The Daily Dispatch: January 17, 1861., [Electronic resource]

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The Winter in France

--In France the weather appears to have been not less severe, and its effects seem to have been more disastrous. It was accompanied also by heavy snow, which lay to the depth of not less than sixteen inches, in the western part of France, and in Paris to the depth of two feet. A piercing wind blew, which interfered seriously with the work of the laborers employed to clean the streets; for they do not allow snow to remain on the ground in the French cities. The day after this great fall of snow in Paris, the Perfect of the Seine adopted the most vigorous measures to prevent the passage through the streets from being interrupted. For that purpose several hundred street-sweepers with carts were collected in the Place Vendome, whence they were detached to the various quarters of Paris. The snow was then carefully removed from the flag ways and collected in heaps, so that it might melt gradually into the shores and prevent an inundation. The high roads in the neighborhood of Paris were so thickly covered with snow that the market carts which supply Paris with provisions — milk, vegetables, fish, and poultry — were delayed several hours beyond their usual time. The proprietors of the booths erected on the boulevards for the sale of new year's gifts had not been able to open them in consequence of the snow. The snow storm and the severity of the cold had broken down the telegraph wires in nearly every part of France. A thaw, happily, set in a day or two after the snow fell, and at the last accounts the weather was moderate.