The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-08
THE DELAWARE FROZEN OVER.
A Bridge of Ice. to Smiths Island
Thermometer Ten Degrees Below Zero
AN oLD-FAsHIoMED WRITER.
Thermometer.

Jaouary g A. M......... 10 degrees below zero.
" IL A. M...,,....,..
Alufied up in scaris and furs, like bear or
krisskingle the Oldest inhabitant came down to
The TELEGRAPH Office this morning, Just after
breakfast, to tell our reporter that this is the
coldest day we have had for thirty years. At s
o'clock this morning the thermometer stood ten
degrees below zero. Three months ago, or less,
we predicted in these local columns that the
weather was to be of unwonted severity and
to-day is a justification Of the prediction.
1t required an unprecedented amount of pre-
science to foretell snap like this for change
is written on everything and on nothing more
than the winter months In our latitude. Only
a Gay or two ago we were wading through
miniature waves of ''mud and slush," and yes
terday the thermometer was below zero at A.
NJ, which caused smiles of Joy to illuminate the
features of the lovers of skating.
On every hand skates were being prepared
yesterday, and the proprietors of a skating park
who the day before talked Of letting that place
of resort as bathing pond, we're selling season
tickets to skaters by the dozen. The proprie.
tors were busy preparing for their patrons
while the small ponds around the sub lrbs were
well crowded. On Saturday we chronicled the
lttSI tldt a DOy ndu DIOhS LuTOuSn ice dJ
one of the parks and was drowned. No boy in
town could do the same thing to-day.
Yes! the Winter King, like ancient Thor
clothed with all the insignia ofhis royalty, made
a triumphant entry into these regions last night
This is his first grand march in this direction.
He comes like Death, spreading pallor and gloom
upon whatever he touches. But, unlike 1.-THE
monarch of the grave the great obliterator of
humanity, whose harvests are perpetual and
endure with time the Winter King satisfies his
cold desires with perennial visits.
There was skating on the Schuylkll river yes-
terday, the ice being one and three-quartpr
inches in thickness. To-day it is upwards of
four inches, and the ice men are reaping their
harvest, with faces rubicund with glee. Not
many skaters were on the river this morning, the
air being rather too fresh. This afternoon they
will turn out IN strong force at all the parks in
town, and on the river too. This morning a
couple of daring adyentuIers went across the
Delaware to Smiths Island on skates They
report all quiet in that vicinity, and no symp-
toms Of thaw.
Take it all in all, this frgid snap is destined to
be historical. When we, the growing genera
ton, shall have become grandtathers, and shall
sit in the chimney corner of winter nights with
dirty old pipe in our jaws, we shall revert to
the Sth of January, 1866, as the coolest day we
ever felt, for the edifcation of the little ones.
We shall class this year with the celebrated ones
in meteorology, which may as we'll here be men.
toned.
In the year 4O1 the Black Sea was entirely
frozen over In 7G3 not only the Black Sea,
but the Straits of Dardanelles were frozen over,
ha ;,s.o
In 800 the great rivers of Europe, the Danube,
the Elbe, ETC., were frozen so hard as to bear
heavy wagons for month. In $50 the Adriatic
was frozen. In 99l everything was frozen, the
crops entirely failed, and famine and pestilence
closed the year. In l067 most of the travellers
in Germany were frozen to death on the roads.
In ll34 the Pc was frozen from Cremona to the
sea; the winesacks were burst, and the trees
split by the action of the frost, with immense
noise. In 1887 the Danube was frozen to the
bottom, and remained long in that state.
In 1908 the crops failed in Scotland, and
such famine ensued that the poor we're re-
duced to feed on grass, and many perished
miserably in the fields. In 1917 the crops
wholly failed in Germany; and wheat, which
some years before sold in England at 6s. the
quarter, rose to e.. In 1868, the wine distributed
to the soldiers was cut with hatchets. The sue
cessiye winters of I422-3-4 were uncommonly
severe In 1853 it was excessively cold; most of
the hollies were killed; and coaches drove across
the river Thames, the ice of which was eleven
inches thick. In 1909 occurred what was long
called "the cold winter" when the frost pene.
trated three yards into the earth. In ZIG,
booths were erected on the Thames. In l7l4,
the strongest ale in England, exposed to the air,
was covered in less than fifteen minutes with ice
an eighth of an inch thick. Ia 1909, and again
in 1872, the winters we're remarkably cold. In
1914, there was d fair on the frozen Thames
We can beat 1744 and the ale. This morning
our editorial ink-pot was frozen over so hard
that it might have been rented out for skating
park, if it had been a little larger. Somebody
fooIshly stuck it on a stove to thaw some ideas
out of it, when it exploded, scattering its con.
tents far and wide. On this account the present
article is necessarily short of its contemplated
length. As a matter of pertinent interest, we