The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1881-07-14
Storm at the Signal Station Mt. Wash
ingtOn,

were streWed with boards, beams and de-
bris of all sorts, my guide explained that
what | saw was the result of the great
January gale, which had demolished the
large shed used as an engine house, seat
tering the loose fragments far and wide.
] begged him to give me his recollection
Of it.
During the forenoon preceding the
gale we observed nothing very unusual
but the clouds kept sinking and sinking
until the summit was quite above them.
Late in the afternoon my comrade, Sar-
geant NJ came to where | was lying
sick and said; There is going to be the
devil to pay, so guess III make every
thing snug.
BY nine o'clock in the evening the wind
had increased to one hundred miles an
hour, with heavy sleet. At midnight the
velocity OF the storm was one hundred
and twenty miles and the exposed ther-
mometer recorded twenty four degrees
below zero. With the stove red, we could
hardly get 1t above freezing inside the
house. Water troze within three feet of
the tirc-ln fact, where you are now sit
ting
At this time the noise outside was deaf
enlng. About one o'clock the wind rose
to one hundred and fifty miles. 1t was
now blowing hurricane. The wind
gathering up all the loose ice Of the noun
tain, dashed it against the house with one
continued roar. | lay wondering how
long the building would stand this, when
all at once came a crash. Nj shouted
to me to get up; but had stumbled out
in a hurry on hearing the glass 60 You
see, | was dressed to keep myself warm
III bed.
Our united efforts were hardly equal to
closing the storm shutters from the in
side, but we finally succeeded, though
the lights went out when the wind came
in, and we worked on in the dark
He rose to show me how the shutters
of thick oak were first secured by an iron
bar, and secondly by strong wooden but
tons firmly screwed in the window frame.
Eve had scarcely done this resumed
Doyle, ''and were shivering over the fire
when heavy gust Of wind again burst
open the shutters, as easily as if they had
never been fastened at all We sprung
to our feet. After hard tussle we again
secured the windows, by mailing d CloGt
to the floor, against which one end of II
board was liked using the other end as Il
lever You understand ?" | nodded.
"Well even then it was all we could do
to force the shutters back into place
But we did it, We hal to do it.
''The rest OF the night was passed in
momcntary expectation that the building
would be blown into Tuckerman's and we
with it. At four o'clock in the morning
the wind registered one hundred and
eighty-siX miles 1t had shifted then
from east to northeast. From this time
it steadily fell to ten miles at nine o'clock.
This was the biggest blow over cXperienc-
ed on the mountain"
'Suppose the house had gone and the
hotel stood fast, could you have effected
an entrance into the hotel ?" asked
''We could not have faced the gale"
"Not for a hundred feet not in a mat
ter Of life and death. ?"
"Impossible. The wind would have
lifted us from our feet like bags Of wool
We would have been dashed against the
rocks and smashed like eggshels." was
the quiet reply.
and so for some hours you expected
to be swept into eternity z"
'EWe did what we could. Each wrap
ped himself in blankets and quilts, bind
ing these tightly around him with ropes,
to which were attached bars of iron, so
that if the house went by the board we
might stand 4 chance-a slim one of
anchoring somewhere, somehow"
Somewhere, indeed
f,tI I
busted myself getting ready to 90 down
the mountain, | heard a profound sigh,
followed by some half-audible words, pro
ceeding from the adjoining room. These
words rang in my ears all that day
".Ah, this horrible solitude7 5. A.
Drake in Farper's Magazine for July.
Pond-Bass as Pets.
In profusely illustrated article on How to
Keep fresh water Aquarium, printed in the July
St. Nicholas, Mr. D. O. Beard says:
Pond-bass make very intelligent pets
| once had three hundred of these little
fellows, perfectly tame. Down in one
corner of the corn field | found two patent
washing machines, the beds of which
were shaped like Scow-b boats These old
machines were fast going to ruin, and
readily gained permission to use them
for whatever purpose | wished so with Il
hatchet, | knocked Oft the legs and top
gear; then removed a side from each
box, and fastened the two together, max
ing tank about four feet square. The
seams, or cracks, where the two parts
Joined, was filled with Oakum, and the
whole outside was thickly daubed with
coal-tar. The tank was then set in a
hole dug for that purpose, and the dirt
was filled in and packed around the sides.
Back of it piled rocks, and planted ferns
iii all the cracks and cruuuies. also put
rocks in the center Of the tank, first
covering the bottom with sand and gravel.
After filling this with water and plants,
put in three hundred little bass, and they
soon became 50 tame that they would
follow my finger all around, or would
jump out of the water for bit of meat
held between the fingers. Almost any
wild creature will yield to persistent kind
treatment, and become tame. Generally,
too, they learn to have Il sort of trusttul
affection for their keepers, who, however,
to earn the confidence OF such friends,
should be almost as wise, punctual, and
untailng as good Dame Nature herself.
One of the same bass, which gave to
a friend of mine, lived in an ordinary
glass globe for three years. He was a
very intelligent fish, but tearfully spitetul
and jealous. My friends mother thought
it was lonesome, and so, one day she
brought home a beautiful gold -hsh-a
little larger than the baSs-to keep it
company She put the gold fish in the
globe, and watched the little bass. expect
ing to see it wonderfully pleased but the
little wretch worked himself into a terri
BILE passion-erecting every spine upon
his back, glared moment at the intrud-
er, and then made a dart forward, seized
the goldfish by the abdomen, and shook
it as terrier dog shakes rat, until the
transparent water was glittering all over
with a shower of golden scales. As soon
as possible the carp was rescued; but it
was too late He only gasped and died,
The vicious little bass swan around and
around his globe, biting in his rage at all