The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-01-07

grow smaller from tbs natual contraction
caused by the atmosphere. 1t grew colder
constantly till morning, and then re-
manned as it was"
"What was the degree?' some one asked.
To cell the truth, gentlemen 1 do
not know" was tbs response "We had
half dozen thermometers, but they
were the mercury kind, ana mercury
froze SO solid within an hour that the
children used the bulbs to play marbles
with all that winter, and until they
thawed out the following Fourth OF July
We had plenty o. fuel and wore heavy
winter wraps in the house. in this way
keeping from freezing. After few weeks
we became us sd to it. One of the ladies
discovered how beautiful the icices were
that grew upon the windows. Then they
wore them as jewels, and diamonds never
looked prettier. There was no danger of
their melting even in the house, and it
was actually a source of sorrow TO the
ladies when tho weather grew warm
enough for us to go out doors and to melt
the diamonds with which they had dec
Grated Themselves That was the coolest
winter ever experienced, but l cannot
tell just how cold it was, owing to hav-
ing nc. spirit therm ometer'
FROZEN IN THE MUD.
. remem her that winter very WE'LL"
said Tom Anderson. 81 was moving a
small bunch of cattle from Tanant coun-
fro VnY2e 10
Col, at the time my brother Calkins
speaks Of. The railroad was completed
only to Wichita Falls, and we had to
drive across No Mans Land to Colorado,
| it taking three months to accomplish the
trip. 1t had been warm and rainy,
which was an occasion Of great rejoicing
in that drouth-infected country. When
We left Wichita Falls it was muddy and
| driving slow work. The blizzard. prob
ably the same one that has juss been told
about, struck US suddenly. ! was feel
ing warm and comfortable, when in
| moment l seemed to be paralyZed, and,
looking around me in a dazed sort OF
way, realized What had happened. The
ground was frozen sOlidly, and OF course
each one Of the steers had three feet
caught fast, having baen stuck in the
mud. The other foot, which mad been
lifted to step with when the blizzard
struck us, was on top of the frozen earth
Something had to be done at once, or we
| would lose every steer, SO / called all OF
my men. fortunately we had plenty
of matches in the colnmissary. and the
| supply of dead mesquite bushes. was
practically unlimited, so it did noU take
long to determine upon plan of action
| We started q fire under each steer ard
watched them carefully. We had twenty
ren, and you never saw fires built so
rapidly in your lives. Within two hours
they were all blazing. We could not
thaw the cattle out OF the earth, but they
were kept alive, and two days later the
sun came OF t, as it does in Texas, sud
denly and strong, and in another day,
we were moving along the trail again az
if nothing had happened. -
A CONCEALED BEARD.
"That blizzard must have been very
general" said Silas Adams "I was
living in Peoria, ILL.,, at the time.
Peoria is built along the western bank
Of the Illinois river, which widens into
a lake at that point Back of the bust
ness portion Of the city, a little over a
mile from the river, is "a bluff. upon
which some Of the leading citizens have
erected handsome residences l lived
near the street car stables On the
/ bluH. had an Office On South Adams
street, near Main, and started for homo
early in the evening. 1t began to turu
cold just as passed the Soldiers Monu-
ment, ana, meeting Bob Burdette, who
ut that time was editing the Review
there, he remarked that it was going to
be cold enough to freeze all the plies
and even the knobs off the doors, which
would boom the plumb hing and hardware
trades. l lett the humoriss at the pest
office, one block farther On, and by the
time | reached the foot Of tho bluff /
realized that be was right. 1t seemed to
me that could never live to geG home
The exposed portions OF my faco ware
frozen. and it took a long time 10 thaw
myself out with ice befoEe venGuTIng into
the house. When I entered ing wife
screamed, and, looking into o En5rrof
saw that my beard, which was then long,
was as white as snow. Il was not simply
frosted; the roots Of the hair had frozen
| and taken out every vesti8o Of caloz.
| Ehe next day we went to Picking. ten
| miles below Peoria, to attend the W9d-
ding of friend Of my wife. ] hae: Geyac
been there. and it was evident thas my
Wife's friends were asionished as my
seeming age. I made up my mind 40
have the beard cut off as soon as ] ro-
turned to Peoria. AS we sab in the par
lor of the house where the Wedding was
to occur I noticed first one and then
another turn and fix their gaze upon mo
1t seemed that some peculiar fascination
existed in my beard. Their eyes opened
wider and wider and they sat spellbound
All conversation ceased. / felt SO un-
comfortable that, making some excuse,
| started to leave the house, In doing so
I passed a mirror in the hall, and part
of my beard showed up as blauk as it
ever was. One by one the hairs would
take en- their natural color--the roots
were thawing out. In an hour the trans
formation process was complete, but
while the guests were too polite to say
anything when an explanation Was made
felt that did not believe me, and that