Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-04-16
JERSEY CYCLONE.
Tho Playful Zephyrs Which Make y Jsr.
seymnn's Life Worth Living.

Tho Playful Zeyhyrs Which Make y Jsr.
seyman's Life Worth Living.
There is Il recklessness about a Jet-
sey cyclone which at once appeals 10
the sensibilities of the uninitiated. Dur
ing the prevalence of one of these lung
t%easers, which visited our town with
out license or the services of an all
vance agent, l occupied a position
where an uninterrupted view of the
proceedings could be maintained, IS I
thought, without being crowded, on rs.
sailed by the peanut-shucks from the
gallery. Ihad read the prognostca.
tons of weather prophets from time to
time, and waited patiently for a ghre
opportunity to occur, by which Icdlld
visit Jersey and gather in a few shares
of one of her boss cyclones.
This species of entertainment always
finds more patronage outside the hbmc
circle than within. 1t is a malignant
type of the outside show, whichIs by
far wilder than the widest wild West
show that was ever blown acrosA the
area of our territory with a long-harcd
leader. The average out-of-door per-
ennial show, which comes identified
with emblazoned fence-posters, can
usually be srun off, under a canvas
covering something more than an acre
of corn-field; but you couldn't crowd
the after-attraction of n of these
March visitors into ten times that
amount of space. Free shows always
draw better than those which charge
an entrance-admission. This is why
the Jersey cyclone has been so success
full of late.
/ have been saved the pain and dis
honor of a lawsuit with my hay-seed
neighbor by a means which I know
Providence alone ordained specially to
serve my purpose. This man had con-
cluded last haying-time to economize
space by building a hay-rick against
my house in such a way as to obscure
the light from the best window Iowned
While l was on my way to consult a
lawyer about the matter, 1 saw the sky
taking on an olive-green tint; then the
dust rose up, squirmed about for a
while. and tried to settle down again.
So did I try to settle down, but the cy-
clone caught and flung me against a
a l-fence with great playfulness and 1
had scarcely become disentangled from
the rails when 1 saw my neighbor's
hay-rick sailing like a balloon above
me, and, Notwithstanding my devotion
to gathering up my lost energies, I
watched the great cone-shaped mass
vending its way across the inky hori-
zon and became happy. l heard, sew
eral days later, that it was still travel
ing in a s~outh-easterly direction.
There is another ecccntricity about
the Jersey cyclone: it makes itself its
own coniidant. You new know it is
coming; but you may best expect it
when 8Old Prob" denies its approach.
1 have had an experience of eight days
with this style of grand uncertainty, and
have been taught to realize that a
cyclone is advancing when the sky as
sumes a genuine bath-brick hue. This
is caused by the peculiar tint of the
Jersey soil, which, when it rises, gives
the sky this strange color. l give you
the ''tip' SO that you will not think
you have struck 4 phenomenon when
you are caught unawares and thrown
within reach of the burliest bulldog in
town.
W~asherwomen in our district have
become respondent and morose of late
since the March zephyr can strip more
whole washes from their lines than
twice their number could hang out.
This fact never became more painfully
apparent to me than when first advised
OF a shirt bearing the initials A. w. NJ.
having been found clinging to a cur
rant-bush on a farm in an adjoining
county. The loss of the shirt was not
so bad; but itcarried its identity withit.
Our pet spaniel has not been home
for three days. He was last seen buck
ing against the wind a mile away from
u friendly abode, having been car
ried off on the breeze while trying to
tree a cat. The cat has also disap-
peared, and it is believed she is still
clinging to the blizzard, and afraid to
drop off.
Twas asked to give an estimate of how
fast the cyclone was travelling on one
of its best days. Being somewhat ex-
cited with the experience of the day
before, L replied, in IN unguarded mo-
ment: Seventeen miles per minute"
This estimate was printed in the Daily
Tsstor, the day following. as coming
from an authority. l felt torn up when
I saw such an assertion credited to me;
and was compelled to publish q contra.
diction in the next issue to the effect
that the wind at the time specified was
actually travelling thirty-eightmiles per
second.
When you feel disposed to investi-
gate into the true inwardness of the
genuine Jersey cyclone, you want 10
Danish from your mind all the preju-
dices caused by the oftcn-told tales of
the Western blizzard, and settle down
for something worth your waste of
vitality.
If you have punched and-bags, and
spent years Of hardship with the coast
patrol, then you may feel inspired with
sufficient confidence to enable YOU to
brace up to the occasion. Otherwise,
stay at home, and bury yourself against
the cellar furnace, and listen to the
aolian r%hapsodies, SIS they are waited
to your ear through the draft-pipe ex-
tending to the chimney.
A Jersey cyclone is a splendid thing
- 1oo) ILL. A.. :,