Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-11
OLD FASHIONED WINTERS
There Was Fun in Breaking Out the Roads
With Log Sleds.
How the Boys and Girls Used to En-
joy the Neighborhood Customs
of the North.

Simpson. There is nothing more like
heaven than your real old-fashoned win
ter-the kind that pa and ma used TO have
forty years ago
Just then the car stopped A horse on
truck that was crossing the track had slip
ped and fallen. Two colored men were try
ing TO get him up.
we are never ready for snow storm in
this town" said an Old gentleman up at
the front end Of the car. Don't know how
To fight snow"
You just ought TO see the snow up in
my country" remarked Il man who ii mo-
ment later said he vas from northern Mich
igan.
I've seen it five feet deep on the level
he added in tone that left no room for a
rival statement.
We'll. I've seen ii ABOUT that deep on the
level-and on the square. too, for that mat
ter. up in my cOuutry-northeTn New York.
You couldn't see the rail fences anywhere.
Ien-rail fences they were.
BY this time the cOlored men had got the
harness ola of the fallen no. Sc, aDu oy pu>-
ting down a blanket for him TO brace his
feet on. he sprang up and shook himself.
Vow. get that truck of tns -l-n ~
shouted the mot0rman I'VE shall be
banked up here in q minute and thrown out
of the schedule"
The conductor and two or three of the
passengers got behind the big wagon. and
in moment more IL out of the way
and the motorman stamped his bell and
they began to move again.
4 tell you those were grand old times
when We had real winters resumed Haw-
klts- How we boys used to yell and
shout when the first snowfiakes came
slowly sailing down out of the low. leaden,
silent sky. Do Won know there is a vast
difference between those old-fashiOned
snOwfakes and the kind we have here?
Why. these little timid snowflakes seem to
apologize for their existence as they sift
down. There is no substance or stamina
pp IA yI-hp I
hoy came in fat. big. lazy crystals. They
zane down as if they owned the earth. and
taken all together, they did for five or six
months in the year | don't know whether
it was because was smaller in those times
or what it was but our snOwfakes were
as big as half dol ars then. and they came
down with a rolling motion that seemed as
II Il would sweep everything before Them
There's magic in a snow storm. / have
stood hours at a window looking at the
falling mass of white. l used to pick out
a snowflake away up i'm the air and keep
my eye on it as it whirled and sailed down
ward TO the earth
Natures Mysteries.
Mystery has peculiar charm and the
coming of the snow is n great mystery to
child remarked Simpson
Well. old boy. i like to preserve my
mysteries. and be a child to nature as long
as 1 live. Did you ever help break out road
after a heavy snow storm? Wen. sir, one
of those mornings IL worth a round year of
ordinary life. You turn out of your warm
rest down in the old feather bed that your
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES geese Wore their
backs onto the cold bed room floor itself
white as snow with the sanded securing of
four or five HfetimeS. You shuttle into Your
clothes as fast as you can, all the time
talking or whistling to keep your teeth
from chattering. Down in the big kitchen
you find your cowhide boots stiff and cold,
and by TIE time you have kicked your feet
into them you are prepared for any fate.
Outside everything is white. 1t is the OPP
p"site of the blacklist night You ever saw.
You can swim in snow. 1t is up to your
neck. Between house and barn it is like
aiding wide river.
When finally you get to the barn it seems
like paradise inside. Not that it isn't fun
10 wade through the snow, but the animals
are all snug and warm, the hay smells
so fragrant and the corn fodder looks al
most as green as IL was in the hot field in
summer. Your favorite colt whinnies. the
old mare nick1rs. the cattle low softly and
the young calves fTiSk their tails and roll
their purple eyes toward You appealinSly.
The sheep stir and stare wild-eyed. You
toss the horses their oats, milk the cows,
feed everything and founder back to the
house TO warm a little at the hickory fire in
the big fireplace and then go out again to
shovel paths around the house 1t is
mountainous task. / have lifted tons and
tons Of the beautiful big old home
made shovel When you are through,
canals and bikes run in every direction.
lLtTt Was OILY one DRAWBACK 10 me "nt0
a snowstorm came, and that was to- have
il come on wash day. No well-arranged
sn1wstOrTn should put in an appearance on
Monday. We always had to shovel paths
along the clothes lines. and they used TO
seem mile long
Long Line of SIeds.
After we had had breakfast-pork. ten
derlOin. buckwheat cakes. apple butter and
honey, you know-then We would hustle out
10 the barn, al, of US. and begin to hitch up
for the procession that we knew would
pretty soon come along. Old Bill Longer
beam. he lived way out at the end of the
road ard he had a whaling big yoke of
oxen His brother Jake lived just this side
and he had two yoke. Then came the
T.uchUans and the TcrWiiligers and the
Smiths. and the Smailwoods, and the Tumb-
Inns. old Bill would put those oxen on his
wood sled-not one of these jigSery little
bob eIghS. hui one Of the old busters that
would hold q fOur-foOt white oak log. Did
you ever see a log loaded on one of those
big slsds2 Well, that is worth another
year Of any ordinary existence. I've done
II many a time all alone. You tackle your
chains the sled runner, bring them out
under the log, then hitch your team on the
other side of the sled you can drive
them right away from the sled, and the log
rolls up the skids as easy as anything on
earth.
Well. Bill would hitch up to that old
sled and chain a small log on each sid. of
the Tenders and those two old oxen would
come Steaming along, throwing the snow
out in me style. When he reached Jake's
there would be a great time. Bill had no
children, but Jake had twelve. and the yell
Ing and squealing when the oxen got there
was caution Jake would fan in behind
with his two yoke and the boys and girls
HANGING on The sleds. BY the time they
reached our place the whole road would he
IN the procession, and such scene you
never SOW. / can see the whole crowd now.
There was old Rill-he was killed in the
var. The funniest sight in the lot was
Jake's baby. He always brought him along
to teach him how TO break roads. Jake
said Tie used to tie the kid 10 a sled stake
with big shawl and there ne hung and
swung. - haDDy as a bird the whole trim.
IiftlH RIM Jake named him after old Bill
Ii'''c Pill is a college professor now.
I'VE were out at the gate ALWAYS with
our foIr-horse team and our 10" sled with
all orr folks. bows and girls. aboard ready
70 NH in hahind lin Tumhlin's big gravs
And then lust think Of a quarter OF a mile
Of smoking oxen and horses and forty or
ffrv Yelling boys and screaming girls I
wonder IL they break out the roads that
way now. Ia give good deal to see II
once more. Snow bal'ins and snow forts
md icy snowballs and snow men-aH that
We had to our hearts content.