The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-03-06
S white ana suR.

ldoig or goat skins, few wear the
lhlgh-priced muslorat otter OF beaver
Icoats. All of them have high fur
collars that turn up and hide the
head. You can put ten dollars into
a fur coat or invest your fortune
and mortgage your future. Fur
caps go with these coats, fur
gloves and big felt boots. A winter
crowd does not resemble a fashion
plate so much as a Santa Clause
family reunion or Teddy bear
convention
"The homes and hotels banl,
their Easements, barricade with OK
ira stormdoors, and have double
windows. Great fires roar and steam
heat is on full blast. They are
paying eight to ten dollars a ton
for as poor a grade of soft coal
as | ever saw. turn into my bed
room in the hotel, hot as n bake
oven, and wrestle to get window
open. If it Is my lucky day, I get
one of the windows up, ana find an
other outside IL nailed down. There
is gimlet hole through this. where
! may pull out the cork and smell
fresh air by getting down close. I
go down and plead for fresh air
at the clerks desk. Fresh air! Il is
more plentiful here than In anv
other land south Of the Arctic circle
but he stares at me in bew,lder-
ment Fresh air? Why, man this Is
winter. and we have 10 keen
warm. So they save IL by keeping
1t all outside. Never a breath in
side. | rise in the morning I'm this
bake oven with huge cold. Every
body else does likewise. You can
tell the rising hour All over the
hotel upstairs there rises = chorus
of sneezing and pulmonary expIo-
sions. rise and rush outdoors IN
breathe Gods most precious and
plentiful gift, and freeze nv noea
The cars are battened down with
sometimes three. layers of windows
and all the ventilators soldered. The
depots are double riveted. Fresh
air. fresh air everywhere, but not a
breathe to breathe. A jam of roat-
skins huddles in the stewbox depot
waiting room. Twenty-Five men are
smoking diseased tobacco. The
smoke minghes with the air that
has frodclted from lung to lung the
past three months, the steamy dew
OF the goat and the felt boots rise
up to strike glad hands with the
miasma. fnd breathe easier
when ] cut this atmosphere into
small chunks with my knife
"Ths is fine, dry climate for
oonsumpa.ves. It is the occasional
uesh breath the natives get that
saves them. | asked the clerk in the
hotel at Harvey Tor not bath. He
looked d-aed, but finally led me to
the n,SlIU,,I tub. was fined so
cents for such conduct.
THE Northwest is the great win
ter resont Tor all germs who can
afford to travel. Once Bill Bacteria
gets into house here, he is pettea
and coddled for all time to come.
RailroadinG in the Northwest in |
me cod season is beneficial study |
d the doctrine of probabilities. For
yesterday morning | was |
20 take the 5:05 tran on the 500 |
1ut Of Harvey for Enderlin. | did |
not rise Tor 1t. The hotel man calls |
when the train gets near town. That
lain arrived at 4:30 D. m. yester-
lay afternoon, eleven hours late.
We considered 1t did pretty well.
When you see the Cracks, the snow
sorges, the snOw-covered cars and
ICE hanging to the trucks, see the
Dig elephant engine trimmed with
ong icicles and frostinlg, clouded IN
steam, you marvel that il can run
u all. This is not a fish story. AT
valley City we stopped TO take
water that night, The firemen did
lot see in the dark that the tank
pout was leaking, and that half the
Vaer was pouring down over the
ender to the track, 1t froze as il
ell. Then the engineer tried to
tart, but his iron horse only snort
ID. He threw on more power but we
allied to bulge, not even the wheels
hid Fact Is, the wheels of the en-
Zine were frozen to the track. And
we didn't start for thirty minues
'nly then after picks and CROW bars
lad been used.
"We reached EnderIln at nine.
hat night, after that l drove eight
niles TO Sheldon, found a hopeful
'rowd waiting a lecture at 1O:3O. |
I'm getting quite vogue as a mid
light lecturer | ann the modern
Macbeth.
80 nobody knows, not even
whsn he will get his
rain. You 90 down TO the depot to
inquire about the time the schedule
ntImates your train will leave. You
'ore your way into the fragrant |
,weat-box full Of the conked-up and |
condensed breath of goat skin over
ioats and their owners--a fragrance |
hat inspired the poet. You may tan. |