2'28 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



still falling at 7 p.m. Now, at 10.30, it has changed to torrents of 

 rain and a fierce wind. 



March 9th. Never was such weather known. This morning I 

 went to the Advent Church through snow and ice. The return, 

 being up-hill, took forty minutes, fifteen being a very easy average. 



I was engaged to take luncheon with Mr. R ; you can have 



no idea of what I underwent in keeping my appointment. After 

 luncheon the weather put in another improvement i.e., torrents 

 of rain, hail mixed with the rain, and a north-westerly gale, cutting 

 your face with the hail as if fired at with a charge of No. 5 shot. 



All the R family begged me not to venture the walk home, 



but to stay for the night. Here was felt the want of the cab. 

 However, I declined the invitation, and started off. How long the 

 journey took I cannot say. . . . Several times I was brought to 

 a standstill. It was impossible to go into the road, because it was 

 one mass of tram cars, each with four horses, and now and then pre- 

 ceded by a snow-plough. The " side-walks " had their curved sur- 

 faces covered with a substratum of ice, on which was a superstratum 

 of mixed hail and snow, the whole being the most hopelessly slippery 

 surface that I ever knew. Even had it been level ground it would 

 have been bad enough. But just imagine what it was. Sliding 

 down the slope would fling you among the tram-cars, and not even 

 the " arctics " could find a hold on a surface of semi-ice upon a sub- 

 surface of complete ice. No mortal could hold an umbrella, and 

 even the regulation sealskin cap would have been blown away had it 

 not been fastened under the chin. Add to this the fierce wind, hail- 

 laden, spinning you round at its own sweet will, and slashing the 

 hailstones into your face and eyes, just as if you were being whipped 

 with small twigs. Several times I was really frightened, not being 

 able to afford a broken limb, and sincerely regretted that I had not 



accepted the invitation to stay at Mr. R 's. When at last I 



entered Quincy House I could realise Blondin's feelings after cross- 

 ing Niagara. If any one had offered me 20 to make the journey 

 again I should have laughed the offer to scorn. 



Comment upon these extracts is needless. The 

 only wonder is that the attendance at the lectures 

 should always have been so uniformly satisfactory. 



