, 1888-04-04

effectually tied up. Telegraph and tele-
phone wires were down, few trains arrived
from any point, and when night came
Broadway and many of the city's streets
we're left in darkness through the failure
of the electric lights.
Between the warm and gentle rain-dropS
that battered on the dry ~pavements on
Sunday afternoon, aud the sharp needle.
like spears OF ice that cut into the face as
the shrewiSh gale drove them ct u forty
mjlo-prr-hOur pace on yesterday afternoon,
the whole broad gamut OF stOrm-nOtes was
played. Ii was a sort OF dIabOlical YIN
phOuy, with all the movements thrown III
-andantG, allegro, scherzO and finale
and if any one wanted some kind OF wea-
Their which he didn't get it must be be-
cause he didn't ask for it. 1t began with u
raw, soft atmosphere that was neither
wintry nor springlike. Then came ram,
and then more ram, al libitum. Then the
mercury began to get discouraged, and at
midnight, while the wind was making mu-
sic among the thousand strings of the teie-
graphic HOlian, the rain had turned TO
snow. The wind, taking heart Of grace,
began to bite the %sn0whakeS into dust as
it grew stronger, and the early mllkman
found himself ploughing through Il pow
derry atmosphere that was uncomfortable
but not diSheartening, while the drift grew
from ankle-deep towards knee and thigh.
At Z a. m. the wind was sprinting down
from the northwest at forty miles on hour
aud the temperature was "a degrees above
zero. At least the wise men of the Signal
Service said it was from the northwest,
though to the humble observer in the streets
it looked more like gallpy-west. And still
the combat deepened. By 8 O'Clock the
ScherzO movement was under way and the
aerial orchestra was playing every Joke
of which it was capabie-and its capacity
il large. 1t coated the telegraph wires
with tons of ice. until they snapped be-
meath the strain and came curling down TO
plague the legs of horses and pedestrians.
1t coated the windows with curtains OF
snow, tore awnings to ribbons and sent
puffs Of fpathrry blizzard into every crack
and ~crevice in door and window. 1t turn.
ed huge Winr0wS of exasperatiOn over the
sidewalks and car track and banked vehl-
cles in ever-chauging but never lcsSrnIng
hummOckS. Deeper aud deeper every mo-
ment, the drifts soon put an eStoppcl upon
traffic that was not to be denied. Loaded
wagons stopped first, then the h0rSe.carS,
and finally steam Succnmbed and the
spindlp.Shanked r0i}ruads briefly called
the "L,' but more appropriately termed II
that letter he slightly aSperated, proved
how utterly useless they can he in q time
OF trial. "Oh. for an Underground road ~
sighed New York yesterday. Oh, for
something, indeed, better than d little box
on stills not capable Of pulling four or five
cars. and not capable OF holding them CaS
so sadly proved in the Third avenue TRACE
dyJ on IA slight down grade! Finally hay
ing exhausted its ingenuity in grand and
lofty t~umbling. the weather permitted the
bottom 10 drop out of things in a thermo-
metrical way the mercury, which was "a
degrees at 7, was l6 degrees at 2 y. m. and
going lower. Soon there was ice under
foot, and then didn't BOreaS have a carniy-
al3 Hoighty. toighty, what a mad dance
he led HE human family
Now, New York can take a joke as well
as any fellow under the sun, and it took it
yesterday with an excellent grace. Man
hatten Island was a big Mark Tapley. 1t
was a credit to be Jolly, and jolly the peO~
pie were. 1t laughed and joked and sang
under difficulties. It saw the funny side of
things. A hearse bowling rapidly down
Third avenue, the only vehicle which seem.
eel to be in a hurry, made no end Offun. A
fat woman sitting IN a snOW-drift and send
ing up suppiicationS to heaven, caused I'M
limited exclamation until snOw-cruSted
Young men hauled her out of her troubles
and deposited her in a doorway. The
ubiquitous ice,men, whose brothers serve