The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-18 00:00:00

Cke totttiritige (9be6tt.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1879.

WINTER.

MN complaints respecting the absence of
old-fasllien.,d winters, which had been so
numerous of late years, have certainly had
no foundation since the fading away of the
autumn of 18.78, Frost and snow, hat: and
fog, bitter winds and driving sleet, have
rrevailed, with intervals of comparative geni-
ally, for several weeks; and it would be too
soon even now to congratulate ourselves on
the entire disappearance of the exceptionally
cold season. Rail gays have been blocked
with snow-drifts of great depth, necessitat-
ing I'. - eof ploughs to clear he lines ;
place in e.,nsequenee
o 2 tie "htd chilling mists ; high roads
public thoroughfares of all kinds have
en rendered impassable; the navigation of
ti ial rivers has been strangled by vast
messes of ice floating up and down the sur-
face of the streams with every tide; the
little traffic remaining possible has been
dangerous • building and other out-door
work has been suspended; agricultural opera-
tions have been checked; water-pipes have
burst and kitchen boilers exploded; thou-
sands have been driven to the workhouse
and homes denuded of every comfort abound
in town and country. This list by niemeans
exhausts the catalogue of discomforts.
Honest, but unfortunate people, who, finding
themselves frozen out, with no work to do,
have been compelled to accept charitable aid
or eat the bread of pauperism; relief com-
mittees have sprung into existence through
the prevalence of such dire distress as had
not been known in this country for a genera-
tion; horses and cattle have suffered severely
through negligence and cruelty; sheep and'
birds have been killed by exposure and cold;
bands of famished mendicants have prowled
in the suburbs of great cities; importunate
beggars have worried householders already
face to face with an exhansted benevolence;
trade has gone from bad to worse, famine
and disease have stalked through the land;
e,at is everywhere perceptible; and gener-
osity has been taxed to the utmost. The life
of many an aged person has been extin-
guished by the low temperature, and the in-
tense cold has induced many an illness which
would otherwise have had no existence.
These are miseries peculiar to that old-
fashioned winter from whicle,so many have
been sighing for the last ten years; but it is
very clear that so far as the bulk of mankind
is concerned, such a season of inclemency is
ni,t likely to increase the sum total of its
ppiness.
What is there to set off as a counterbalance
again st these manifold disadvantages? It
is, ex: _:,-,a2se, pleasant enough for those who
11., ye ar.-1,-,le means and are fond of skating,
, fine, lakes and ponds covered with ice,
to be able to enjoy to the fullest extent
agreeable diversion and exhilerating
exercise. The strong, the healthy, and the
yobust welcome a hard winter because of the
additional food which is necessary to be
taken, and of the bracing effect which it has
upon a vigorous frame. The farmer, too, is
gratified to think that when the spring
comes, it is likely to be more genial than if
we had had a mild and muggy winter, with
the east winds to come in the wrong time;
that the frost has slain a vast number of
slugs; and that the young trees and shrubs
will not be exposed to the danger of being
devoured by that inordinate developement
of insect life which follows a warm winter.
He likes everything in proper season, and
this time his wishes are gratified. Christ-
mas was literally attended by genuine
Christmas weather, and the feathery snow
hung in gossamer threads from the trees
during the time of the consumption of roast
beef and plum pudding. Still there can oe
little doubt that exceptionally severe weather
is productive of more injury than advantage
to the great majority of the body politic.
Even if there was any truth in the assertion
that winter was colder in days gone by,
which there is not, it would be most unprac-
tical for us to sigh for a return of what are
Lalled "the good old times," and the mani-
fold ways of wretchedness inseparable from
them. We know what the Scripture tells
about the man who puts his hand to the
plough; he must not look back; he must be
consistent and press forward, with diligence
raitii. Darin; the long period of his
tory between the days of Lot's wife and the
writings of St. Paul, there are many lessans
which tell us of the impolicy and danger of
retrogade movements, wishes, or aspirations.
S, Paul himself compares life's journey to
,t ee when he says, "I have finished my
thereby signifying that onward p -
;7 the guide for man's existene, in
; s to the geneeal charact
_•lere may be som- thing in the
htby.ti.o I,ltrlt'on i m the old style
to /the, new, and. the celebration of ChriKmas
t' Lys I.!ier than was formerly the
e e, the end of December has not been on
al' average as cola as the opening of January.
this difference of less than a fortnight
lets not been great, and the temperature has
alternated for centurieswith fair regularity.
Probably every decade has had its old-
-fashioned winter; but it is impossible that
the variations in the Gulf Stream can have
any permanent effect upon the weather at
Christmas time. The impression that winter
is not now as severe as in former times is a
popular but an unfonnded one. It is pro-
bably more general amongst the residents
in towns, the population in which has largely
increased n,t the expense of the rural districts.
It is a very different thing living in the pro-
tection. afforded by the presence of streets,
terraces, and squares, and living on the un-
protected hill-side, or in the bleak moorland.
Large numbers have thus left the open
country for the shelter of the town, not for
the sake of the shelter only, but because it
affords more opportunities for getting on in
the world. Thus has come to pass the ex-
istence of an idea respecting the scarcity of
old...fashioned winters, the fact being that
winter is just what it has always been in the
temperate zone. When it comes, as it has
4:114 season, with bitter severity, the only
liing• for us to do is to make the best of the
discomforts which it brings, and to antici-
pate with more than ordinary pleasure the
approach of the genial days of Spring.

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