Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-02-14

matter? Power of accumulated snow
flakes. On the top of the Apennines
one flake falls, and others fall, and
they pile up. md they make mount
ain of fleece on the topof mountain
of rock, until one day u gust Of wind,
or even the voice of q mountaineer,
sets the frozen vapors into action, and
by awful descent they sweep every
thing in their course-trees, rocks, vii
lages-as when. in 1927, the town Of
Briel in Valais vas buried, and in 1924,
in Switzerland, three hundred soldiers
were intombed These avalanches
were made up of single snowhakes.
What tragedies of the snow have
been witnessed by the monks of st.
Bernard, who for ages have with the
dogs been busy il extricating Devil
6ered and overwhelmed travellers in
Alpine storl%;, tile dogs with blanket
fastened to their backs and llasks Of
! spirits fastened to their neck to resus
c;tate the helpless travellers. one of
these dogs decorated with n medal for
having saved the lives of twenty-five
persons. tile brave beast himself slain
of the snow on that day when accom-
panying Il Picslnontcse courier. on the
way to llismnxious household down the
mountain. the wife and children of the
Piedinontese courier coming up, the
mountain in search OF him. an ava
lanche covered all under pyramids
higher than those under which the
Egyptian nlonarclls sleep their sleep of
the ages.
What an illustration Of the tragedies
of the snow is found in that scene be-
tween Glencoe and Glercreran one
February in Scotland. where Ronald
Cameron comes forth TO bring to his
fathers house his cousin Flora Mac-
Donald for the celebration of a BIRTH
day, and the calui day turns into u
hurricane of white fury that leaves
Ronald and Flora rs dead. to be re-
suscitated by the Shepherds What en-
exciting struggle had Bayard Taylor
among the wintry Apenninesl
SNOW DECIDED THE DESTINIEs or
EUROPE.
In the winter of 1872, by q similar
force, the destiny of Europe was de-
cided. The French army marched up
toward Moscow five hundred thousand
men. What can resist them3 Not
bayoncts, but the dumb elements over
whelm that host. Napoleon retreats
from MOSCOW with about two hundred
thousand Mcn. a mighty nucleus for
another campaign after lie gets back to
Paris. The morning of Oct. 10, when
they start for home. is bright and
beautiful. The air is tonic, and al
though this Russian campaign has been
a failure Napoleon will try again i'll
some other direction with his host of
brave surviving Frenchmcn.
But cloud comes Oh tho sky. and
the air gets chill and one of the SOL
diers feels on his check q snowflake, and
then there is Il multiplication of these
wintry messages. and soon the pluInes
Of the officers are dcched with another
style of plume, and then all the skies
let loose upon the warriors a hurricane
of snow, and the march becomes diff
cult, and the horses find it hard to pull
the supply train, and the men begin to
fall under the fatigue, and many not
able to take another step lie down in
the drifts never TO rise, and the cavalry
horses stumble and fall, and one thou
sand of the army fall. and ten thou
sand perish. and twcnty thousand go
down, and fifty thousand and hun
dred Thousand and a hundred and
twenty thousand and a hundred and
thirty-two thousand die, and the victor
of Jena and bridge of Lodi and Eylau
and AusterIilz. where three great
armies, commanded by three enipcror,
surrendered TO lin, now himself sur
renders to tie snowhakcs.
Historians do not seem to recognize
that the tide in that mans life turned
from December the 10Th. 1909, wl;en
be banisllcd by liidcous divorce his
wife Josephine from the palace and so
challenged the Almighty, and the Lord
charged upon him from the fortrcsscs
of the sky with ammunition of crystal.
Showed under! Billions, trillions, quad
rillions, quintillions CT flakes did tie
work. And what q suggestion of ac-
cumulative power, and what n re5uhe
to all of Us who get discouraged be-
cause we c;lnnot do much, and there
fore do nothing.
"Oh, "says some one, 81 would like
to stop thesforces Of sin and crime that
are marching for the conquest OF the
nations; but ain nobody. l have
neither wealth nor cloquence nor social
power. What can Idor My brother,
how much do you weish-as much as
a snownake2 "Oh, yes" Then do
your share. 1t is an aggregation of
small influences that will yet PIT this
lost world back into the bosom of 4
pardoning God Alas! that there arc
SO many men and women who will not
u-s the one talent because they have
net ten, and will not give a penny be-
cause they cannot give q dollar, and
will not speak SIS we'll rs they can be-
cause they are not eloquent, and will
not be a snowflake because they cannot
be an avalanche. In earthly wars the
generals get about all the credit, but in
the war for God and righteousness and
heaven all the private soldiers will get
crowns of victory unfailing.
When we reach heavenly the grace
of God may we ell arrive there!-I do
not think we will bo able to begin the
new song right away, because of the