The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1886-04-06
A COLD SNAP In DAKOTA.

DEAR Mr. EDIroR.-I take my piece
of frozen ink, whitfield down to q point,
in hand to remark that "It is cold" If
this writing should look little stiff, you
must excuse it, as it Is frozen so. While
l write the wind blows through the key.
hole in such frozen, solid stream that
| can siratldle it and ride; and lest the
keyboles should blow out I proceed to
plug il up. II the wind outside would !
stop for one minute it would be fre IN |
so fast that it could not get loose till the
middle of next summer; nothing could
ever pry it loose; and the cook has just
come In and says he set the coffee-pot
on top of the red-hot kitchen stove, and
it has frozan to it and as he cannot re.
lease it With cold-chisel he is afraid We
can have no coffee for dinner to-day but
thinks it would never come to q boil
anyhow. Two lovers who stopped on
the corner for minutes talk found, on
starting to 60, that their feet had frozen
to the walk, anA'they are now working
with crowbars to release them. Men
come into the hotel Office and rub their
bands over the red-hot coal stove, and
ask why they don't start fire in it, such
cold day as this anyway. Telegraph
poles are frozen of along the railroad
clear down to the ground You can take
piece of fame in yDur hands aud roll
it up into ball, and play catch with it;
and you will never feel the heat of it,
The blacksmiths complain that when
they get their iron red hot 1t freezes red
hot, and while it looks like they could
work it when :hey hit it with hammer
ii breaks all to pieces, It's 30 deceptive
| had tooth which the dentist and his
5urly assistant pulled at for an hour this
morning, but it wouldn't bulge. The
dentist said it was either frozen tight in
there, or the tooth thought it was too
cold to be out Messages frcze along
on the telephone wires, and they had 10
be knocked off with pole. 1t is no
use to put on six suits of woollen
clothes, for it does no good; it rather
keeps the cold inside so 1t can't get out.
| thought good swallow of Christian.
pure wbiskey would make warm inside
lining for my overcoat. but in swallow
ing it it froze half way down and stuck
fast, and it looked tor while like
would never get 10 pay any more debts
--or grudges. ] jumped off the coun-
ter, and it went down, where 1t awaits
the next thaw The landlord is not par.
ticular iu exacting payment of board in
advance, because be knows the gnests
couldn't run away very fast or get far.
Ire creeks are frozen to tue bottoms, so
that the farmers are intending 10 pry
them out and roll them over into more
convenient places. People meeting never
shake hands, because, yoa see, il they
did. their arms are likely to come off,
for everybody nearly is frozen. A man
in the hotel this morning, got his ear
slapped for something or other-for
saying "it's cold" likely-and the ear
raltled down on the floor like broken
brandy glass. The butter is frozen so
solidly that it will take two or three ex-
ceedingly hot summers to thaw 1t out,
and the landlord is correspondingly
cheerful; none of it is eaten on the table.
Every case Of fever in the town is com
pletely frozen out, but II it ever gets
warm the physicians say the fevers will
then thaw and be as good as ever for
ell medical purposes. When people
freeze hard they merely stand them up
in the corners aud don't bother about
them, for they know they will thaw out
as soon as q change Of weather comes;
but what's 80 mean about our landlord,
he won't allow any rebate on board, and
charges for storage. Two cowboys got
into fight and shot seventeen times at
each o!her out on the corner, but while
they never missed shot, the balls ell
glanced of or aattened out as their nssh
was frozen so solid The landlord does
his best, but it is impossible for him to
give new guests warm reception. The
steam from the victuals when they do
get hot rises up frozen and bangs you
on the nose, and so it keeps you contin-
ually dodging. II you should kick all
the bed covers off you in the night you
couldn't tell the difference; and it
wouldn't matter much anyway, for they
do no good. One would think 1t would
not he cold here for the rest OF this CEN
! tury, and that all the cold had been used
in the manufacture of this cold snap
When guest goes to bed the porter has
first 10 go and shovel the cold out of the
room with scoop before he can get IN !;
and they let you down to the bottom OF
sixty-foot well with a rope when you
want 10 wash in the morning, as no wa
ter can be brought 10 the top. Your
fingers freeze to everything you touch |;
so far mine have touched nothing val.
liable enough to speak about. But the
porter just now stumbled and fell down
stairs, breaking himself into thousand
pieces 80 close to 60 and view his re-
mains. which are so numerous. Coldly."
-A, W. Bellu.o. an N.Y. Mercury.