A Winter Amid the Ice, and Other Thrilling Stories

me more extended. From private houses the epidemic spread into th

ed, now appeared; not only the animal kingdom, but the vegeta

llpox, nor a man with the cattle-plague, nor do sheep suffer from the potato-rot. But here all the laws of nature seemed to be overturned. Not only were the character, temperament, and ideas of the townsfolk changed, but the d

r little green heads, and gained, in the same length of time, as much in inches as formerly, under the most favourable circumstances, they had gained in fractions. Asparagus attained the height of several feet; the artichokes swelled to

erry, and four to consume a pear. The grapes also attained the enormous proportions o

o persons to e

ms, daisies, camelias, rhododendrons, invaded the garden walks, and stifled each other. And the tulips,--those dear liliaceous plants so dear to the Flemish heart, what emotion they must have caused to their zealou

his floral phenomenon, and renam

on assuming colossal proportions, if the brilliancy of their colours and perfume intoxicated the smell and the sight

which, after several days of splendou

ss phlegmatic than their masters. The dogs and cats vegetated rather than lived. They never betrayed a wag of pleasure nor a snarl of wrath. Their tails moved no more than if they had been made of bronze. Such a

nces. A horse was seen, for the first time, to take his bit in his teeth and rush through the streets of Quiquendone; an ox was observed to precipitate itself, with lowered horns, upon one of his herd; an ass was

egulations concerning the domestic animals, as, seized wit

ourge. Babies soon became quite insupportable, though till now so easy to bring up; and for t

es in the classes. The scholars would not submit to be shut in, and, besides, the infection took t

er sufficed. Each stomach was transformed into a gulf, and it became necessary to fill this gulf by the most energetic means. The consumption of the town was trebled. Instead of two repasts they had six.

and increased from day to day. Drunken people staggered in

burns, inflammations, and nervous affections, which proved to wh

r stay at home. It was necessary to establish a new police force to control the disturbers of the public peace. A prison-cage was

before. Yes, the son of Rupp, the schoolmaster, wedded the daughter of Augustine de

mained in doubt and discussion for years. The burgomaster perceived t

Passauf on the subject of a union, which seemed to her to

es, a duel with pistols--horse-pistols--at seventy-five paces, with

gentle angler, and young Simon Co

r whom Simon discovered himself to be fired with passion, and