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GREAT SNOW STORMS AND INTENSE COLD.

In 1717, two great snow storms took place, on the 20th and 24th of February, which covered the ground so deep with snow, that people for some days could not pass from one house to another. Old Indians said, their fathers had never told them of such a snow. It was from ten to twenty feet deep, and generally covered the lower stories, so that people dug paths from one house to another, under the snow. Soon after, a slight rain fell, and the frost crusted it over, so that the people went out of their chamber windows, and walked over it. Many of the farmers lost their sheep, and most of the sheep and swine which were saved, lived from one to two weeks without food.

Great damage was done to the orchards, by the snow freez ing to the branches, and splitting them from the trees by its great weight.

This fall of snow formed a remarkable era in New England, and old people in relating an event would say, that it happened so many years before, or after, the great snow.

About the first of January, 1780, a period of steady cold commenced; during forty days, even on the south and sunny side of the buildings in warm situations, there was no indication of a thaw. The light and dry snow drifted and eddied with the incessant motion of the wind; paths opened, were immediately filled up, and communication was entirely interrupted. Narragansett Bay remained frozen over for six weeks, and the ice extended from the shore as far as the eye could see.

The inhabitants of Newport experienced the greatest distress for fuel; wood could not be had, and they were obliged to resort to wharf logs, old buildings, fences, and every other expedient to keep themselves from freezing. Wood was sold at the enormous price of $20 per cord. Provisions were equally Corn was sold at four silver dollars per bushel, and potatoes at two dollars per bushel; and other articles in like proportion.

scarce.

In 1756, a look-out house was built on the top of the stone mill, which then belonged to John Banister, Esq. Benedict Arnold's daughter married Edward Pelham, who inherited his

estate. Mr. Pelham left two daughters, one of whom married John Banister, and the other John Cowley, to whom his estate descended, consisting of Banister's Wharf, and the one known as Stephens' Wharf, which extended from Pelham-street to what is now called Bellevue-street.

The Banister family once filled a large place in Newport. The farm of the late George Irish, Esq., was the country seat of the Banisters. They lived in a style of affluence, and the choice viands which graced their table, would satisfy an epicurean palate. But one of the name is now left in Newport, of this once distinguished family. We have in our view at this very moment, Mrs. Banister, one of the older branches of the family, who resembled a lady dowager in the dignity of her appearance, and the courteousness of her manners.

THE STONE MILL.

"Fancy spreads her wing

Around thy time-scathed brow, and deeply tints

Her fairy scroll, while hoar antiquity

In silence frowns upon the aimless flight.

And whatsoever bears

The stamp of hoary time, and hath not been

The minister of evil, claims from us

Some tribute of respect."

In dimensions this mill is nearly twenty-five feet in height, its diameter on the outside is twenty-three feet, and inside is eighteen feet nine inches. It is circular, and supported upon eight arches, resting on thick columns, about ten feet high; the height of the centre of the arches from the ground is twelve feet six inches, and the foundation extends to the depth of four or five feet.

There has been much speculation, in relation to this struc ture, within the last twenty years; strangers, visiting Newport, have attempted to make it out as being erected by the labor of Northmen, whom they supposed to have discovered this continent, anterior to Columbus in the twelfth century.

These Northmen were the descendants of the Scandinavians, who, it is thought, sprang from the Thracians, mentioned by Homer, a nation now extinct. The Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and Icelanders, all come under the name of Northmen, or Norsemen. Their literature has been compared, in extent, to the literary remains of Greece and Latium. This opens a new fountain of research, where the scholar may often

"Return and linger, linger and return."

In a work recently published in Denmark, the author has attempted to show that the old Stone Mill was built by Northmen. The Rev. Mr. Kipp, of Albany, tells me he saw at the residence of the Duke of Tuscany, a Swedish Count, who spoke of this building as the work of Northmen. He was perfectly familiar with the discoveries of those whom he proudly called "his people."

"The active mind of man instinctively surveys the dark regions of the past, and would gladly break the unfathomable silence of the nations of the dead, and raise the veil where their beauty and glory have slept for ages. The strong desire to learn something of those who lived when time was young, leads the antiquarian to often adopt groundless theories."— Antiquities of America, by A. Davis.

We have made this extract, for the purpose of preparing the mind of the reader, to draw his own inferences from the views entertained by antiquarians, with those which are held by the people of Newport, especially those of David Melville, Esq., who has devoted much time and attention to the investigation of the subject.

The most ridiculous views have been entertained of the nature and object of this structure, and also of the period when it was erected. These visionary ideas are of recent origin, and are not founded in fact, but the mere workings of a fanciful imagination which aims to surround the structure with a kind of romance, in order to gratify a morbid appetite which delights in the marvellous. We shall offer extracts from the will of Governor Benedict Arnold, and of Edward Pelham, who married his daughter, and then present the arguments which have been ably employed by one of our most respectable citizens, David Melville, Esq:

"My body I desire and appoint to be buried at ye northeast corner of a parcel of ground containing three rods square, being of, and lying in, my land, in or near the line or path from my dwelling house, leading to my stone-built wind-mill, in ye town of Newport abovementioned."—A True Copy from the Records of the Town Clerk's Office in the Town of Newport, Page 348. No. 5 Probate Records.

What language could possibly have been employed, more significant, to convey to the mind the object for which this structure was reared, "my stone-built wind-mill, in the town of New. port." He does not say, "my so-called mill," as though he was ignorant of the origin or the design of the structure, but speaks in the most explicit manner, no doubt being entertained in his mind, of the nature and design of the building. We have asked the opinion of legal men, in what light they understood the language of Governor Arnold, and they have at once admitted that it was to be understood in its most literal signification, as a mill built by Governor Arnold, for a useful purpose, viz. to grind corn for the early settlers.

Extract from Edward Pelham's will, dated May 21, 1741. Bequest to his daughter Hermæoine, the wife of John Banister, after others previously made:

"Also one other piece or parcel of land situated, lying and being in Newport aforesaid, containing eight acres or thereabouts, with an old stone wind-mill thereon standing, and being and commonly called and known by the name of the mill field, or upper field."

The butts and bounds shew this to be part of the lot mentioned in Benedict Arnold's will, on which he says "standeth my dwelling, or mansion-house," &c., "as also my stone-built wind-mill."

This property remained in the Banister family until the American Revolution. Here we have additional testimony of the nature and object of this structure, which has called forth such frequent discussions in the public prints. It is here clearly im plied, if language can be understood, that it was built for a wind-mill, and this has been the opinion of the inhabitants of Newport, who have given the least attention to the subject.

Mr. Pelham does not attempt to make out in his will, that it was anything else than what had been before so lucidly and

clearly described by Governor Benedict Arnold, but says, "an old stone wind-mill thereon standing." No instrument ever written could have been plainer or more to the point; and it shows a very great weakness in the human mind, to attempt to prove that it was built anterior to the discovery of this Continent by Columbus.

Those who settled the Island of Aquedneck, were not ignorant men, they had a knowledge of architecture, acquired in Europe, and the abundance of stone at their hand, induced them to erect the wind-mill, of this material, as being more permanent and lasting. There is nothing very remarkable in its construction. It is built of rough stone, placed without order, though in a communication made to the Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen; by Dr. Webb, he has made a statement so entirely incorrect as to deceive the Society into the idea that it could not have been erected by the early settlers of the island. He represents it as "built of stone, and laid in regular courses," which is not the fact, and had a tendency to mislead the mind of those to whom the statement was sent.

To our mind, the construction of this mill for an important and useful purpose, viz., to prepare food for the inhabitants, is a rational conclusion to arrive at, and one infinitely preferable to the vague notion embraced by many minds living at a dis tance, that it was erected as a fortress to defend a race who occupied the Island in the twelfth century. The former is the only sensible view which can be taken of the subject, while the latter is replete with the most egregious folly.

Nicholas Easton, who built the first house in Newport, makes no mention of the mill, which, if it had then been standing, would no doubt have been made matter of record by him or others of the early settlers.

A gentleman procured a quantity of the cement.or mortar, from the wall of the old stone house in Spring-street, which was built by Henry Bull, one of the first purchasers of the Island, and immediately after the first settlement of the town, in 1638, and specimens from several other ancient buildings and stone chimneys, and some from the tombs of Governor Arnold and his wife, and from the stone mill, and analyzed and com. pared them, and found them of the same quality, and composed of shell lime, sand, and gravel; and considered it very strong

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