The sun., 1901-12-12
AMAZING DEPTH OF THE FROST.
Trivial Circunistan That Led TO Farmer
LeOnard's Discovery.

CHESTER. N. T.. Dec. Il,-Farmer Bill
Leonard. who lives opposite Goose Pond
Mountain. and raises milk and deals in
horses. came into Baldy's tavern yester-
day TO warm his feet, after taking load
Of milk TO the cheese factory
Seems to me- said he, that / don't
remember when the frost was so deep In
the ground at this time Of year as It is now
1t IS amazing. that's what it Is!
Folks don't pay enough attention to
such things. They ought to make notes
of them for future reference. Then, ten
years from now, when some Of us get 10
arguing on cold Decembers, all we've got
to do is to refer TO the record. and see II
set down there, something like this:
Farmer Leonard found frost In the
ground. December, 1901, five inches deep.
"Then the argument would stop. That
would show about as cold December al
any we're likely to have, guess. Think
Of It! Frost in the ground, here. before
the middle Of December. five inches deepl
II amazes mel
Nobody seemed TO take much interest
In Farmer Leonards discovery, but he was
evidently bound to spread the unwonted
meteorological condition in full on the
record, and continued thus:
IF / hadn't gone out and hauled In that
load OF wood and sawed IL UP don't be-
lieve / would have made the discovery.
One Of the sticks was a good-sized log
0 feet long.
Il went TO saving II up into foot and half
lengths, and when ! sawed the first one on
discovered that the log was decayed In the
centre, the decayed part being four or five
inches across. II wasn't unit! had sawed
of three lengths that ] noticed that the
decayed heart OF the log looked different
from the usual unsound wood.
"The middle Of IL was reddish. then there
was a wide lcad-colored space surrounding
that. with black rim. maybe an eighth
Of an inch vide. around the whole.
Il kept on saving, and a. ! got toward
the end OF the log the decayed centre grew
smaller, and In the last length Of the log
Il showed quite small. and in the end OF
that length. which was the small end OF
the log, I saw that there was just n round
hole. with no decayed heart showing In II
] put my fingers in the hole a couple OF
inches and felt something moving 10 and
fro the liveliest way
Il closed nv fingers on Il and pulled
and out came the section Of the decayed
heart Of the log that lay In that length of
wood ] put II ON the ground and II
squirmed Ike everything.
Il punched the heart out Of all the other
sections, and putting them end To end. meas
was feet and 10 inches long and "a inches
thick knowing the alternating habits
of blacksnake-, II was Of course plain to
me that this one had crawled into the
hollow Of that log for its winter sleep and
that II woke up too late To get out before
| had sawed IL into sections.
'Th. tenacity Of life Of these reptiles
l.-ing also well known 10 me, | was not
surprised that this one was alive enough,
after | had punched itz sections out 81 th-
log 60 glare at me With fery eyes and
lash it- tail IA fury
4 didn't want Il 10 lie there and slowly
fre.zs' to death. 30 ! ended u with a club
And didn't want a pile Of blAoksnak- litter
ing zap nay yard, 90 ! dug big hole and
buried u
That's the way I hAppsued 90 discover
how do.p ~. frost sAs ia th. ground
aud tell you u simply amazed me ! shall
Always l., glad that ! hAulod la that load
~ wood And sawod u ~, l-,oAus. nov I
oan put the faot ~ ths depth II ffust Ga
Teclfd fuf future rrfoT-nu-
1h"u Ianuer Leonard, having warmed
he fest weut oui After while Iarm~T
h.-,ley Hunter - HATdsrfabble. having
uaugh HE breath, remarked
Ia hate g. H. the mAn tl.At 1911 Leonard
trad's horsas nth ihls day