News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-12-18
WINTER In MANITOBA.
Extreme Rigor and Severity of Winter
Weather I'm the Northwest.
The snow outsid our house was fro


The snow outsid our house was from
six to ten feet dec from November to
April. tried to wear boots last No.
vember and one of my feet froze. Moe
casins, made by indians, of IN ocse skin,
are used instead of shoes to cover the
feet, which are first cased in several
pairs of stockings. For travelling on
foot snow shoes are lest. Mittens super
sede gloves during the winter, as the
fingers, if separated, generally freeze.
We were forced to melt snow for all
the water we used last winter. The cold
was so intense that when snow water
was poured from the boiler into q pail
and taken at once across to the stable,
the ice on it frequens had to be broken
with stick befy7-<4se cattle could
drink, it froze SO h.rd whilst being car
ried 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 sight to 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 a fire, as sudden thaw;ng
is very painful. People generally try
friction, rubbing themselves with snow,
or, better still, with paraffiae oil. Oc-
casionally when one is frozen and far
from help, the part frozen, if an extrem-
ty, will snap off. My Kittens ears froze
and broke off last winter, and neigh.
bor's pony lost its ears in the same way.
was surprised when I first found the
mustard freeze in my mustard-pot,
which stood a foot from the kitchen
s.ove-pipe and two feet above the stove,
where there was a blazing fire all day
through the winter. Yet the mustard
froze between every meal. Bread froze
if left for half an hour in a room with
out fire. I once left q pitcher full of
milk in the kitchen all night, and 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 pound 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. 1 managed to
melt it by first chopping the ice milk
into very small pieces. Clothes which
had been washed froze before I could
hang them ON the line to dry. 1 used
to leave them out two or three nights for
the snow and ice to bleach, and they
always needed thawing and drying
again when they were brought Indoors.
Even after being damped and folded
they would freeze together, and when [
have been ironing the top of a pocket
handkerchief the lower part would
frenza to tho table Asaich was close to n
roaring fire. ironing under these con-
ditions is rather slow work.
Such stories must sound almost incred-
ible, except to those who, like myself,
have witnessed the facts, though, of
course, only in the most severe weather.
b. arded 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.
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 Wir2e-
peg policemen all dress in buffalo coats
down to the heels all winter. The keen
est wind cannot pierce them.
Winter is, of course, not equally Sc
we're throughout. Part of my descrip-
tion applies only to its colder half. But
to woman the most trying part of
winter in Manitoba is not It's severity
for you live in a 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 ol
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. -Ha11oer's Ba-
gar.