The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-04-03
LETTER FROM "PRETZEL.,
NEWPORT, Pa, March 2S, 1875.

NEWPORT, Ia, March 2S, 1870.
ME. EDIToR:-Judging from my long
silence, you perhaps think me dead or
swamped; permit me to inform you that |
am o. II. Indeed, I'm effervescent to-day,
as the warm sunlight of Heaven seems to
say, as it streams into my window. Dreary
Winter is gone, but forgot to take with it
the frigid carpet three feet thick used for
three months past. Yes, we have snow
yet three feet deep; good shedding; and the
heaviest crop of ice ever known, with no
trouble to get it out either, as it gets out
itself and makes everybody else get out,
too, in hurry, in its neighborhood. These
counties, two years ago, got local option,
because they thought they had too much
whisky; now they think they have too
much cold water.
Both branches of the Susquehanna have
gotten high and have continued on the
rampage now for three weeks, treating the
residents to cold water dips, washing away
bridges, crushing houses. canal boats trees,
making new channels, forming new islands,
&c, &c, doing damage irreparable on every
hand. Renova has been in soak for three
weeks, Lock Haven ditto. Business is en-
tirely PROSTATE; the last named place has
now engaged three hundred men, saving
and blasting channel through ice fifty-two
inches thick for miles above and below the
city; and still the river continues its re-
morseless surgings, piling the ice loose
above fifteen to eighteen feet high, and it
is the most awfully grand sight one ever
looked upon. In every direction you see
people engaged moving personal property
to the mountains for security. Chained to
the second story of many houses are seen
staunch 6atteaur, to use when the gorge
shall break and come down the river
Already heavy losses have been sustained i'll
railroad bridges, county bridges, &c, but
cambridge and Marietta, below Harris
burg, were the first to suffer in their dwell
ings and had it not been for the sturdy
friendly trees, ON guard duty in front of
and standing on the river banks, vessels
would have been driven through the houses,
supported and borne aloft by columns of
ice fifteen feet high and acres square, and
that too, almost instautaneously, giving
the terror-stlicken people no warning ill
its congealed prominence put in its appear
ance, unlimited, through newly made aper
lures, lin the houses, varying from six to
twelve feet square.
And yet people will live on rivers to log
rf1l No rtnro ,,nh
activity, excitement, &c. it is wshy washy
in my view. And, while water is bless
ing, | care not for such fulness in blessings;
rather have it spread thinner and not so
deep. Nothing else is talked of; all look
askance at each other, seeking consolation,
else hoping for some mode of averting this
pending calamity; not the loss of life, but
the loss of millions of property in logs,
| lumber, &c, on which a majority depend.
| Indeed the suspense is distressing; every
tributary is full to the brink, the snow is
melting rapidly, yet three feet deep Oh a
| level is found everywhere, excepting on the
travelled roads. Should warm rain come
it must produce such n volume of water
that would sweep al before it, like chaf
before the wind. Altogether this is said
by oldest inhabitants to have been the most
severe Winter for forty five years. Think
of it, three months counting and sleighing.
l have ridden through it 1116 miles, yet
suffering less than some Winters in your
beautiful climate, where the thermometer
scarcely ever goes to zero. Several weeks
we had it here down 10 to 90 below.
Business along the line of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad is looking up. The giant
railroad king, Tom Scott, is preparing to
sweep, with one mastery effort, the entire
district between Chicago and Philadelphia,
| daily, over his splendid road, with the most
magnificent outfit, in the shape of engines,
cars, sleeping coaches &c, for the Centen-
NAL; after which your Baltimore & Ohio
man, Garrett, will not be able to see him
with his strongest glass, nor reach him
with his angry filings and flights of fancy.
| He, compared with Scott, will appear as
the muscovy to the majestic E Pluri5us
| Tnuns bird we SO much Haunt and admire.
More again. Yours, &C.,
PRETZEL.
n. b. kick the beam at 25SI avoirdu-
| pois, and still avoirdupoising. p.
AN ENTERTAINING BooK.-No traveller
| and explorer of the present century holds
so exalted place in the affections of the
people as DR.. Livingston. His marvellous
explorations and adventures, in Africa,
mainly induced by his desire for the spread
| of the Gospel, have always excited the
keenest relish among all class of readers,
but till recently the majority of the read
ing public had to content themselves with
such scraps of his narrative as they could
pick up from newspapers and magazines.
Rev. J. E. Chambliss has compiled in
one volume comprising over 500 pages, the
matter contained in DIR. Livingston's two
volu mes, under the caption or title of The
| Life and Labors of David Livingston, L.
l.. D., ID. G. L., covering his entire career
| in Southern and Central Africa composing
a thrilling narrative of the adventures, dis
coveries, experiences and achievements of
the greatest explorer of modern times, in
the wild and wonderful country beneath
| the equator, where he spent so many of the
best years of his life; his discovery by Stan
| ley of the Ne,o York Herald, his lonely death
and faithful devotion of his native servants,
return of his remains and burial. The
work is richly illustrated and contains a
map of the whole region which he spent so
many years in exploring. Every family
should have this book. Nothing so inter
ests the young folks, and cultvates in them
a fondness for reading and study as the
works of great travellers and voyagers.
Mr.. William F. Sproat is agent for the
book in this county, and is canvassing at
present for subscriptions, and will call on
you in few days with a specimen of the
| work.
THE Ice GORGE AND FREsHETs.-Dis-
patches received yesterday about the ice