The herald., 1897-02-19
SOME COLD WEATHER YARNS
Tod In Cozy Quarters and Susceptible OF Con-
siderable N difcatIan

mo, 1 didn't" protested the lieuten-
ant in the Army and Navy club.
Didn't WHAT" inquired a captain,
coming in with frosty sheen on his
rich. dark whiskers.
why, these Fellows here say l said
the cold was so intense out in the north
west one winter that l saw the candle
flames freeze stiff and the farmers sold
them for strawberries,
Didn't you say it?'' inquired the cap
tain kindly.
mo. sir. did not"
Then I'll say it for you, sir 1t hap
pened when l was out there twenty
years ago, and then again when l was
there three years ago. That same Win
ter one of my men was frozen to death
in a peculiar manner. 1 was going to
send him ten miles to the railroad sta
tion, and the day being sharper than
usual, l gave him big drink of some
whisky l had in my tent. He took
tremendous long dram and started away.
A half an hour later 1 remembered it
was ST. Louis whisky and at once feared
the worst and sent our surgeon after
him. But. alas, it was too late. A
post mortem examination showed that
the whisky was frozen solid, thus caus-
ing DEATH
How sad" sighed retired colonel,
who had had some years experience in
the northwest, wiping his eyes. Il al
most had an even more dire disaster
than that happen to my whole force
on one occasion. I was a lieutenant at
the time, and was out with ten men
on a scouting expedition in January.
We were on the way back and had
reached a point not far from the post
where some planks had been piled up
with which to build a shack as soon a
spring opened. We were not more than
twenty miles from the post and went
into camp, so as to get a good early
start in the morning and reach home
before dark. We used the planks for
extra shelter, because it was biting
cold and getting colder every minute,
with indications of blizzard.
AT the first streak of day the wind was
blowing a gale. and by the time 1t was
light there was hurricane and the
boards were flying every which way
Tents couldn't stand it at all and had
gone long ago, and it looked very much
as if the whole squad would be frozen
right there. If we could have built a
hut of the boards we might have stood
a chance, but there was not a nail with
in twenty miles of US. and the only ham
mers we had were our bayonets. Neces-
sity, however, is the mother of inven-
ton, and during a lull in the storm l
noticed some sharp little icicles on some
IOutS uIOeI d SnelleFeu pduk,, Il 1901 OF
SO above the little stream that ran by At
once / got one of them. and taking the
hilt of my sword for hammer found
l could drive it into the plank
Saved! I yelled. and at once gave
the command for all hands to hustle
those planks together while the lull
lasted, and to gather in all the icicles
obtainable and nail the boards up with
them. The men thought l was crazy
for minute, and then with a hurrah
they went for the planks. icicles and
bayonets, and in fifteen or twenty min
utes we had nailed together a shack
three or four feet high, so the wind
couldn't strike it so hard. and wide
enough for all of us. We got into it just
in time. for presently the storm came
again, and 1t was something terrific.
Twenty-four hours later it seemed quiet
outside and ] made an investigation and
discovered that we were under about
six feet of snow but We're all right as
the wind had fallen and the sky was
clear, though it was intensely cold. We
got out at once, and after a terrific
days march we reached the post. Four
weeks later I went back to our camp,
Salvation camp we called 1t, and found
that those icicles were still frozen so
hard that they held the shack together
fully as we'll as nails of the same size
would have done. Washington Star.
Where We Lag Behind
We stand at the head of all nations in