EIGHT HUNDRED MEN STARVING IN THE SNOW.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 134, 18 March 1873, Page 2

EIGHT HUNDRED MEN STARVING IN THE SNOW.

A spi:civl despitch from the town of St Baulu, Minnesota to the Chicago Tribune, dated' Not. 21, says :—" Gloomy news may bo anticipated from Minnesota. As the traeklajerg on the- extension of the Winona and St Peter's ltailroad were approaching the Western State line, at the rate of two miles dnHy, a- terrible storm enveloped them, and cut them oft" from communication with eiuhsation. The floAmg force nnmbemV otcv 800 men ; and. so sanguine were their expectation! that the favourable weather would outlast November that no preparations wore made to avoid the calamity such as it is feared has befallen them. Only a limited supply of provisions were kept in »tore, for, although 100 mile* distant from the telegraph construction trains, they main- W t nincd' regular communication with Sleepy E)e, the nearest white sottlemont. When intelligence of the storm retched Winona, T II 1 Stewart, the general superintendent started out with two locomotives and a train of cars, buj so heaTj and deep were the snowdrifts,. and so intense the cold, that they encountered, great difficulty m reaching New Ulm. At that place tno* additional locomotives were attached to the tram, and then, taking on board rations for eighty dyand 150 man, b»9ido3 materials- with which to fit up bcffrding accommodation in the cars, the train was again started. A. passage way had to be forced through drifts eight to ten feet deep, and even where the snow was onlj a foot deep, to hard was it and packed that recourse was had to shoveli before any advance could be made Meantime the storm raged with unloncc-unpreccdenfed, and when last heard from the relief tram was fctuck fast in the ever-accumulating snow, « forty miles wast of Sleepy Eje, and eighty miles short of the suffering trackmen. The telegraph wires were down west of St Peter, and the latent reports from Winona in the afternoon state that the storm had moreascd to a furiousgale. For six days the storm continue i with unabated fury, and a. painful impression is crenred that the men at the end of the track will stane beibre relief can reach them. No supplies are known to be accessible, tor the line is being constructed in ad^ ance of tho Government surveys far into the country, inhabited by a fbw adventurous squatters and sickly Indians." *

Sii\KiN« ILvsusi— The mere offer of the hand is the readiest sign of vohmtaiy aourtesy or forgiveness, anil its non-compliance the most civil yet meaning of repulses. Shaking hands is a mode of gieetmg, the oiigm of •which is lost in olscunty. Individuals display character in their mode of so doing "Who cannot tell at once the antagonism between the touch of a piude and the giasp of a friend? Who knows not the sailoi's grip of candid heartiness from, the conventional " giving of hands ? " How perfectly does the giaduated oc linyeiing pressure cause the merctiry ln^| love's barometer to n&e or fall by the scale of hope ! AVhafc^ sympathies and antipathies are demonstrated by the various degrees of kindly, inesolute, vivacious, careless, fond, or earnest manner of shaking hands ! It is this relation between teiu&eiaujeut, fteling, consideration, and the instinctive action of the hand, which has given rise to .those theories which profess to icad the pi edominant impulse of character in the tiaits of one's handwriting. Dr UopLins ot IvY« port called one day on a youug man in his parish who had been some time out of health, nnd after improving the occasion by borne serious and condoling reflections, observed to him : "Well, my joung friend, it is (| now a long time since you wero able to come to meeting w ith us j I think I must bring jou one of my sermons and read if to you." "Ah!" replied the reprobate, "I wish you would, Doctor, for I haven't had a wink cf sleep for seieral m days ! " According to the JPrintets' Register there are this day published 112 daily newspapers, distributed as follows :—London, 14 j Provinces, Ct; Scotland, 11 ; Ireland', 20; Wales, 2 , Channel Islands, 1.