Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-14
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Though there is a rule in the Brllish
army about the sustaining power OF ice
explained an army officer TO star re-
porter. There is no such a rule in our army
regulations. though the engineers nave
formula which covers the matter. Their
formula. in brief. is that ice three inches
thick will sustain 100 pounds to the square
foot: four inches will sustain a column OF
infantry and five inches artillery In Cen
traI Park New York. and Druid Hill PARK
Baltimore skating is never allowed until
the ice is three inches thick on the lakes
The same rule is observed in other pubic
skating parks. Ice two inches thick Is safe
enough for a man to skate on, and even for
a number at the same time, but that thick
ness Of ice cannot be depended upon for
parks where great crowds gather. Ten
inches Of ice will hold up any weight that
can be put upon it, as far as people are
concerned. Railway trains have been run
the Saint Lawrence river on tifteen-inch
ice without the slightest suspicion of dam
ger. There have been a number of horse
races and caTHiNals on the hudson river
on ten-inch ice One of the best races of
the kind / ever the Potomac
about thirty-seVen years ago, in which a
half dozen horses engaged and thousands
of persons stood along the course and
watched it. and the ice was not over nine
inches and Il half thick The Central Park
rule of three inches or no skating is
good one. and is on the safe side rather
than otherwise. Even then it is not safe to
have any very large number of persons to
gather on d small space for three-inch
ice Is not always as strong it should be-
In small ponds two-inch ice is safe enough
Tor children or even a small party of grown
persons, but they should keep scattered as
much as possible. In 1sJ6 when the Poto-
mac broke its freezing record. there were
hundreds who drove wagons and carriages
On the ice from here as far down the river
as Mount Vernon. and teams crossed the
river at many points. 1t was over thirteen
inches thick and lasted two weeks
The gutter is a distinct type in depart-
mental life" observed an old department
eierk TO a Star reporter, and there is no
department, or even division, where he or
she does not exist, for the gutter is not
always d man. As many clerks know. the
cutters are pretty we'll in evidence. and
'-ere Is no difficulty in recognizing them
1hey are the last clerks TO get ready to be-
GIN work and the last to go 10 work They
gToWl when the weather is cold and they
groWl when 1t is warm; when the sun
shlneS and when it does not shine They
commence to show other signs of their
pecuIldrltleS about a half an hour before
luhch une They are ready 10 get out on
the street on the first stroke of the clock
indicating the lunch half hour. and are the
last to get back Then after another dis
CuaSloh Oh the weather and a criticism in
regard to the work assigned them. they
resume work in a half-hearted manner and
nave but little to say until clnsing-up time
approaches All of the cutters get .tiraI,
about half an hour before l. and by quar-
Ter OF / they are tired that they can do
nothing but busy themselves in getting
clock strikes III
1T matters not how much of the govern
ment time the gutter consumes during
the day IN loafins, he or she never feels
that one extra minute can be given in re-
turn IL matters not how much the work
Is pressing. They have all sorts of excuses
Dut the one they generally give is that they
nave engagements which force them to
hurry out when the fact Is they are of
class Who never have engagements or who
could be depended on to keep them II they
made one The gutter is unreliable in
everything except in quitting. and in that
NE never fans. There is another peculiari-
y about cutters, and that is no matter
how long they are in the departmen+ thev
never thoroughly understand any III its
rules Hr regulations except that relating
I" leaves II absence. They thoroughly in
form themselves in relation to chat and
not only know the rules Of their own. but
of all u The other departments in that re-
Si'tct- ihelr general complaint is that they
are ovtrwpTked. when il is We'll known to
their associates that they seldom Derforn
q haf days work in any day. and that
they are constantly being imposed upon
when the fact is they are always imposing
upon others. They are actually good for
nothing except quitting, and that is the
only thing they can be depended upon 10
do -
: = = = =
Now and then some of the old savings
In regard to the weather hold good but
they are uncertain. because they are I'M
scientific explained weather expert to
Star reporter, though l do not contend
that weather predictions can as yet be. put
down in the category of the exact sciences.
The best that is claimed for them is that
they are ~ per cent true. that is. that eight
out Of every ten are correct. l would not
hesitate. however. to wager that there will
be nearly five times as many snowfaIIs
this winter as there were last year. or three
times as many as during the previous year
How do l know / don't know but in re-
gard to snowfalls l follow the rule that
Gen Washington wrote of in a letter to
some northern friendS-that the coIored
folks at Mount Vernon thoroughly believed
that there would be is many falls of snow
during the winter as the figure of the
day Of the month on which the first snow
fell This winter the first snow fell on De-
cembcr -. which would indicate that we
Will have twenty-nine snowfalis. We have