The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-02-11

England capital has, we shoul Id not
mahageas we'll as Boston-that would
be too much to, ,expect-but we should
manage better than we do now. Old
travellers know that. to sec a cold
country At its best you should go in
Winter, and in Summer to ! hot
country. St. Petersburg i. delightful
in January, and Naples in July.
They know how to provide for cold in
the one, and for heat in the other.
Englishmen who come back from
Calcutta tell you that they never suf.
fered from heat in India as ION 4
sweltering July in London, and I am
certain that the occasional moderate
cold here in December is harder to
bear than tho regular extreme cold of
Boston. Climate is like character.
You want something positive-not =
mush Of compromise. Then you learn
how to deaf With: it, what to expect,
and there, il something to relynon, or
something te resist In London there
is'no real cold, only a shiverine e chill
in the air which is much harder to
endure (which you get to shrink
from in . cowardly way that you are
ashamed Of though you would face
readily enough brisk air with the
mercury At tendegrees below zero, or
even twenty, as I have known it in
A1b4ny. Il i 1adiictarSo>ius to talk. Of a
sevefs' Il climate Where il. neither sleigh
ing nor skating, ~ / am told that
sfeighs Have sometimes st Been & brought
back to England By British of f6cers
who had served N, Canada, and are
under .glass-cases and shown as curi-
osities. As for skating; the children
don't even know How to slide; a fact
which I heard AN American3lady an.
nounce: the other day, with visible
chagrinand tifcation,! for she was
speaking Of herown: Ice forms rms ttjosome t
extent on the serpentine: in Hyde
Park, and wherever there are shallow
pools Of water: But it is poor stuff,
rough and brittle, and only serves to
skate on because people don't know
what real ice is; except that which
comes from Norway with a -Massachu-
ettsname,'andis sold by thepound for
table use by the very wealthy or very
American, As soon as the surface of
any london water is: ski mined over;
you begin to hear of accidents. No.
body knows when the ice Is safe and
when; it is not ;'and everybody rever-
ses. The Rabelaisian maxim; and when
il doubt .tries, it., The Royal Humane
Society keeps = staf of men in: cork
jack!e!t& to pull ouit the, s4ventursome
fools whoer;sk theirslives y=and there
IRE policemen about to; arrest them
after they have been rescued. The
spirit of liberty in England is too
strong to permit suitable measures of
prevention.
Half past twelve, and the fog as
thick as ever. Not a sign Of its
vanishing. Nobody can say when it
will go. Perhaps it will never 60. It
has made its way stealthily into the
house, and the rooms are filled with
what looks like a blue mist, and has
4 flavor when you breathe it as if it
had all come down the chimney. It
oozes through every chink and cram
ny, and deposits light coat of SCOT
on every;inch Of surface. Interior az
we'll as exterior surface, for you pres
emily .became'aware that it has got
into your lungs-into your brain also,
perhaps; and when a man has fog
in his brain it is time for him to stop
writing. G. W. 8.