A SIBERIAN WINTER.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 102, 12 October 1858, Page 4

A SIBERIAN WINTER.

The traveller in Siberia, during the winter,' is so enveloped in furs that he can scarcely move; and under the thick fur hood, which is fastened to the bear-skin collar, and covers the whole face, one can only draw in, as it were by stealth, a little external air, which is so keen that it causes a very peculiar and painfulfeeling to the throat and lungs." The distance from one halting place to another takes about ten hours, during which time the traveller must always continue on horseback, as the cumbrous dress makes it unsupportable to wade through snow. The poor horses suffer at least as much as their riders, for, besides the general effect of the cold, they are tormented by ice forming in their nostrils and stopping .their breathing. When they intimate this by a distressed snort and a convulsive shaking of the head, the drivers relieve them by taking out the ice, to save them from suffocation. When the icy ground is not covered by snow, their hoofs often burst from the effect of the cold. The caravan is t always surrounded by a thick cloud of vapor; it is not only living bodies which produce this effect, but even the snow smokes. These evaporations are instantly changed into millions of needles of ice, which fill the air, and cause a constant slight noise resembling the sound of torn satin or thick silk. Even the reindeer seeks the forest to protect himself from the intensity of the cold. In the tundras, where there is no shelter to be found, the whole herd crowd together as close as possible to obtain a little warmth from each other, and may be seen standing in this way quite motionless. Only the dark bird of winter, the raven, still cleaves the icy air with slow and heavy wing, leaving behind him a long line of thin vapor, marking the track of his solitary flight. The influence *of the cold extends even to inanimate nature. The thickest trunks of trees are rent asunder with "a loud sound, which, iri| these deserts, falls on the ear like a signal shot at sea; large masses of rock are torn from their ancient sites; the ground in the tundras and in the rocky valleys cracks, forming wide yawning fissures from which the waters, which were beneath the surface rise, giving off a cloud, of vapor, and become immediately changed into ice. ; The effect of this degree of cold extends r even beyond the earth! The beauty of the'deep polar star, so often and so justly- praised, disappears in the dense atmosphere which too intensity of cold producesr. The stars still glisten in the firmament, but their brilliancy is dimmed.— Travels in ikeNorth. ' \ ,

The Present Condition of Frftn&.—THe time is not far distant when,'the.play being over, the actors, stripped of their gilt fripperies, and no longer'painted, "will appear to all what they really are,, and France also will appear what she really is. The increasing terror by which Louis Napoleon is preyed upon, while spreading it every where, and his frantic efforts to prevent Fiance from moving, speaking; whispering, breathing, are decisive proofs that he feels the , ground quiver, that he sees it yawn. And who could, indeed, imagine that the genius of France is vanished, that her pulse had ceased to beat, that her lofty aspirations; are for ever, or even momentarily stifled. No. She is forced into silence, but her silence is thoughtful Beneath the icy surface the stream flows uninterrupted.' The lamp has > been for a while put under abushej, but it continues burning inextingushable.~2/owis Blanc.

A Shooting Anecdote.Shootmg some few years since with some friends, a captain formerly belonging to the 4th Dragoon Guards was of the'party. r We lost sight of him for some !time/VWtienhs joined, he was asked what'-'he .hadi.beejji^doing; he replied, "In crossingl-the-brook I-trod on a pebble, lost my equilittm^nd.fell.'* One, ,of his .servants, hearing of .His .lop,' went' back. • Being questioned on- his return' as to the cause of his' absence' his answer was,' *', I hearft the Captain say he hadjost his equilibrium! and went ; back -for it. I searched a longtime, but was unable to find it."

A female orator, named Banke, who appeared at' all the Hunger meetings* in New York, in reply to a query made by some of the papers as to who she was, replied :—• In the parlor, lam a lady; in business, a man; and when insulted, a warrior. No one knows who I am, or where I come from; neither shall they ever kriow.'

A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another man than this; that, when the injury began on his' part,' the kindness should begin oh ours/

Principle and Feeling.-—lt' wu:'cßM > V , problem in mechanics, to find a pendulum , which should be equally long in all weather*. —wnich should make the same number of * vibrations in the summer's heat and in th© - winter's cold. They have now found it out. .. By a process of compensations, they make the rod lengthen one way. as much as it coii- r "tracts another, so that the centre' of motion* ~. is always the same—the pendulum swing! - - the same number of beatß in a day of Ja- - -" nuary as in a day of June ;',and' the. index • ■ travels over the dial-plate with the same . uniformity, whether the heat try to lengthen, or the cold shorten, the regulating ■ power. ~ * Now, the moving power in some:men> , T minds is sadly susceptible of surrounding influences.- It is not principle, but feeling, . which forms their pendulum-rod; and ap~ * cording as this very variable material is affected, their index creeps or gallops, they " are swift or slow in the work given them to . do. But principle is like the compensation- " rod, which neither lengthens in the:langu^d, ' heat, nor shortens in the brisker cold;1 butdoes the same, workday,by day, whether ice-winds whistle, or the1 simoom glows.-*- "' Dr. Hamilton. - '.- ' , Advice generally consists, even when the ;- giver is sincere, in recommending somebody - \ else to himself. One,man tells 'another ; what he would do if heVere 3fc other's place, instead of telling Kirn what, would be, J < best for him, differently constituted;, to .do. ■ in his own.' Advice is very commonly weite •;' dication—the expression of a desire' to cbnA trol other people's inclinations and- regulate. "•- their conduct. In reviewing'-our put ca- ■■ i reer, we, in almost every instance,: regret* "7i having taken the advice we took, and rejoice.: ' for not having taken that which we o Medical advice is of dubious value* and advice gratis is not worth, generally speaking,.' what it is offered for. Little dependence ' can be placed on any advice except that of . a respectable solicitor. Jeioish Genius for Music. — Who composed • "II Barbiere?" Rossini—a Jew I WBo is there that admires not the heart-stirring, music of the "Huguenots" and the "Pro*-" , phete?" The composer is Meyerbeer-^a, - Jew ! Who has not been spell-bound by \\ "Die Jadin?" by Halevy, a Jew! Who,, has not been enchanted with the beautiful > fictions of lyric poetry, and charmed with the graceful melodies, so to speak, of one of \ Israel's sweetest,singers, Heine, a Jew?' Who has not listened with breathless ecstacy "> to the music of the" Midsummer Night's Dream," "Paul," and ."Ste- . phen ?" Do you - ask who created those , wondrous harmonies? Felix Mendelssohn ' . Bartholdy ? who also was a Jew l—Bentley's Miscellany. Good and Bad Deeds. — The story of the boy who drove a nail in the wall every time he committed an evil deed, and drew out one when he performed a good one, is constantly illustrated in life. The good deeds may be more numerous, than the bad ones, and the good that men do may far outweigh, in temporal importance, the evil of their lives; yet so contaminating is the nature of crime, that its marks remain, like - ' black-holes in the wall after the nails have-«^ been drawn, to maculate ' the reputation which else had been spotless. It was the fate of Machiavelli, by the authorship of a single work, to fix a stigma . on his reputation which has outlived all .the great achievements of a life of usefulness. So one misdeed casts a shade over an hundred acts of virtue. -, The Bulletin of the Acclimation Society lat Paris has an account of the quillay (Quillaga Saponaria), a tree which grows in the Cordilleras of South America, and of \ which the bark constitutes an important article of trade in Chili.. ..Silks washed in water in which' this bark has been macerated, preserve their colour a long time unaltered; but the principal use made of it is as a , wash for the head once or twice a week. To this the women of Chili and of adjaceiit ' countries are indebted for the beauty and; luxuriance of their hair; and it is said .that ' , not a few of the men make use of it &lio;> It has, besides, a'medicinal property, and' is administered as a febrifuge.. . Study of Litiiraiurel—tXhe study of rature-nourishes youth, entertains old age, adorns prosperity,1 solaces adversity, is delightful at home, unobstructive abroad^' • deserts us not by, day .nor by night, in journeying nor in retirement* . The' truly valiant dare everything except," v doing an injury to a fellov^ma'n. \ Of all our infirmities, Vanity is the dearest, '- to us; a man will starve his other vices to keep that alive.' r , ,>■''•* . Incredulous.—, -".l'm not very incredible,* '. said Mrs. Partington, looking up from the-. , paper and glanoing over her specs at Ikaji who sat making'a windmill out* of'the frame' of his slate, " and believe as much, as .any,' rationable person,ought'to. I have believed .all the story of a man'^ climbing a/pole and pulling it up after Him, and of the actor that ■ held himself out at arm's length, but it, is beyond )ny belief that a cargo of sugar • could change hands." • She passed the, ' paper from her right hand to her left, as though it were a hogshead of sugar,and then . resumed her readirig.with- a. profound'idea , that the editor in making the statement was deluding her. '' Base] J««n«d/t<wt i .7- : "'Sambo,l, "ipose ''; derei« six chickens in a coop,, and Ac man ■ sells three, how many is dere left? 1' " What' time: 6b day was it?" -,•• Wlat f hab dat got to do wid it ? M "A dobcf deal.. If it was after dark, dare would be none : left, - dat is, if you happened to come along that way.'* " Look heah, nigga, stop dem! ' personaliiiesi" , . .?i I ; . * Jones,' said a sympathising neighbor to a bachelor friend about to marry, -♦ What in ' the world put matrimony into ,your head ?* •Well, the fact is, I'm getting short of ishirUT lltl" • f '• We have' no sympa^y for a, railway, speculator. None for an ill-tempered inanr \ with the tooth-ache. None for an. alderman : with the gout. None for a dandy splashed ■ by *a mud. cart. . ' i.