Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-03-11
LlPE IN A COLD COUNTRY.
a Woman's letter From Msnitoba-feopie
Partly Frozen.


Life in Manitoba is not as pleasant as
it has been pictured A woman writ
ing from near Winnipeg says; I'm
such a thinly settled country II Is
naturally very difficult to get any sort
of female help. | have to make even
the bread and the butter, and prepare
everything that is eaten. If l drive
twelve miles with linen, and again the
same distance to fetch it home, 1 can.
by dint of great persuasion and pretty
speeches, occasionally induce half
breed woman to wash it. She charges
me 81 a dozen, and sends 1t back clean,
certainly, but neither ironed nor even
folded. OF course, on the prairie we
are our own landlords, and live rent
free on our own homestead. Taxes
don't amount to much, and food is no
great expense, as game OF ali sorts
abounds Fish, too. is easy to get, as
we are not far from Lake Manitoba,
and in Winter we can buy frozen fish
from the Indians at IA tritlins cost.
Prairie chicken, wild duck, partridge,
snipe and plover are very plentiful. and
may be had for the shooting. When |
say that | believe there is hardly a
fenced farm between us and the North
Pole. it is plain that poaching is an I'M
known crime. Animals of most sorts
are in the neighborhood. We can sit
at night by the fire and hear a pack of
prairie wolves 90 by in full cry across
the snow. Timber wolves are scarce;
black bears are scarcer still, though
more than one has been tracked and
shot within a mile of our house. All
the country between us and Winnipeg
is fiat and not at all picturesque, though
by going as far west as Brandon you
come to rolling prairie. In early
Summer the ground is carpeted with
the loveliest of flowers. We are FORUM
ate in having land that is nicely timb-
cred. 1t not only gives us pleasanter
prospect than the dreadful monotony
of treeless fat, but it also supplies us
with firing.
'.And this brings me to speak about
nv experience of the climate of Mani
toba. The variations of temperature
are very great. have seen the ther-
mometer stand at l25 degrees inside a
tent in Summer, and at 5S degrees
below zero, or 80 degrees below freezing
point, outside the house in Winter.
Such Arctic cold would be unendur-
able if the air were not so wonderfully
dry and clear-and often very still
that it does not seem half as cold as it
really is. Then the changes of weather
are not generally very sudden. The
heat and cold are very regular, and in
mid-seasons the thermometer does not
fuctuate much. Perhaps few homely
details may best serve to illustrate what
Winter in Manitoba means. The snow
outside our house is from six to ten feet
deep from November to April. Moe
, casins, made by Indians of mooseskin.
are used instead of shoes to cover the
feet. which are first cased in several
pairs of stockings. We were forced to
melt snow for all the water we used
last Winter. The cold is so intense
that, when melted snow water is pour
ed from the boiler into a pail, and
taken at once across to the stable, the
ice on it frequently has to be broken
with a stick before the cattle can drink.
Ii is rather a 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 best not to 60 near fire, as
sudden thawing is very painful. People
generally try friction. rubbing them
selves with snow or, better still, with
paratiin oil. Occasionally, when oEe is
frozen and far from help, the part
frozen. if an extremity, will snap off.
Last year man living about thirty
miles from US was told that his ear was
frozen, he put up his hand to feel, and