ark, stuffed with skins, hot bricks and
warm young blood, whose broad backed driver
had eyes but for the spanking greys or browns.
or bays, or blacks, that bowIed along among
hundreds of just such turn-outs as himself held
| the whip over. Or there was the big par,v
sieiSh hlied with the same ingredients and
dash more of mischief with prospective dane
! ing, muied wine, flips, and very late rising
| next morning. Now its done sin twos' in
| Jumper with one or a pair of "thirty' horses
'hat Ten to one are merely advertising some
horse dealer, like enough from virtuous Maine.
And the company has changed with the fashion.
| Large diamonds appear in shirt-fronts, buff top
coats, rbboned whips, cigars and an accom-
panylng femininty too promiscuous to mention.
me papers dllate upon the drivers from such
ana such stables and trotting parks, and the
stock" often the products of Wateryile. Ken
dalps Mills. and other Pine Tree hamlets,
MANY a mans first love in superior driving
horses" first meets and makes conquest of him
IN passing out over Beacon street to the "Nfile
urouha.' The loss in quality of the driving
mas had no corresponding decrease in quantity.
Just so many ''thiry" horses can 90 .'thirty' in
nifty foot street and no more. Accidents are
keeping pace with the crowding of the speed
efs, and viii do Il good deal in keeping down
the surplus population, if some superior driv-
ing horses are not kept closer in hand. The
professional drivers have almost monopolized
the course. fimidlty has no business there
any way Certainly it could go upon any other
street and be as cold, and get as much snow
kicked oyer it, and freeze its ears if it ever &C.
Cured to it that any body ever seighed out of
boston but by Beacon street. But portentous
something in the wind already threatens the
supplemental rain that will knock us all back ON
to wheels again. law
Our friend OF the Herald, down the bav.
Will have to look after the Bangor Com
mercial. This is the way in which that