St. Landry democrat., 1883-02-17
Zero Weather and the Sleigh Bells.

Vennor's prediction that the goth of
January would inaugurate the coolest
week Of the season stamps him as a
prophet notwithout honor in his own
country. Estimating the recent polar
wave at its full dino osions, the winter
of 1928 bears witness to an unprec-
edented crop of Arctic weather. No
decent Esquimaux would turn up his
nose at a country with record Of six
ty-four degrees below zero, as reported
from Kokomo, Colorado, and we fail to
see the utility OF polar expeditions
when we can find a section of the
''real original = pole in a palace car
without being thumped around by ice
bergs, or driven into six months win
ter quarters. Rokomo is in Summit
County, and evidently peaks . itself
on elevation. Ii the clerk of the
weather there was not himself unduly
elevated, he owns the 8. boss ther-
moneter, and has taken advantage of
the situation to advertise Kokomo as
the coolest summer resort.
But, Notwithstanding the discomforts
of a severe and snowy winter. it has its.
abundant compensations. It is pro-
verbally the forerunner Of an early
spring aprolonged and healthy summer,
and the guarantee of timely and album
dant crops. The days are short, the
nights are long, and it is especially the
season of public intellectual culture,
publicihospitality, copyivial reunions and
quiet domestic enjoyments. The ex-
hilarating sound ofethe sleigh-bells fills
the crisp winter air, and the fortunate
possessors of horse flesh take their fill
of recreation on the road. This may
not be eQual in the city to the like rec
reation in the country, where the ro-s
bust rustic speeds over the smooth road
with lis rosy Dulcinea to the spelling
school or the pa Dring-bee. snugly en-
sconced beneath the shaggy buffalo -robe
In The antiquated family Sleigh, where
there is a Led of snow two feet
thick, worn hard and smooth, and
where the road goes up hill and down
dale, past Immaculate fieldsand through
snow-plumed and icle-gemmed woods.
The very air is stimulating almost to
the point OF a genial and wholesome in
toxication.~ Ii it be on a moonlight
night, the, glitter of the stars and the /
simmer of the snow produce the effect
OF q fantastic realm where no hint of 4
care or trouble mars the serenity OF
life. This is a joy unknown in the noisy
city and its well trodden ways
But in the streets of the thriving city
and the thronged roads that lead through
the outlying suburbs. there is life and
hustle that give an excitement to sleigh
riding which it does not have in the
country. The variety of eluipages on
runners, the multitudinous sounds of
many bells, the crack of the whip and
the glee of the riders, compare with the
swift but solitary country sleigh-ride as
the stir and hustle of urban life to the |
of the farm and the village.
Sleigh-riding gives an enlivening aspect |
to our Northern clinic which goes far to
compensate for the rigors with which it
is accompanied. This driving in the |
open air in winter gives vigor and health
TO the system. otherwise FADED by con- |
slant work and nnremitting cares To /
those who can afford the luxury, it
brings q full equivalent for the outlay.
Even those who cannot afford q turnout
of their own are not wholly deprived of
The stimulating effect of the iingling
oells and the scurrying teams which
make. the highways lively, and by STIR
ing the otherwise too quiet pool of menu
'rF, make it glitter with the wavelets of
joys-Chi. Peoples Weekly.