The Forrest City times., 1891-03-13
NAPOLEON'S AWFUL FOE.
THE BEAUTIFUL SNOW OUTCEN-
 ERALLED HIM.
Memorable Winters of the Past Recall the Fact that the Ileecy has taken Lively Part in the History
 of Great Wars.

Everybody agrees that sleigh riding in August would be the very acme of pleasure. The trouble with sieighing has always been that it came at the wrong time of the year and in the wrong kind of weather. There really isn't much pleasure in sleigh riding when the weather is so cold that ones ears and nose and toes are likely to freeze. About as much real joy could be obtained by putting one's feet in a bowl of ice water and ring ing dinner bell. T he intrin- sio worth of anything as source Of pleasure depends very largely upon the happy harmoniousness of the sur rouudings This explains why the se- were winters of the past made Beau tiful Snow rather unpopular.
 Snow has played very important part in the m aking of tho worlds his- tory. It was not the stained snows" Of Linden so beautifully enshrined in poesy that were responsible for the most dreadful and sicl1ening page in the awful annals of war, wherein is recorded the story of the retreat of N poleon's grand army. The his- torians of that dreadful event tell us that all over Europe there are tokens ot an early winter. when, on the 10th day Of October, 1872, Napoleon evaeu- ated Moscow. In Russia the winter had set in not merely much e rlier but with almost unprecedented severity. It required three weeks 10 march from Moscow to Smolensk. The snow fell almost without iu;ermission through out the whole of this terrible time. Before and behind. on this side and on that, nothing was 10 De seen but this fateful winding sheet. save where dark. moving specks told of the presence of the Cossacks, ever on the watch to harrass tbeir dispirited foe. By hundreds and by thousands, by rank and by battalion. men and horses fell by the way to rise no more, overwhelmed by the blindlng. pitiless snow drift. Starving. frozen. half-nalied. shelter less. fighting their way against the terrors Of Russian winter and the exulting attacks of the Russian troops, t was q miserable remnant Of the French strength that reached Smo- lensk, only to find that they could have neither rest nor succor there, but must continue their terrible com kat with the powers ot nature and of man. In one respect did the cold favor them. It enabled Ney. with the remnants of his following, to cross the Dnieper on the ice. But when the troops came 10 the fatal heresina the thaw, more merciless than the frost. had filled the channel of the river with floating. rolling ice blocks
 Twenty thousand perished there nlone, and then the cold increased, and so at length few wretched strag- glcrs only returned to France. Four hundred thousand died in that cam lalgn of woe and terror Who can guess how map of the European na- ticns would appear to-day had Napo- leon and his army not been overcome by the snow' History contains ac- 60 lnts of many wonderfully cold and snowy winters In ITS the Swedish army marching to Drontheine was cvertaken on the mountains by snow- storm and 1000 men perished and the expedition was abandoned In 1886 sn9w fell in England to the depth oi irem four to nine feet, and to a similar de oth in New England. While many American winters have been romarka- blG for their cold and snow no import aat historical events have been grave ly influenced by them.
 History also records some romantic chief actor. Egiuhard, the secretary sal hiographer of Charlemagne, fell ir love with the monarch's daughter Emma While paying her a stolen sisit one evening it began to snow. mad when he was about to leave the earth was covered by n tell-tale coat i.at Emma was not strong only in affection. She took her lover on her sack and carried him to his lodgings. Ss chance the pair were observed by Tharlemagne. He first frightened kainhard by asking what doom the saan deserved who made the daughter of his king beast of burden. and then wight royalty consented to tho mar yiage ot the pair for whom the snow- .ail proved to be the chief match maker.
 Farm Literature.