The full force of the winter has been felt throughout Canada during past two weeks. Even on the Pale Const where' the tomb seldom falls much below freezing excep! for a few days at a time, there has been a sharp frost, and skating fon the ponds and matier lakes, has bbeon indulged in freely. The custom ary occidents resulting from the much daring have occurred, and there were one or {wo drownings where skaters who had broken through the {co could not be reached in time.
In the prairie provinces this winter has been ae biter as any of the oldest Inhabltants remember, For six weeks sub-zero temperatures were almost continuous, In Winnipeg the mean temperature for the month of January was 13 degrees below zero, and the residents have given up all effort to dress. according to the dictates. of fashion. Warm caps, heavy sweaters and wool-lined mitts are in general use, and frostbites have beea eneral as to lose any reason for com-mont, In the Niagara River and Niagara Falls district the results of the severe and Long-continued cold have been Somewhat disastrous. For days ata the mighty roar of the Falls has een stilled, and the ce formations have been of suMicient interest draw photographers from all over the province, and from nearby centres in the United States, In the gorge boto\ the Falls the treacherous rapids hav been spanned by an fee bridge; this said to be the first time that this hi happened since the severe winter of 1860, A number of daring souls have ventured across this bridge, despite the warnings of the authorities; Indian Tegends have it that the rapids were frequently bridged by leo in carller days. Further down the rivel locks both at Queenston and Lewiston suffered from the movement of the great ice cakes; the extent of the damage will not be known until the waters recede in the spring, but It expected that much repair work will have tobe done.
Further east in the Maritimes, trains have been blocked by the drifting snows, and highways have been impossible to maintain for automobile frame for weeks. When one secs the full force of a winter blizzard, with snow, cold and high winds, he cannot help but wonder whether all the struggle that is made to keep roads open is worthwhile,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.