HOME WARD-BOUND. 249 



England all went well with us, though where- 

 ever we passed we witnessed traces of the 

 stormy weather which had been visiting 

 Europe this month. 



Between Odessa and the Austrian frontier 

 all the forests through which the railroad 

 passed presented a pitiable spectacle. For 

 three days a heavy rain had fallen, and a bitter 

 frost had congealed the drops as they fell. 

 Hence every tree and every telegraph wire 

 had collected round itself a massive coating of 

 ice, of which the weight was intolerable. 



On the fourth day a perfect hurricane had 

 swept over the land. The wires, which had 

 not already succumbed to the pressure of their 

 icy load, now fell, dragging the posts with 

 them m their fall; and as for the forests, I can 

 only compare them to fields of ripe wheat 

 which a wild rainstorm has beaten to the 

 ground. It was not so much that the great 

 trees were snapped or uprooted, but their 



