OUB ICE-SUPPLY AND ITS DANGERS. 671 



the ice, these picturesque struggles, which recalled in little the fre- 

 quent encounters between the retainers of rival houses in feudal times, 

 have passed away, and the scene of personal encounters is mostly 

 transferred to bar-rooms. But the modern representative (God save 

 the mark !) of feudal times now and again stirs up discord in the 

 form of strikes and their retroactive accompaniments among the ice- 

 harvesters. 



The days when the most approved manner of storing ice was to dig 

 a hole in the ground, fill it with ice, pack straw around it, and cover it 

 tightly, leaving some primitive mode of access, have long since passed, 

 and some of the larger storage-houses are not only moderately taste- 

 ful in their construction and ornamentation, but are fairly imposing in 

 size. The better houses, mostly of wood, have efficient drainage at 

 the bottom. The walls are hollow, containing an air-chamber, and 

 within this a chamber filled with some non-conducting material, such 

 as sawdust or hay, while above is a loft with abundant ventilation. 

 The lai'ger houses are divided into a number of rooms, so that when 

 they are opened for the removal of the ice the whole mass need not 

 be exposed to the warm air which enters. 



The cakes of ice, wbich in this region are cut of a uniform size of 

 about twenty-two by thirty-two inches, are usually laid flat, a solid 

 stratum at the bottom. Above this they are placed on top of one an- 

 other with two or thi'ee inches of space between their edges, the joints 

 being broken every few tiers, as in masonry, by allowing the cakes to 

 lap over the joints below. The object of the space between the edges 

 of the cakes is to prevent their freezing together, for if this occurred 

 their removal would entail a good deal of additional labor in breaking 

 them apart, and a large loss of ice which would be chipped off in the 

 operation. When the houses are about full, a solid layer of cakes is 

 laid on top, so that the air may not circulate between them, and the 

 whole is covered by hay. A varying number of smaller buildings are 

 usually clustered about the storage-houses, such as engine-house, tool- 

 house, shop, barn, and often the boarding-house for the men. 



But let us leave these dry details and get out of doors, lest Winter 

 should steal a march on us, and we should lose those first delicate crys- 

 tal spicula9 shooting out from shore and rock with which he commonly 

 begins his work alike on lake and stream and pool. Who docs not 

 know those fragile ice-fringes, losing themselves in the open water, 

 which the first frosty nights in autumn leave behind often only to fade 

 away in the next day's sun? But when at length, after these early, 

 playful exhibitions of his gathering power. Winter really bends him- 

 self to his work, the crystals grow longer and thicker, their sides join, 

 and finally the completed film formed along the surface shuts in the 

 water, and his dominion is complete. Kow his tactics change. The 

 caprices which he has displayed as the long crystals stole out in ever- 

 varying directions from the shore are subdued, and the stern work of 



