Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-03-18
The Kittitas Valley.
Some Of the Delights If Being Shut
Out from Civilization.

out slOhA
EDITOR STANDARD: 1t is highly
important that all mankind and the
readers of the STANDARD should know
that the inhabitants of this valley,
nestled in the bosom of the eternal
hills, are still alive and are exceed
ingly anxious concerning the fate Of
the world, how it possibly can get
along without the benefits of their
wisdom and experience. l hope the
world will continue to revolve on it's
axis, and that the affairs of Govern
ment will not collapse until some of
our wiseacres, who, Atlas-like, carry
the world on their backs, can get
out of this secluded locality to pre-
vent things from running into
chaos and eternal night" 1t would
be great calamity should the world
come to an end without us knowing
it. Hemmed in by lofty mountains,
covered with deep SHOWS, we know
but little of what is going on in the
great world outside of us. Even
the visits of the mail carrier, like the
visitation of angels, are few and
far between" Occasionally ven
turesome fellow comes in on snow
shoes over the trackless waste from
Yakima, so miles distant, with
few letters on his back. 1t is pleas
ant to hear from friends, and graft
flying to us to have an opportunity
to assure them that we. are not like
the Queen of Norway, buried in
snow. AS for newspapers, that boon
cannot be granted us until the mail
comes in on horseback. 1t is enough
for us to luxuriate in three feet of
snow on the level, and have a dense
canopy of mist covering our valley
for days and weeks together. But
if we may not indulge in ne,cs, we
may in gossip, and some of us have
graduated highly in the " school for
scandal" and have also attained
high degrees in the "Poking-nose.
into-other-people' 's-business Socie-
ty." But these are not the only
fields in which some of our citizens
have gained "local celebrity"
Some are quite
Adopts IN METEOROL LoGY.
They can tell the exact proximity
of a change by the number of stars
inside the circle around the moon,
and foretell the coming of q 6" Chi
nook" or blizzard by the diameter
of the circle around the sun. But
meteorological observations are su-
perfluous here, for some of our most
intelligent people have Ayers Al
manac, which foretells all the eli
matte variations for whole twelve
month. He might as we'll have let
us know the kind of weather we
shall have for one hundred years.
Pill-box of course knows all and is
infallible. Dame Nature has re.
vealed to him her weather pro-
gramme for all future, and made
him acquainted with all the remedies
necessary to heal call nations"
His ears are ever open to her whis.
pers and his fingers are constantly
on her pulse. He is also gentle
man OF the bed chamber" to her
majesty the Moon; he knows the
exact time of her rising and retire
ing at night, and the effect Of her
periodical alterations on the atmo-
sphere. " If she changes" says he,
" outside of two hours before or af-
ter twelve o'clock we may look out
for wet moon" Failing in pune
tuality has wonderful effect on her
temperament. In Summer she
weeps continually and in Winter she
raves and storms like q lunatic. OF
course she is not supposed to change
until she reaches the confines Of our
valley when her majesty turns
complete summersault, and if it is
to be wet moon, she proceeds ON
her journey weeping 1t would be
money in Uncle Sans pocket if he
were to give odd Probs" the sack,
and hang one of these almanacs up
in his house. Thus, Mr.. Editor, if
we are in blissful ignorance of the
course of events in ultramontane
countries, we are not without work
and instruction as long as we have
PIllboX's Almanac and other peoples
business to attend to.
4 SEVERE WINTER.
Whatever kind of weather Old
Probs' may have given you on the
Sound, Pillbox and the moon have
given us changeable and stormy
Winter, one of the most destructive
seasons on stock since the settlement
of the country by the whites. Snow
fell early in November, in December
we had another heavy downfall of
the same commodity. Then for
change real " blizzard" visited us
in January, which made us think
that the North Pole had removed
many hundred miles nearer to us.
The wind blew a perfect hurricane,
filling stables, barns, and houses