Morning journal and courier., 1881-01-11
Mixed Weather.

varied b1u or AtIracttOm6~-S0me or
 its Local ERects-ActIve Times on the.
 Thoroughfares.
 The slightly mixed character of the wealth CT for the past two days has been in quality and in variety well calculated to suit all tastes, provided anybody enjoys any special phase of the various assortment of weather presented. No one having been born in New England, or esteeming themselves loyal to New England, but will feel that in weather New England has lost none of it's characteristics and is truly itself, and will feel like endorsing the re- marks of Charles Dudley Warner, in one of his books, and remarks by Mark Twain, not in one of his books, on this subject, as emil nently just, even unspeakably so. If snow, clustering wind, hail, sleet, rain, slush, sposh, ice so slippery that even sinners Topped down upon it, gutters full to overfowing, streets like young rivers, in which the small boy paddles exultantly, if he. has rubber boots if this delectable variety of weather isn't suf- fcient to sustain the reputation of New Eng land for weather, then the records will have to be consulted for information. And the signal man says it is going to be colder now and freeze everything up. If anybody fully noticed this weather it must have been the street inspector, who found himself yester- day morning early called upon to confront the problem of eight or nine thousand street crossings, snow-f1led gutters and overrun- ming streets, all needing immediate attention. With the usual daily force of fifteen men in ordinary weather, he found work enough for one hundred shovelers, and fortunately he was able to find the one hundred. These be- gan promptly to battle with the crossings, excavate drains through the snow and dig little canals to empty the overrunning streets. By noon yesterday the city force engaged up- on the work strictly belonging to the city de- pertinent, was supplemented by force of at least 1000 of our citizens who, in their pri- vate capacity, were clearing the walks in front of their residences, getting little ex- ercise; and probably an equal number of hired men were similarly employed. There were flooded cellars, and oc- casionally the male residents of dwell ings might be seen out en maGsse, digging as if for dear life, working with an energy which would be considered quite as- tonishing, were it not for the fact that their efforts were inspired by dismayed feminine friends within who wore truly agonized ap- pearance over cellars flooded and basements afloat
 The rain fall was exactly two inches, and this, falling upon the heavy body of snow easily accounted for the prevalence of water about town. These two inches, it should be added, fell in ten hours. which is about twice as fast as rain usually falls when it is acting naturally and in a normal state, after the regulation pattern. This added to the in- terest of the weather, and as it was going to be colder, the police getting word to that eff feet from the signal office, accelerated the cleaning of pavements by warning to that eff feet It was consolatory to learn that the same kind of weather in degree had been heard from all across the country as far as the Pacific coast where they had heavy snow and rain storms.
 The two-two strokes on the fire bells freed 5000 or 4.OOO children from the public scheols-the schools were slimly attended, the impression being that if it kept on melt ing, the city would need to supply boats to get the school misses and the children home, and young America on being released took to the water at once.
 The following from yesterdays Hartford Tunes, it will be seen, is equally applicable to this section: "A variety of weather, which is unusual this winter, came upon the north ern Atlantic slope last night and this morn ing, in the shape of pouring rain Here in Connecticut and in New York, it closely fol. lowed a heavy fall of snow and the result everywhere, from New York to Boston, has been horrible condition of the streets in the cities and the country roads.
 "One result is pretty sure to follow. A colder spell is already on the way from the west, where zero weather prevailed this morning. By tomorrow morning we may expect to see everything frozen up again, and an icy crust on the snow. That will be fatal to the birds-especially to the quails and cartridges. The quail cannot get to the ground when the snow is covered with hard crust or, if already there, he cannot get out; and at such times they die by thou. sands. People in the country places could not do kinder deed than to throw out few handfuls of grain on the snow about the apt to visit when driven by starvation.
 teIn week the focks of these choice birds can be rendered tame enough to come with out much fear and they will come every day, after they have learned to expect this supply of food. On the Boston and Albany road, the brakemen take along a supply ot oats or other grain, to scatter by the railway track for the salvation of the quail, who go there with great regularity. The quail has 8 hard time of it at best in New England. He should be helped little"