The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1883-02-24

One bitterly cold night during the
Christmas holidays the water of tie great
river st. Lawrence froze thlckly to the
width of six miles off shore, and next
morning the inhabitants of Irois Pistoles
were delighted to discover hundreds of
seals scattered all over the crystal level.
baskIng IN the sunshine. At once peo-
pie from ali over the parish of Notre
Dame des Angus hurried out upon the
the ice to kill the seals and profit by
their capture. A wild and exciting scene
OF slaughter followed. The frozen river
was soon covered with the bodies of the
seals and the piles of skins. All atonce,
as If the ''genius of the deep" offended
by such an effusion of blood, had silently
determined to turn the good fortune OF
the people into a deadly snare, the main
field OF ice, lifted by the tied, broke from
the shore, and before all the parties
could escape, drifted before the south
wind out into the stream. Forty men.
the foremost party of the seal-slay ers,
were caught upon the floating field
There was not q boat available along the
shore, for all had been carried away aud
housed Tor the winter. Night was COM
ing on and the ice could no longer stand |
the swell. The victims rushed up and
and down the laudwaId edge of the dread |
tul foe, which was bearing them from |
their homes and families, and the latter |
ran back and forth on the beach Shrek |
ing and distracted at the horrible posi- |
ton of friends whom the approaching |
darkness would shut from their view for |
ever. frightening the solemnity and |
tenderness of the awful parting, was the |
giving OF absOlutiOn by the priests; now |
20 one distant company from the steps |
of the church, and then to another from |
the chamOer windows of the hotel, and to !
another from d point below. During |
these solemnIties all, both upon the shore /
and upon the ice, knelt or Frustrated |
themselves, with heaven, pouring forth |
foods of tears and volumes Of cries and |
supplicatlons. IN the midst of this pain |
full scene a bold fellow launched a little |
skiff, and darted over the roughening !
water to the rescue. With this frail !
craft, only large enough TO take three or |
four at a TINE, he ucceeded-almOst |
miraculouslv under the circumstances
in landing every one of the forty men on |
a rocky island, past which the foe was
drifting. This noble rescue was not ac
complished till late in the night, and
lust in time before the ice-feld went to
pieces. In the morning not fragment
Of it was III sight; but the men had all
made their way over the solid ice to the
land. In remem brance to their deliver
ence there was erected upon the rock of
Rosade, the 1slet Of their escape, a large
cross. with a French inscription under
glass cover. It stands there to-day,
silent witness Of deliverence in the hour
of peril. -Ld7an3an
The cottagers of Europe have rather
primitive way of using the slope of their
houses. Ii their ground slopes at all to
their gardens they have channel cut
through rows OF currants, goose
berry bushes and pie-plants. Into
these shallow dishes they pour al their
slops; rhubarb stems are common from
four To seven pounds weight, without
tha leaves and entrants GROW very large