A Cold Wave From Down East

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The Editor has received the following letter from Frank Willey, who is now sojourning in Patten, Maine, and it is worth printing so that we can appreciate the blessings of Puget Sound climate:

 

"I have now been here ten days but have not seen anything of the town except the high places, for the rest is under the snow.. People who live in two story houses can go in their attic windows without going down much of an incline, but those living in low houses go down a shoot, they tunnel in and use a trap door, just like the old-fashioned cellar-door. Those doors are marked by a brush stuck in the snow on either side and a shovel in front with the occupant's name marked thereon, If you wish to call, you first shovel the snow from the door and raise the trap up. Lowering yourself down to the first level you find a tallow candle stuck on a shelf made of snow. You light the candle, close the trap door and lower yourself down to the next level, and before you have fairly re-covered breath from the descent you will be ushered into a very cozy little home and set down before a blazing hardwood fire. "About the first thing they will tell you after it has been ascertained, that you are from "Washington territory," is that the winters are not near as bad as they used to be, and that they didn't have snow enough to make good sledding, and was told that it broke up before the 20th of April it would be very bad for the loggers. "I am having a very pleasant time and all my old friends can't seem to do enough to make my visit pleasant. I shall always have a warm spot in my heart for the people of this country, and at the same time there will be a cold chill playing around the spinal column when I think of the cold bleak spot in which they live. I shall re- turn home feeling more convinced than ever that Washington is THE PLACE. Yours for Washington, F. C. Wille