Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-04-18
q Mild Winter.

'Mnskrats ain Il trout bling themselves
much about "a hard winter, & said an old
hunter yesterday. gu don't fool
them much on the weather,nn ne con-
I tin,letl they 70 better than an alma
nae. We watched them 4 good many
years over in the American bottom, and
lean alWay tell along in The fall
Whet her we are going to have an open
winter mot. How can I tell?n adj
ded the Gimrod, repeating the report
er's question. Easy enough. I don't
have to feel for Il, either. If it's going
to be hsrsl winter, you'll see the
nnskrats commence kouse-building
carly in the fan, and By this time they
will have their mounds on the marshes
built up Of mud and sticks and leaves
three or four feet above water. But II
the westher Is going 10 he mild, you'll
see nothing Of that kind A colored
man from Bonhomme bottom where
be has lived most Of tho time since the
war, was standing by, and added his
testimony as to the signs Of the season.
II tell yoa. boss, = said he, '..de groun'
hog am de animal dat I goes by. He's
learned more about desweather dan all
de rest OBJ de beasts. If he kin see his
shadow when he comes outen his hole
In February he gifts back in de groun'
quick and stays thar six weeks longer.
Then you can bet thar'll be a late
spring. He's jest as smart about de
winter, foah if it's gwine to be warm
he jes' scratches a shaller hole to hide
in; that's all he wants. But if it's gwine
ter freeze hard he'll goin deep and make
hisself warm nest of dry. grass and
leaves. De groun' hog amt tronblin',
any bout cold weather now. He's
made up his mind it's no use an is
going to lib close to de top oh de groun'
widoutsany bed dis winter. amt got
any use for a big wood pile dis winter,
nor you won Z either, BOSS and the
cofored scientist walked away! Look
ing for further information, the reporter
questioned a well known poulterer in
Union market and was informed that
the inner skin of chicken gizzards peel
ed off very easily, never failing sign
they say Of a green Christmas. Another
point was gained from Il farmer who
says the corn husks are remarkably
thin and light this. fall, another evil
dence recognized as a promise Of thin
Ice. -; .='%:*<5.. ;.
MalIard ducks have very few feathers
this fall. "You needn't fear much cold
weather when the ducks are not well
feathered," remarked Judy, the game
dealer. Another thing" said he, .'the
wild fowls have not gone south yet.
They are feeding north. Of here and
will come down later and stay around
here as they did two years ago." Chris
Meiderweiser, of Baden, cites the old,
infallible German sign of the breast
bone OF a goose, to prove that fuel
ought to be cheap this winter. Chris
killed n goose for dinner last Sunday,
and after eating the meat from the
breast found the bone so thin that he
could see through it. 'If the winter
were going to be very cold," he says,
1.-THE goose-bonc would have been three
times rs thick" r.
Ripe tomatoes, picked daily from the
vines, are for sale on Union market, a
luxury, Grnndemeycr says, that is not
afforded 50 late in the season one year
in ten.
If further evidence is needed to con-
vince the skeptical that there is no ne
cessity for squaudering fortune in
coal, it is afforded in the willy catfish of
the Missouri river. When the stream
is going to freeze up, the catfish knows
it long enough in advance to prepare
himself with q good thick hide. John
son, the tishmonger, declares the cat
fish had skins like whales last winter,
but now their winter covering is as thin
as silk.-St Louis Glo6e-D Democrat.