1856.] Changes in the Climate of Mwrope. 53 



into the river, a distance of twenty feet. A terrific shout rang in the 

 air, as he floundered in the water, and again, on his return to the wharf, 

 a joyful greeting with his friends. He soon said : 



* I'll take that X spot, if you please ; you no doubt took us for green- 

 horns, stranger, but we can show Yarmounters that we know a thing or 

 two, down here in York.' 



' Wall, I reckon you won't take no X spots jest yet, captin I ' replied 

 the stranger. 



* Why,' said green jacket, ' you've lost the bet, havn't you ? ' 



* Not edzactly I I did'nt calculate on doing it the first time, but I 

 tell you, neow, I kin deu it slick ! ' and in spite of green jacket's exer- 

 tions to escape, the fellow seized him as before, and pitched him into 

 the river some four or five yards further than at the first time. 



This fling, he found hard work to gain the wharf; he was much 

 fatigued and exhausted. The Yermonter roared out : 



' The third time never fails ; ' and stripping ofi" his coat, said : * I 

 kin deu it, and will deu it, if I try till to-morrow morning ! ' 



' Hold on,' said green jacket ; ' I'll give it up ; you may take the 

 money.' 



The Yermonter pocketed the bills, and on parting with the company, 

 said: 



' We aint much 'quainted up our way with Yorkers, but once in a 

 while we take the starch out of 'em purty slick, and when we come douwn 

 this 'ere way, I reckon tant best to try to balance accounts, without 

 knowing what you have got to pay it with. Good by, Yorkers ! good 

 bye.' " 



<■♦•♦» 



CHANGES IN THE CLIMATE OF EUROPE 



Those who have read the ancients with attention, conclude that the 

 degrees of cold are much less severe than they were formerly. The 

 rivers in Gaul, narael3% the Loire and the Khone, were regularly frozen 

 over, every j^ear, so that frequently whole armies, with their carriages 

 and baggage, could march over them. Even the Tiber froze at Kome ; 

 and Juvenal says positively, that it was requisite to break the ice in 

 winter, in order to come at the water of the river. Many passages in 

 Horace, suppose the streets of Rome to be full of ice and snow. Ovid 

 asserts that the Black Sea was frozen annually, and appeals for the truth of 



