The Cold Snap | Page 5

aught save the placid reaction that commonly results from a devotional
act. But now the meaning so long latent became eloquent. The morning
and evening ceremony became the sole resource in an imminent and
fearful emergency. There was a familiar strangeness about the act under
these circumstances which touched us all. With me, as with most,
something of the feeling implied in the adage, "Familiarity breeds
contempt," had impaired my faith in the practical efficacy of prayer.
How could extraordinary results be expected from so common an
instrumentality, and especially from so ordinary and every-day a thing
as family prayer? Our faith in the present instance was also not a little
lessened by the peculiar nature of the visitation. In any ordinary
emergency God might help us, but we had a sort of dim apprehension
that even He could not do anything in such weather. So far as
humbleness was concerned, there was no lack of that. There are some
inflictions which, although terrible, are capable of stirring in haughty
human hearts a rebellious indignation. But to cold succumb soul and

mind. It has always seemed to me that cold would have broken down
Milton's Satan. I felt as if I could grovel to be vouchsafed a moment's
immunity from the gripe of the savage frost.
Owing to the sustaining power there is in habit, the participation in
family devotions proved strengthening to us all. In emergencies, we get
back from our habits the mental and moral vigor that first went to their
formation, and has since remained on interest.
It is not the weakest who succumb first to cold, as was strikingly
proved in our experience. The prostration of the faculties may be long
postponed by the power of the will. All assaults on human nature,
whether of cold, exhaustion, terror, or any other kind, respect the
dignity of the mind, and await its capitulation before finally storming
the stronghold of life. I am as strong in physique as men average, but I
gave out before my mother. The voices of mother and Bill, as they took
counsel for our salvation, fell on my ears like an idle sound. This was
the crisis of the night.
The next thing I knew, Bill was urging us to eat some beefsteak and
bread. The former, I afterward learned, he had got out of the pantry and
cooked over the furnace fire. It was about five o'clock, and we had
eaten nothing for nearly twelve hours. The general exhaustion of our
powers had prevented a natural appetite from making itself felt, but
mother had suggested that we should try food, and it saved us. It was
still fearfully cold, but the danger was gone as soon as we felt the
reviving effect of the food. An ounce of food is worth a pound of
blankets. Trying to warm the body from the outside is working at a
tremendous disadvantage. It was a strange picnic as, perched on chairs
and tables in the dimly lighted room, we munched our morsels, or
warmed the frozen bread over the register. After this, some of us got a
little sleep.
I shall never forget my sensations when, at last, I looked out at the
eastern window and saw the rising sun. The effect was indeed
peculiarly splendid, for the air was full of particles of ice, and the sun
had the effect of shining through a mist of diamond dust. Bill had dosed
us with whiskey, and perhaps it had got into our heads, for I shouted,

and my wife cried. It was, at the end of the weary night, like the first
sight of our country's flag when returning from a foreign world.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cold Snap, by Edward
Bellamy
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COLD
SNAP ***
***** This file should be named 22715-8.txt or 22715-8.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/1/22715/
Produced by David Widger
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be
renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set
forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying
and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge
for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not
charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any