, 1875-02-28
" SHOWED IN"
Life Among the Snow-Dri!ts in
Iowa.
Each Family Constituting It's Gwn
World.
An Enforced Pause Of Life.

Spee;a. Correspondence ot The Chicago 7tiowne.
MAEsuA1LrowN, Ia, February.-Are you
'snowed iu,' o TRIBUNE at Jour house Cn
that most charitable and Christian principle, that
misery loves company, I cannot but hope -.
For Iowa is teveling in first-class snov-atorm.-
not mere ehadowy imitation, vanishing in the
first ray Of sunshine, bEt es Senuins An artlcls
Is ever visited the "storn and rock-bound
coast" OF Ne1 England.
Having refreshed @ yoas in my last, With IA
exhaustive dciineation Of the Iowa character,
you will reudily divine that this absurd super
abundance Of
L1Lr-wuITE
With which she has adorned herself seems to
even mora exalt her {already) lofty self-ap-
proya1, and there. no describing tho airs sho
takes on. Yes, literal airs, that drive the per.
curry, in very desperation, down, down, in =
frantic retreat % deg. below zero, and peno-
trate ones "ea1thly tabernac1e " till you are
ready to declare that Ill tho heat Of the Tropics
would never restore to You your original degree
Of caloric.
Iowa snow has no regard for the beauties Of ;
plane surfaco. bIt delights il angles, and
taogles, and iangles- It blows every. WAY, and
all Ways, and no way in particular. It is
visible on the earth beneath, and in
tho heavens above, and al the wry
between, at one and the same time
IA pouderous weight forcibly set in motion
down an inclined plane will rroceed Of its oun
momentum till it reaches plane surfaco," saya
Natural Philosophy but snow is one OF the ez-
ceptions that prove the rule. It may start
downward at IN accelerated rate Of speed, and
n r. Lrn
gard for the clearly defined and accepted pfin-
ciples Of Science than the Chicago Times has
for the PRINCIPLES Of Civil Government. It
wbrls itself into drifts that you may ciscumnayi-
gate, and climb over. and tunnel through, twen~
ty times, and find yourself, at the twenty
first exactly where you started, Is they rise, like
the tabled Hydra, before you- It stops your
breath, and, worss yet,
STOPS TouR NAILS,
and you might as we'll to living in the Sandwich
Islands ~ in lows, for al you know OF the out
side world. You have a most cppaIlirgly-viyid
conception Of what the Dark Ages must have
boon, and contemplate with horror tho ross1-
billty OF the worlds ralapsang again into state
Of barbarism, unless tho trains arrive. Ion
might be- living in = total eclipse OF the sun.
buried BY an earthquake, or cast into the depths
OF the Dead Sea By some convulaiou OF Nsturc,
and never suspect it without your TRIsrSEe
Doubtless there are benighted Individuals VITO
only regard enow-atorms as synonymous with
fun, sleigh-1idcs, aud frolic; but I'll venture
they never experienced an Iowa snow-storm.
o! it is cold here! Nor, dear Ta1HuNE, don't
intimate that grow monotonoua. Those three
words, "It's so cold.'' form the magical charm
behind which We Iowans q shelter al our faults
and foilies. ...
But, oh! what days are thess when tho ano~~
drifts heap high as tha ego can reach, and COM
mupication With the outer world i'd impossible.
Alas for you, in theas snowy days. it you've 1n~
wisely anchored your hopes to this poriahinS
world, and hold within yourself no reseryed ra.
sources Of mental vitality: One doesn't feel
like etter-wr1ting, for it slightly det1acts from
ones epistolary enthusiasm when tho holdess
stretch OF imagination rafuses to picture any re-
mote possibility Of posting ones. e1osions
1t's su.ae :h,s gsz souts1s .;a et f0Fs:sr land'
| And were then simply that you chose to h.
| So says Mrs. Browning, somewhere; and, in
the ce1fect solitude Of these suowdrifts, one
catches its full significance. Around, above,
THE SNOWY WALL ENC1nLEs You.
| The wild winds Of the Northlands arc sweeping
| down over these unresisting prairies. aud the
enow is drifting-dnfting!
Each family now constitutes ita own world
Hearts g1ow warmer, looks moro kind sud indl-
vidual resources ara more appreciated: Lly -
school-girlish performance takes on new
| p1eaaantness to you Will and Arthur are
t Htimulared to Sigh for fresh feldo and
pastures new" BY the sudden communication
that greets the results Of their mechanical skill.
Resiaald-dreamy, reserved, aztiasa- -gao"s
with new fezyor Of genius, with the interest
you express in his latest pencl1ng, and, With the
strength afforded by your sympathetio. inspira-
| ton. new and divine charms arise and taka 7ri-
bic form before him. Ladys Claire, who wears
her blue 80 chiefly in her eyes" that you are
ready to forgive il now and then you detect III
inkspot on her dainty fingers, meo:a such ap-
plause for her rhymes and romanceH AZ might
we'll bevllder many an older and wiser head than
! hers. And Flo-our merry, laughing enbodi-
ment OF mischief and nonseuse-dnds room
and audience meet" for all the mischief in
which her tiny banda delight.
What bits Of history, what scraps Of romance,
what gems of poetry, do you read, and re"read'
ENFORCED PAUSE OF LIFE?
Safe aud comfortable, with warmth. and light,
and music; encompassad by loving hearts
knowing> the seclusion is ''onl7 fof . little
while :" that soon again will the sun shine, tho
trains run, the mails arrive, the rnn!titudinous
duties Of this workadAy world be Ali resumed !:
safe in the protecting care Of Him who holds the
| universe in the hollow OF His hand 10 you.
thus tenderly shielded, how delightful may bs
this binding, drifting storm
Al! wore this all II our hearts were not
stirred. and our souls sAddened. By remen.-
! braucee OF those lees fortunate in this worlds
goods; Of the heaEthatones that are not cheery
with radiant blaze this wild winter night; Of
the cold-the dark, dreary. bitter cold-that sat-
ties down upon them, while tho winds at1'l
sweep over these unopposing pEatrlea, and tha
snows sra d1iftinx-auftiog ....
Alike to the desolate tireside and to tho home
radiant with suumer-TArtnth and brightness
WILL sPK1N1 RETURN.
The blue skies will brood tenderly over the
tiower-gemmed prairies; the heoc!, hoat1hS