Our Home Letter.

Otago Witness, Issue 1422, 22 February 1879, Page 19

Our Home Letter.

THE MONTH'S NEWS.

(from our own correspondent.) London, January 22 nd.

I write with the thermometer at a spring height, to the sounds on the roof of a warm rain, and on the ground of miniature avalanches from snow-covered roofs, and I have walked home through several inches of such churned up slosh as only two cities in the world can produce, and they are London and Dunedin. Yet we at Home, while you have been welcoming Christmas nnder warm skies, and in the pleasant shade of fruitful orchards, lingering in the long-drawn- oat twdighr, have been passing through a winter of unusual severity, such as they say has not been known for 10 years— a winter harsh and cutting, which the well-to do call seasonable, in that it brings them skating and curling, and all tbe other pleasures of a keen frost, but which among the poorer people bears another and a sadder name, and is called destitution, misery, starvation In the fir>t days of December the Frost King laid his iron hand upon the land, and [ for three long weeks and a day held ! undisputed ra'e. Ihe wind blew with icy keenness, and every morning the froßt lay thick and white upon the ground. The sun shone never through the thick mists, and still it froze and froze. Fust the scattered bonds, then the edges of sluggish streams, at last the running rivers themselves yielded, and thick ice covered the surface of every

water. Tiien came the snow, and it was a strange but beautiful sight to see the brooks and riveis undiatinguishable from the surrounding country under the mantle of white, save for their plane surface And still every night the frost was keener and keener, until people began to imagine themselves in Canada, and to talk of sledges and prancing horses and niorry bells over the surface of thefrozeu snow. In Aberdeen and one or two other towns of Scotland sledges were really used in numbers, for carriages and carts, tramways and omnibuses, were simply useless. Railway cuttings were hopelesslyblocked by the drifting snow, and in moro than one instance long passenger trains were altogether snowed up, and obliged to wait whare they were for 24 hours and more, with the unhappy travellers perishing from cold and hunger ; and on scan lines, when after immense exertions the trains had been extricated, traffic cf every kind was oomph tely paralysed. Nor was it much better in the large towns. In Lorjdon it was most painful to see the poor horses struggling fruitlessly to draw their loads over the frozen fct'reets, their feet slipping at every step on the treacherous, smooth surface; while the impenetrable gloom of continuous fogs, added to the difficulties of the metropolitan traffic, and trebled the dangers of the railways, so that a London stationmaater said to me, as I asked him a casual question about my train, " No one, Bir, who has not business of life or death, should risk bis life on the line this weather." The ekatera alone thoroughly enjoyed tbe frost, and to them, an indefatigable race in England, the winter of 1873-79 will be a red one. Since 1874 there has not been carrying ice, and then only for three days ; so that every man aud woman who could buy, borrow, or steal a pair of skates turned out to eDJoy the best of amusements In the parks of London, the Regent's, Hyde, and the Green and Sfc-, James', thousands of the lower classes disported themselves, playing rollicking games of hockey, and dancing extraordinary sets of qnfcdrilles. On the more distant and private ponds and waters, many thousands ot both sexes of the better classes spent every s pare hour on the ice, in many cases keeping up the sport till midnight by the benevolent aid of the electric light. Farther north the rivers were frozen over for miles of their length, and adventurous tcurists visited one another from distant towns and villages on tbe banks without re. moving tbeir skates once ; while every canal in the kingdom, needless to say, was almost a solid block of ice, and happy skaters flew about among the frozen up t»arges in careless disregard of the appalling lt-ss of traffic and money which their condition silently but forcibly represented. There was only one drawback to these halcyon days for the skater, and that was the snow, sharp showers of which fell from time to time and froze in the nights, marring sadly the smoothness of the ice surface. In most places, however, it was swept away at once, and the merry game of inside edge, and outside edge, figures of 8, and figures of 3 continued without interruption. Per haps the strangest skating was that seen at Aberdeen, where, toward** the end of the long frost, a sharp two hours of small rain fell, and was frozen at once ; so that next mornina walkers were at a discount, and office clerks, bakers' boys, and butchers' lads flashed through the streets on skatf s as Bwiftly aud easily a< on BDjOotb ice. Here, too, partridges, bares, and other Btrange visitants came into the very market- place seeking Ux food, which the snow covered and ice-bound country could not give them, and immense flocks of the shy and timid wild-dnck settled in the outskirts of the large towns, and were shot down in unprecedented numbers, along with many other atrango birds which a'e seldom seen in ordinary weather except in almost inaccessible or unvisited localities. On Ohrihtm^s Eve the Ihernvmetfr showed more than 30 degrees of frost, having never been above zero for three weeks, and it was intensely and bitterly c4d, wil.h a heavy fog in London, and on Christmas Day the ice on the ornamental waters of the Park waa covered with thousands and thousands of skaters of every degree, and presented a very striking and pretfcy ecene. It was the last transformation scene of the Christmas play of Jack Frost, for while all London was filling itself with the traditional gormandising of the day, the thaw 1 egan, and on Boxing Day the streets of the metropolis, under its influence and that of a mild rain, became covered with that fearful slush which I have faintly endeavoured to describe by comparing it to that of your own estimable city after a week's rain. The break up of tbe frost was general throughout the country, and on this, the first day of the new year, the tempera ture is almost like that of spring. An unusual spectacle in Jllngland was the breaking up of the icebound rivers. The melting snow and the rain ran every drop off the hard frozen surface of the ground, and in 24 hours there was a flood everywhere. I stood on the brinks of the Lancashire riwr on Boxing Day. and watched the great volumrs of water force up and burst th<j thick covering » f ie*, which they would carry along with < hem until, meeting some iwrow place or obsfcrne'ion, the yak would be heaped up three to four fet-t higb. The watea would gather behind th* v Da- - customed barrier, until the mighty forco of the flood bore it down, and then the overwhelming rush of the dammed- back s*re»m would spread fir and wide over the bantp, j leaving solid slabs of ice on the fi Ida, and heaping mountains of them against the übutuients of the bridges. Such a sight you may see often, in Canada, but very seldom in England. Simultaneous with, and to ft very large extent consequent upon, the long and a«vere frost, comes a wail of misery and a cry of distress fiom the w rking classes throughout the count!**', as piercing in its intensity to the beatt as the keen weather to the bndy. While £ood people have been saying one to the other, " This is seasonable weather ; thiß is a good ol^-faabioned Christmas," and skaters, undismayed by many fatal aoi-ideats on tbe ice. have thrown to oue ano'her, as they flashed by, the merry congratalah'on, *' There's no change yet," the poor have been selling furniture, clothing, nay, even bedding, in the fierce struggle for life; »nd whilo the world was enjoykg the Christmas diuner over a bright fire, many thousands and tens of thousands sat by their firelea* grates, in their bare, denuded rooms, M?ivh never a

morbei to tat, too proud to accept poor-law relief, hopelessly but bravely starving. This is no exaggerated picture of the widespread and appalling distress all over the country, which every day becomes more fearful in its development. The long-contiuued depression of trade, the breaking of banks, closing of mills, blowing-out of furnaces, strikes, failures, and lookouts, had brought about a condition of things among the poorer and working classes to which the terribly cold weather has proved a climax. Unable to obtain work, the funds of their unions exhausted by the long drain upon them, compelled to sell or pawn everything they possessed, sheer starvation stared the poor people in the face. The clergymen of parishes, and the many dispensers of private charity, happily (O numerous in England, as they went amongst the poor to distribute tho good things of the Christmas season, found everywhere such misery, destitution, and suffering that they were appalled. Heartrending accounts began to appear in tne papers, the matter was taken up in Parliament, relief committees were formed, and gradually the widespread and serious nature of the prevailing distress came to be known. From London, Manchester, Liverpool, Plymouth, Bristol, Leeds.j^Glas^ow, and many other large towns the cry for aid and succour is loud ; while from Sheffield, where thousands of skilled artisans are hopelessly idle, c mes the loudest wail of all. In the city of steel tbe diptress is simply awful, and even with the aid of liberal subscriptions, ladies' committees, and free dinners, and the powerful charity of such people as the Duke and Duchess of Morfolk, Earl Fitzwilliam, and Florence Nightingale, any substantial alleviation of the general cutfericg is almost impossible. But Sheffield is only the most miserable where all are mifaerable, and for many a long year there has not been called for such a general etlort to rtlieve the maeses. In such an emergency tbe naturally charitallo disposition of the majority of Englishmen comts nobly to the fore, and there are not wanting ready workers and handsome subscriptions to establish soup-kitcbens, supply coal and clothing, and carry comfort to many a starving household. Yet while all this U most praiseworthy, it is melancholy to Bee in hrw many towns every resource is called upon, melancholy to tHuk such strenuous efforts should have to be made to ward off sheer starvation, and still more melancholy to think that there is not a single ray of hope in the outlook for the New Year to justify anyone in spying that this widespread misery will last only for a shr rt time. Two more large banks— one in Scotland, one in the West; of England — have broken this nvnth, and spread ruin and deflation in hundreds of homes, besides adding to the fatal paralysis which had a ready seized com mercial confidence and activity ; and although the Home Secretary in his place in the douse rather threw distrust upon the accounts of ihe d stress, he has Binceii bis office recalled his op.nion, and begun to exert himaelf as much as lies in his power t<> counteract tbe general depression. In previous letters I have to a certain, extent; foreshadowed tbe txisting ata'e of things, but the most dtsponlent chronicler could h,*rlly have conceived a worse opening prospect for the new year now up> n u°. It is hoped, perhaps a little too confidently, that the spiring vt ill b>iog \iith it the long and anxiously expected revival ; but at s»U events it would be har J to paint too blackly the state of things now amougat the work ng classes.

And, sadly dart ening the shadow already over the land, com«s ihe death of the Princess Alice. The 14oh of December seems to be an ominous date for the family of the Queen. On that day, 17 yea s ago tbe gie»t and goo J Priuce Couaorfc oi d ; ou that day, 10 years later, the tfoverrijn and the Nation waited in hushed but; fevrith anxiety for the bulletins from Sandringham, for it was on the 14th D cember that the crisi- of the Prince of Wales' sickness was reached, and none could say whether it would end in life or death.. On that day. seven yeus later stil', passed away the Quen's daughter, whom we nowmnurn. There is something in^xpfessibly sad and melancholy in the s or; of her illn«es and death It is well reuiembsied that she was, of all who sat by his bedside, the best-ueloVfd nuise of her fdtnir, never wearjiug, never ceasing ber tender ministratiooß ; that it was the Pncces3 Alice who mofrt ofcen sat by the sick-bed of her brothwr, and who, next to Od, brought tbat precious life back to the people he will on« day rule And that tender love and care ahe had shown in their illne-s to her fatner and brother, she showed also to her husaani aud children when, the same fell di-ease a* t* -k-id them which proved fatal to herself Fiom tbe sick room tf the littlrf Princes and Princesses t'ao loving mo ber was never absent, tendiug them w.th the fonde&t care and devotion, and never losing hope and courage until the danger was piet, although one. of her b4"V'd children wa« lost to her. Then, bavins* saved her husband and little ones sheh«rsel, weiried in bidy by constant watching, and in mind by deep but restrained grief, fell a prey to i the same insidious malady. And it ij most aad and touching t> know that the fond kissts and embraces of her children killed tbe affeotionata inotiher. She had been warned and forbidden to touch them, bun as she safe by them in the Jong watchea of the nigK r eked with pwn as sac locked upon thdr suffering, ber mother's heart earned her over all restrictions, and again and again sbe would strain the little ones to her breast and cover them with kisses. Alas ! that those innocent embraces should have carried death with them. Even as she kissed the children, the of th" fatoi diphtheria entered her lips, aud her strength, worn out by wa' chine, c r u'd not overcome it, and after a short i'lnes- she died peacefully and painlessly, to the inex pressible grief of her family, tbe Qaeen, and the whole nation. Tl.e news became knows in London late onSaturdvy, December 14 h. and suddenly there was a hush and slo< m aud unaffected sorrow thr'ii.:hont all iho great city, aa the great bell ot St Phul's tolled forth tbe golem-* warning that one of the Royal Family of England wai deid. Men listened wondetingly, »nd asked themselves was it indeed true that on this fa' al day the gentle and good Princ.Bß bad followed her father in death. Bat the fl"g8 waving welly half mast high, the drawn blinda o£ Windsor

Oasble, th« reversed arms of the s ntris?, proclaimed a national sorrow, and left no* room for a doubt, and everyone went home conscious of a personal grief and loss, and * finding eveiyone in. the busy street silent like himself, save the boys hoarsely smoutrag the evening papers, whose black edges only too sadly confirmed the afternoon's telegram. The grief for the death of the Princeas was indeed universal, for her devotedoesß to her father, her brother, and her own children, her many virtues, her gentleness and gracioucness, had quite won the heart of the: nation, with whom, of all the Queen'a children, she was the favourite. Of the grief of the Sovereign it would not be right to spe?»k— all know how deep and. severe ifc must bi ; while that of her brothers and Bisters, her husband and children, wh® worshipped her, can be no less. In every church. almost, on the Sunday, reference was made to the melancholy event., and the mourning, trappings on the Ritualist c altars, and tha profound silence of the congregations as they knelt to pray fjr the Queen and Roys»l Family in their sor.ow, testified to tha general regret. Bey end the Channel, in the. quaint old capital of D irmstadt, the people over whom the deid Princess had so kindly and gently reigned, amoug whom she had worked a thousand work 9o£ chirity, whoaa hearts she had wholly won, were stunned and s f upefied by the heavy blow that had fallen upon them ; nor did they fully awake to the overpowering Eense of their great losa until the coffin was reverently borne throngVx tha streets, and all that remained of a daughter of England was laid in the mausoleum at Bosenhohe. Then, they gave way to tears, and many sobs and cries mingled with the tolling of the bells and tbe solemn ton^s of the Dead March, as the people crowded round the burial place and covered the coffin with, wreaths and crosses of fl >wers. The Prince of Wales, Prince Leopold, and Prince Christian the family at the funeral, and vere much afferted as the coffin "was plaoed in the niche assigned to it in the mausoleum ; while at Windsor the other members of the Royal Family gathered together at the solemn hour of the funeral*, dressed in the deepest mourning, and spent the time in prayer. Outside, the bells of all the churches tolling, and the sound of the minute- gunn from all the chief garrisons, told the people of the sad ceremony. AncE so Princess Alice was laid to her rest, amid the general sorrowing of the whole nation. Sine- her deatb, compass' onate messages to the Queen have come from every quarter, andthe addresses of condolence vtted by public* bodies have been nuinbexless. Those only of any importance were f r« m. the Houses: of Parliament, then sitting. In the Lords,, the Prime Minister moved the address with all that happy diction of which he is ao great a master, and in a voice often broken by emotion ; I/>rd Granville seconding it in » few equally well-cho'en words, and obtain* ing the hushed silence of the House while he read aloud a letter received by himself from*, the Prince of Wales on the day of his sister*? death. In the Commons Sir Stafford Northcote moved, and Lord Hartington seconded, the address, both speeches being full of tender feeling and sympathy with her Majesty. Indeed, all four speeches were so* apart from the ordinary style of Parliamentary utterances a* to read quite strangely in the report. Panegyrics upon the deceased P-incess without numher have appeared, but these are not needed, for her blameless lifa and many virtues had already won the hearts of her own ptople and of the fctrang°.ra over whom she ruled, and the general grief is thebest proof of the love that waa borne to hep, and which, we already know, you in the Oolonie9 hiv<» not been slow to testify.