Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-11-19
WINTER IN MANITOBA.


Weather in the Northwest.
From Harper's Bazar.l
The snow outside our house was from
to 10 feet deep from November to
April. / tried to wear boots last No
vember. and one of my feet froze. Moe
casins, made by Indians, of moose-skin,
are used to cover the feet, which are
first cased In several pairs of stockings.
For travelling on foot, snow shoes are
best. Mittens supersede gloves during
the winter, as the fingers, if separated,
generally freeze.
We were forced to melt snow for all
water we used last winter. The cold
was so intense that when melted snow
water was poured from the boiler into
a pail, and taken at once across to the
stable, the ice frequently on it had to be
broken with stick before the cattle
could drink, it froze SO hard whilst being
carried a distance of some sixty yards in
the open air. My husband would some
times come in from short visit to the
stock yard with his nose frozen; indeed,
it is rather common sightto see people
partly frozen. The part affected turns
as white as marble and loses all feeling
Unless you see yourself In a glass, or
are told of it, you are not conscious of
being frozen. In this plight it is not
best to go near the fire, as sudden
thawing is very painful. People gener-
ally try friction, rubbing themselves with
snow, or, better still, with parafine oil.
Occasionally when one is frozen and far
from help, the part frozen, if an extrem-
ity, will snap off Ny kittens ears
froze and broke off last winter, and a
neighbours pony lost its ears in the
same way.
I was surprised when I first found
the mustard freeze in my mustard-pot,
which stood a foot from the kitchen
stove-pipe and two feet above the stove,
where there was blazing fire all day
and every day through the winter. Yet
the mustard froze between every meal.
Bread froze if left for half an hour in
room without fire. [ once left pitcher
full of milk in the kitchen all night, and
the next morning, on trying to move it,
the pitcher fell TO pieces and left the
milk standing solid in its place. We
could buy frozen milk by the pound,
frozen so intensely that when I put a
lump of it in tin into the oven, or on
the top of the stove, the first part that
melted would burn to the tin before the
rest of it had been thawed. I managed
to melt it by first chopping the ice milk
into very small pieces. Clothes which
had been washed froze before / could
hang them on the line to dry. [ used
to leave them out two or three nights for
the snow and ice to bleach, and they al
ways needed thawing and drying again
when they were brought indoors. Even
after being dampened and folded they
would freeze together, and when had
been ironing the top of a pocket hand
kerchief the lower part would freeze to
the table, which was close to a roaring
fire. Ironing under these conditions is
rather slow work.
Such stories must sound almost in
credible except to those who, like my
self, have witnessed the facts, though,
of course, only in the most severe
weather A bearded Englishman who
stayed with Us last winter was often
forced when he came indoors to thaw
the icicles from his mustache, which
froze to his beard and hindered him
from talking to us. A pail of water left
in the kitchen all night would freeze
solid to the bottom before morning.
This happened every time one was left
for two months.
In such climate everyone who can
afford it is dressed in fur. The Winni-
peg policemen all dress in buffalo coats
down to the heels in winter. The keen
est wind cannot pierce them.
Winter is, of course, not equally Sc
we're throughout. Part of my descrip-
ton applies only TO its colder half. But
no woman the most trying part of a
winter in Manitoba is not it's severity
for you live in warm house-but its
length. Snow lay on the ground last
season for six months and a half, and
the great lakes are frozen for the same
period. Ones eyes grow very weary of
the bare, blank whiteness and long for
something green to look at; YET the
bright, clean, still frost, with brilliant
sunshine, glorious skies and moonlit,
aurora-colored nights have great COM
pensations of their own.
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