The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-02-03
OLD-FASHIONED WINTER.
The Worlds Fair City Rejoices in
Plenty Of Sleighing.
Nature Assists in Killing OF Disease
Germs Good Prospect for
Healthy Year - Lively Times
in the Great Metropolis.
Especial Chicago Correspondence

Chicago this winter and has enlisted
in the army of workers for the world
fair 1t was feared by some people
last fall that some cholera infection
| might have been carried into the coun-
try in spite of the precautions taken on
the Atlannc seaboard and that these
germs wouldliberate and come forth in
the spring to produce an epidemic of
| cholera which would kill the fair. But
! if any foolhardy germ came to Chicago
or, in fact, to any northern part of the
country last fall it will not be in con-
dition to do any mischief in the spring
| The cholera germ is not hardy germ,
| in fact it is one of the most delicate
among these small but dangerous enc
mics of man. Its life is precarious and
will yield to very weak influences.
For this reason, it was kind in nature
to send us a good old-fashioned winter
! 1t surely has killed any cholera germs
that might have been here and, proba a
bly,, played havoc among the germs of
many other diseases, so that with clean
illness in the streets aud alleys we have
! reason to expect an exceptionally
healthy year Chicago used to be noted
| for its small mortality. Among the
| big cities of the world it ranked near
! the head of the list in this respect in
| spite of the fact that it is not old
| enough vet to have such extensive and
perfect sanitary arrangements as its
! older sisters During the last few years
/ this reputation suffered somewhat and
many infectious diseases became en-
| demic. Many causes have been assigned
| for this change, and the municipal
/ authorities came in for a good
| share of the blame. But | am inclined
/ to think that much of it was due to
the fact that for five years we did not
| have a good, old-fashioned winter, one
of the kind that the boys enjoy, with
! plenty OF snow and freezing weather,
with snow-balling, Safeguarding. skat-
! inc and ice-boating. When Chicago
was younger she enjoyed many such a
winter | remember only seven or
eight years ago the snow was SO deep
that after the street car tracks had
been cleaned and the snow banked up
along the curb one could not see across
the street 1t was cold in those days,
]
woe to the unfortunate bacillus that
/ had crept into the ground or into the
garbage heaps in the hope of waking
up in the spring time! People were
/ glad to walk to'their offices and home
again, for it was cold in the street ears
and the sidewalks were hard and
walking was good
For the last five years we have
really had no winter. We
have had only ''rainy season.
There was some snow occa-
sionally-just enough to keep the
streets covered with mud, and slippery
and disagreeable. 1t was nasty walk
ing People would sit or stsnd i'll
crowded street ears and breathe the
foul air in them instead of enjoying Il
good wholesome walk. They would
not go out of the house unless com
PEELED to by business. 1t was just too
cold to wear fall clothing and too warm
for winter dress, and the result was
that people would wear heavy over
coats and leave them unbuttoned and
catch fresh cold every day. They
called it an epidemic of influenza: that
is pretty name, but | think such
causes as the ones | pointed out lie
nearer home and are more likely to be
right. even though they have no high
sounding, outlandish title.
This present winter is one of the
good old kind, that sets the blood 60
ing at rapid rate through your veins
and makes your cheeks look fresh and
nj
cable breaks you don't mind walking
because the sidewalks are dry and
frozen hard and you enjoy the fresh
wintry air. And the air is musical
with the bells of sleighing teams and
the snow gives that familiar crunching
sound as you step on it. You see boys
and girls with skates slung over their
arms going to the parks, and ice boats
fiy around in the outer harbor and beat
the Illinois Central trains that rush
along the shore. The snow is lying
foot deep or more in many places, and
there is no mud except where a steam
boiler under Il sidewalk has melted the
snow or where the traffic at Il street
crossing has converted the beautiful"
into a dark brown mass of nondescript
composition. The trees in the parks look
beautiful with their heavy loads of
snow. Up north along the lake shore
the east winds have piled up the drift
ice twenty feet high like miniature
panorama of the Rocky mountains. The
temperature often drops below zero
and, as n rule, remains below the
freezing point. The inevitable JAN
uary thaw set in, of course. but only
served to give variety to the picture.
If any cholera germs are to do any
of their deadly work in Chicago next
summer they will have to be freshly
imported, for it is very unlikely that
any could survive this winter.
1t is hard on the poor, of course, in
one way, especially with the high prices
of coal But in another way it is
godsend TO them as well. Hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of men are kept
busy T." the snow, gangs of 600 to 500
being employed at a time by the city to
cart away the snow and incidentally
all the other dirt that sticks to it from
the streets, and the number who are
employed privately for similar pdr-
poses runs up into the thousands.
There are Inconvenience, too, con-
nected with such a winter, but they
are insignificant as compared with the
benefits The railroads may suffer
somewhat and business he disturbed by
DELAYS in the mails, but these are
trifies beside the good things. 1t is a
good saying, although old, that season
able weather is the best weather.
Everything in its proper place. Dirt,
said Lord Palmerston, lis thing out
of its proper place" Dirt ceases to be
dirt out in the field. 1t is dirt in the