The Penn's Grove record., 1884-11-01

The winter Of the year 1909 d one
OF extreme cold. Never was a colder
winter known in Europe. In France
many people froze to death in their
beds, not only among the mountains,
but every where in the villages and
cities. The hottest fire was not suifi-
Gent to keep a room warm. While the
stoves were red hot, the water would
freeze but a few feet from them. The
trees in the forest and by the roadside
became so frozen that some Of them
burst, and made a noise as if a small
mine hid exploded.
oparTows and crows and jackdaws
sometimes fell down dead while fiving
in the air. Large nocks of sheep and
cattle froZe in the barnyaTds. The bats,
which usually slept during the winter,
were awakened out of theiI torpid
slumbers, iuttered around a little while
and fell dead on the ground. The der
III the forest could no more run swiftly,
but crept slowly out Of the woods and
came neal the dwellings of men. FL
nally spring came, and a multitude OF
them were foEnd dead in the woods.
The little lakes and brooks and rivers,
after they had been thawed By the sun,
emitted a very unpleasant odor, because
nearly all the fish in them had been fro
zen to death. The people suffered from
extreme poverty, for the cold had de-
stroyed many of their means of support.
The wheat that had been s0wn in the
autumn, their sheep, fow s, fish and
vegetables that had been buried in the
ground, were completely destroyed by
the frost.
During this winter a poor little Saw
oyard boy was wandering in the streets
of Luneville, in Lothringia. He Was a
pitlable orphan. His older brother,
who had taken care of him, had now
gone on a message to the city of Nancy
to earn a few francs. But he suffered
the fate Of many travellers, and was
frozen to death. Many Of the passen-
gers on the stage and on horseback
were frozen to death, though covered
with furs and cloaks. The drivers lost
their lyes. and still held the reins in
their stiff hands.
The little Savoyard boy wandered
about from house to house to get a lit
tie employment or a piece of bread. He
was glad to blacken boots or shoes, dust
clothes, clean dishes in the kitchen or
do anything that would give him a sou
But when night came on his suffering
became intense. He had slept with his
brother in a carpenter shop, where the
two had covered themselves with an
old foot cloth, on which they piled sha-
wings very high. They lay very close
together, and by this e managed
to be protected from the severity of the
cold. But now he was alone, and he
would certainly freeze if he should at
tempt to sleep in the carpenter shop.
The wife of a hostler took compassion
on him. She showed him a little sleep
ing place in one Of the stalls IN the sta
BILE where the horses of a certain prince
were kept. In this stall there stood an
iron cage in which a large brown bear
was confined, for the beast was very
wild and angry. The little Sayoyard
boy. who had come in the darkness of
the night into the stable, neither knew
nor cared for any wild beast that might
be near by. He lay down upon some
straw and stretched out his hand to
pull more, AS he stretched out his
hand he put it between the wires OF the
cage in which the beast was, and found
that a large pile was there. Thinking
it was better to get in where the straw
was, he crawled up to the cage n
squeezed in through the iron bars. The
bear grumbled a little, but did no vlo-
lence. She took the little stranger be-
tween her paws and pressed him near
her warm breast and against her thick
skin so softly and comfortably that he
who had not slept for many nights with
n comfort now forgot all fear and
soon fell into a sweet, deep sleep.
In the morning the boy walked up
with renewed strength and crept out OF
the cage, and went forth to the city to
attend to his business and seek his
daily bread. At night he returned to
his strange mother. Beside the beaT
there lay a great many pieces OF bread
which had been brought from the table
of the prince; but the bear had eaten all
she wanted, and these were left. So the
Sayoyard boy helped himself to all he
needed. He then lay quietly down be-
tween the paws of his thick-clad moth
er, who pressed him to her as she had
done before: and he slept there as If in
the warmest feather bed. In this way
he spent five nights without anybody
knowing it. On the morning of the
sixth he oversight himself, so that. when
the hostlers went around with lanterns
in the early morning to attend to the
many horses in the stable, they saw the
boy lying between the paws Of the great
bear. The old bear grunted a little as
if she was very much offended at anyone
seeing her taking cart of her little IA
vorite. The boy sprang up land squeezed
through the cage, to the great astonish-
ment of the bystanderS.