_Harry._--When I came home, my father told me it was what the common
people called a _Jack-o'-the-lantern_; and Mr Barlow has since informed
me that these things are only vapours, which rise out of the earth in
moist and fenny places, although they have that bright appearance; and
therefore told me that many people, like me, who have taken them for a
lighted candle, have followed them, as I did, into bogs and ditches.
Just as Harry had finished his story, they arrived at Mr Barlow's; and
after sitting some time, and talking over the accidents of the day, the
little boys retired to bed. Mr Barlow was sitting alone and reading in
his parlour, when, to his great surprise, Tommy came running into the
room, half undressed, and bawling out, "Sir, sir, I have found it out!
they move! they move!" "What moves?" said Mr Barlow. "Why, Charles' Wain
moves," answered Tommy; "I had a mind to take one peep at the sky before
I went to bed, and I see that all the seven stars have moved from their
places a great way higher up the sky." "Well," said Mr Barlow, "you are
indeed right. You have done a vast deal to-day, and to-morrow we will
talk over these things again."
When the morrow came, Tommy put Mr Barlow in mind of the story he had
promised him about the people buried in the snow. Mr Barlow looked him
out the book, but first said, "It is necessary to give you some
explanation. The country where this accident happened is a country full
of rocks and mountains, so excessively high that the snow never melts
upon their tops." "Never?" said Tommy; "not even in the summer?" "Not
even in the summer. The valleys between these mountains are inhabited by
a brave and industrious people; the sides of them, too, are cultivated,
but the tops of the highest mountains are so extremely cold that the ice
and snow never melt, but go on continually increasing. During a great
part of the winter the weather is extremely cold, and the inhabitants
confine themselves within their houses, which they have the art to
render very comfortable. Almost all the roads are then impassable, and
snow and ice afford the only prospect. But when the year begins to grow
warmer, the snow is frequently thawed upon the sides of the mountains,
and undermined by the torrents of water, which pour down with
irresistible fury. Hence it frequently happens that such prodigious
masses of snow fall down as are sufficient to bury beasts and houses,
and even villages themselves, beneath them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account