Winter at Home.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XVI, Issue 1640, 3 April 1895, Page 3

Winter at Home.

AN ARCTIC SEASON. Writes an Edinburgh correspondent;, under date January 31st : — With the exception of an odd day or two of thaw, tbe month now closing has been characterised by unwonted rigor of frost. Even skaters and hurlers are reported to hare had a surfeit, and to be ready to welcome thaw like other people. The Highland, West Highland, and Great North of Scotland railways have been blocked so frequently that announcements of such events no longer attract notice m the sontb. The srorst blocks have been m Caithness, Sutherland, and the northern part of Perthshire. The deep snow m some lonely plat es made the conducting interments a difficult and painful busi* ness and,

ONB OR TWO PATHETIC NARRATIVIf . of tbe kind have been published. la tbe Gleolivet and Cabraob districts of Banffshire some of the cottages are almost burfod out of sight m the snow, and as the grocers' carts bare been unable to go tbeir ronnds for a month, tbe people living m thope parts must be running short of food. Flock-owner* are hard pat to. it to keep their sheep alive, . while m some parts the starring deer will eat fron? the hand, and can hardly be kept outside the cottages of tbe gamekeepers. Immense numbers of little »aks have been driven ashore from tbeir watery home m the North Ses, ond seagulls may be B? en feeding alongside sparrows, crows, and starling about Edinburgh. Near Selkirk a strange oocqrrence took place on tbe Yarrow. A good many P'raans w«re skating and sliding on the frozen rim, the thermometer stand ing at 2deg. below zero, when a telegram was received string tbat the $IVKR WAS COHJIKG DOWN IN FLOOD. The pleasure-seekers received tbe intimation with incredulity, but the police made them come off the ice. In a few minutes the i«je began to craok <»n<l bear?, and then burst up, while clouds of steam rose from the river. At Harewood Glan the sight of tbe ice being piled up m massos is said to have been rerj striking. The flood seems to have been oaused by the ice \ damming up the water for a long way, |nntU tbe weight of the water swept, ererything before it.