The Portland daily press., 1892-07-22

80
heels of the compromise runors Of a
combination among the great carrying
lines to advance prices.
And if these things were not enough
to harry and imbitter the souls of all
people who own baseburners or who
wrestle with furnaces, while their jan
itors enjoy the sodden lethargy Of
'smixed ale" slumber, the theoretical
scientist breaks loose ever and anon,
and proves "by statistics" Chat vague
phrase with which every crank and en-
thusiast of the day essays to conjure)
that in certain period of time, varying
from five decades to five thousands of
years, the bowels Of the earth will have
yielded up their last bucket Of dusky
diamonds and the race of man will
freeze to death, the ultimate argument
being that the line Of frigidity is stead
lily advancing toward the tropics.
While the nervous householder isn't
worrying over this speculative POSSIBLE
ity of remote future, he is tormented
by the vagaries of the reports about the
ice crop. As surely as he wants to be
warm in winter he desires to keep cool
in summer, and when his paper tells
him during January that there is
shortage in the supply of frozen water,
owing to the "openness of the season"
he groans aloud. Yet he ought not to
borrow trouble, for there will be coal
for fuel and ice for comfort long ages
after he and you and I are forgotten
and undiscoverable components of that
tiny speck in the universe that we call
the world.
But suppose frost does in some far off
epoch run down to the equator, or, on.
the other hand, suppose that heat I'M
clasps the fierce grip with which cold
now throttles and defends the poles;
what them Well, man by that time
will be ready to cope with either emer-
gency. Already he has demonstrated his
ability to counterfeit the caprices Of
nature and has shown that the practical
mot theoretically scientist can store heat
or store cold at will and bring either
into use as needed.
Already, do | say? Why, he settled
the principles Of the problems ages ago,
when the Arab distilled subtle spirit
and called it al kohol, and the, Hindoo
defled torridity by evaporating water in
huge shallow vessels and therefrom
gathering ice at dawn when the Their
mometer chad there been such an in
strument in those times) would have
shown temperature of 80 to 100 dogs.
Today alcohol can be made even from
wood; it will not freeze, it can be car
ried in glass bottle, and tiny cook
stove in which to burn it can be bought
for twenty-five cents.
remember once when with a cavalry
column in Dakota chasing Indians at
midwinter how these little contriyances
actually saved our lives. The tempera-
ture must have been 30 dogs. below zero.
Soldiers and officers and horses alike
were fighting to keep off that deadly
slumber that is natures last warning to
the victim of cold. We reached a snow
bank in coulee; halt was called, and
from led mule demijohn of alcohol
and score Of these little stoves were
unpacked.
With numbed fingers we poured the
spirit into the receptacles and applied
matches to the wicks. Snow melted in
the tin pans placed over the grateful
flames; it boiled and we added the con-
tents of several cans of beef extract.
Each man drank his fill Of the cheering
draft, and after that the horses whin-
MED their thanks as they plunged their
noses in buckets of warm water. Three
hours later Dull Knifes band Of fugi-
tive Cheyennes had been rounded up"
and we set our faces toward Fort Robin
son and comfortable quarters.
As for ice, the Hindoo maker either OF
ancient or modern times, ''isn't in it,
with the Yankee of today. The ques-
ton of its use has been debatable through
the ages. Aristotle said it was unhealthy,
but opposed to the dictum of the won