FALL OF SNOW.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11009, 5 July 1901, Page 3

FALL OF SNOW.

THE CITY CLOTHED IN WHITE. Toe poet's apostrophe to "the snow, the J beautiful snow," removed from its context , and appied locally, is open to at least two ( interpretations, depending largely on tbe j particular emphasis placed. upon the word j "beautiful." Looking over the fields in the country, lying calm and peaceful in their coating of snow, the erstwhile gaunt arms of the leafless trees softened and made tovely by ths same means; or looking upon the distant hills with their fleecy covering— tthen, indeed the snow appears to satisfy i the most {esthetic ideas oi the beautiful. [ But in the city streets, after the heavy ! traffic has commenced to rob the highways of tbeir virgin apptaranoe and nas churned the snow into a composition somewhat ak.n to pea soup of a peculiarly dirty khaki colour; when the drippings Irom the verandahs start to course gently down the spinal ; co.umn of the unsuspecting passer-by, ; when the melted* article begins to make its appearance down the chimneys and put th* necessary fire out; and when the pedestrian gradually finds himself "rising" in the vvoitd owing to tbe, accretion of the stuff j on tiie soles of his boots —then it's tue " 'beautiful' snow" with sarcastic emphasis i on the adjective. j After all, however, the discomforts pass ' away or the city-dwelier adjusts himself to I them. He fishes out the goioshes that have not been required recently; the pavements are gradually r.d of the pea soup mixture, and t-tie drippings from t__e verandaais and , the unweiuouie moisture in the emmneyj. ; cease. Then he is m a fit frame of mind to admire the effects on buildings and tr.es as he gazes along the vistas tluut the streets present. IHE SNOWBALLING BRIGADF,. "Here we are again! Here we are a,, mJ" piped the small coy, and a goodly number ot him, too, as it his absence .had been noted or regretted, or as a ins presence w_-t_i arms full vi dangerous, knobby snowballs j wai. like.y to enaear him to the p.d.strian. ; A.though to the _t__ct military i,n<ier tanding iliev v. ere out an u_.idis_.ipui.cd i_o_Ue, .. uli- j out leaders, and ignorant of ail drill, | they managed to harass the enemy ! yesterday with signal success, whilst their "tactics, suggested oy the exigencies of the present moment, and the configuration of the country, were usually admirable. S\.ME INCIDENTS. Undoubtedly the war in South Africa and the military lessons it h_us taught have been studied to some profit by the contin- j gent—and also by the enemy. It is re-: lated that one geht.en_an who ventured out yesterday in all the glory of his guinea-and-a-half ducal top-hat was hotly 'perhaps, more accurately, "coldiy") beset by an overwhelming armed force. To flee in the lace of the enemy and of the public generally is ordinarily the best course of action, though it is terribly Undignified; ; but to flee in an immaculate 'sto.e-pipe* ! would have been more so. " Like a flash j the gentleman decided upon that policy \ which is declared to be the "better part; of valour;" out irom his pocket he brought j his handkerchief, which he used as a flag of truce. Wonder of wonders, the con- * tingent respected it, and he of the bell- j topper went on his -way calmly and un- j concernedly, and all parties evidently felt j that "honour was satisfied."

Those glorious, sou_-stirring, but expensive, frontal attacks have also been given up, unless under circumstances which permit of good cover for the attackers, or of a hasty and safe retreat. An effective rearguard action is reported. An industrious shop employee was washing a fish marchant's window—that portion whereon the succulent flounder and the other species of the finny tribe are exposed for sale. He was bending with awiil to his *work, when an infantile member of the contingent— evidently a scoUt—had his attention __rrested by the unprotected state of the enemy. For a moment he appeared to wrestle with the great temptation; the next he was stooping down, scooping up a lovely ball, and then, with well-directed aim, planted the missile on the exposed portion of the enemy, who retired in great disorder to don his coat of mail.

An exciting snow fight between Christ's Collego and tha Boys' High School was begun just before one o'clock yesterday. In thi9 first encounter the HigK bchool boys, suffering, it is alleged, from a scarcity of ammunition, were driven into a corner, and encountered something very like a reverse. Truce was proclaimed for half an hour while both armies disbanded for lunch, and the conflict was then renewed npon the football ground, where the snow lay thicker.. In this part of the combat the College boys were worsted, and the result of the whole engagement was generally set down in altogether unmilitary language, as "a draw." The thaw which set in yesterday stopped at sunset, and the temperature rapidly fell, until early in the evening it was below freezing point. The roads and pavements, with their accumulations of snow and s!ush, hardened over, and -walking on some of tha slippery pavements was anything but a safe operation.