Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-09-07
HISTORICAL.
The Dark Day In New England i'm
I7sO.
BY ID. It. TAYLOR.

| S@-N AOeu VI I11osJ1 4tOO3 viz AAAAAeA~4
tants of New England and the adjacent
parts were the trembling witnesses of 9
phenomenon never seen before nor since
and which to this day remains unexplained.
The year was celebrated for its numerous
auroral exhibitions in this latitude. They
covered the midnight heavens with corrus-
cations Of red and silver, and streamed out
like lightning, seeming, says one writer,
fairly to fash warmth in the
face: The winter preceding was
marked by extraordinary sever
lty. Snow lay on the ground from the
middle of November to the middle of April.
In december and January a storm contin-
ued for seven successive days, and the snow
fell to depth of four feet on level in this
single storm, and with drifts eight and ten
feet high. Sheep were buried in the drifts
for many days, and even men and animals
perished With the cold. Long Island Sound
was crossed by heavy artillery on the ice.
Narragansett Bay froze over so hard that
men trayersed the ice from Providence to
Newport in skating parties, and from Fall
River to Newport loads of wood were con-
veyed on the ice through Bristol Ferry.
Previous TO the 10Th vapor filed the air
for several days. There was a smell of
sulphur. The morning of the 10Th was
overcast with some clouds, and rain fell
o7er the country, with lightning and thun-
der. Scarcely any motion was in the air,
what wind there was come from the south
west. By o'clock in the forenoon, with
out previous warning, the darkness stole
gradually on, with luminous appearance
near the horizon, as if the obscuring cloud
had dropped down from overhead. There
was a yellowness of the atmosphere that
made clear silver assume grass green hue.
Then dense, undefnaLle vapor settled rap
idly and without aerial movement over all
the land and ocean from Pennsylvania to the
Gulf of st. Lawrence, the darkness it caused
sinking by degrees until the sunlight was eff
fectually shut out. Ordinary cloud it was
not. The rapidity with which so large an
extent of country was enveloped precludes
the possibility of supposing this to have
been a natural cloud msving laterally.
Besides this, the day was too calm to i'm
agine such a thing. Down came the dark
ness thicker and thicker. By ten o'clock
the air was loaded with thick gloom.
The heavens were tinged with a yellowish
or faint red; the lurid look increased; few,
if any, ordinary clouds were visible. The
oIADS III disappearing EOOh Oh . "a occJ bOOs
The lurid, brassy color spread everywhere,
above and below. The grass assumed the
color of the sky, and all out doors wore
sickly, weird and melancholy aspect-a
dusty appearance as if seen through a
smoked glass. By eleven O'Clock it was as
night itself, and from this time until three
in the afternoon the darkness was extraor
binary and frightful.
The extent of the darkness was greater
than is related of any other similar phenom-
enon ON record, not excepting the celebrated
dark days over Egpyt and Judea. 1t reach
ed south to the northern half of Pennsyl-
vania, and from thence along the coast
northeast to the wilds of Maine, eastward
to the Gulf of st. Lawrence, and out at sea
120 miles southeast of Boston, and un-
doubtedly much farther; west to the val
leys Of Lake Champlain and the Hudson
river, and north into underlined regions in
Canada. Portland, Boston, Hartford, New
York, West Point and Albany were affect
ed by it. But the degrees of darkness diff
fered in different places, the deepest night
settling over New England. A tract of
land and sea 800 miles In length and 400
miles in breadth, embracing an area of
100000 square miles. was known to be
covered by the cloud, and so far as it can
be ascertained, a population of 100000 souls
sat for portion of the day and night in a
gloom more or less profound ard inexpli-
cable.
Just how dark the day was is attested by
indispatable evidence. Fhe hour and min
ute could not be discovered on the face of
a clock or watch by persons of unimpaired
eyesight. Candles became an absolute
necessity both out doors and in, as it was
impossible to transact ordinary business
without them. Fires on the hearthstone
shone as brightly as on a mOonless No
vember evening, and all dinner-tables were
set with lighted candles upon them as if it
were the evening repaSt. The keenest eyes
in doors could not see to read the common
print. So far beyond any ordinary fog was
the effect that stages on the road either put
up at the nearest hotel during the midday
hours, or carried candles or lanterns tC en-
able the perplexed driver to see his way.
And the brute and feathered creation
seemed puzzled and agitated. The birds
ceased to fly, and hid themselves in the
branches of the trees. As the darkness in
creased they sang their evening songs as
they do at twilight, and then became silent.
Pigeons on the wing took the shelter of the
forest as they do at night. The whip-poor-
will, as if it were truly night, cheerfuny
sang his song through the gloomy hours.
Woodcocks, which are night birds, whistled
as they only do in the night time. Bats
came out of their hiding places and flew
about. The fowls marched solemnly to
their roosts as they do only at nightfall,
and, after csckling for a while over the
of Shnrf dow hooarDa otin
Cocks croWed as is their custom at nightly
intervals and the early breaking of day.
Frogs piped their evening concert, and
dogs Whined or howled and ran away as on
the approach of an earthquake. The herds
of cattle on New England's thousand hills,
sought the shelter of the shed or barnyard,
lowing as they came to the gate, and sheep
huddled around the circle with their heads
inward-the invariable token of apprehend-
ed danger.
On Ine human fumily the effect was still
more .curious and terrifying. The me-
chanic left his tools in the shop, the farmer
his plow in the furrow, and each moved in
silent and marVeling mood toward the barn
or dwelling. On the threshold they were
met BY pale and anxious women. who
tremblingly inquired, "What is coming p"
The alarmed traveller, seeking the sympa-
| thy of his fellowman as one impressed with
a sense of impending peril, put up at the
| nearest house, and mingled his anxious
questionings and forebodings with those of
| the family. Strong men met and spoke
with surprise on their countenances, and
little children peered timidly into the
deepening gloom, and then sought the shell
| tering parental arms. Schools broke up in
alright, and the wondering pupils scamper-
| ed homeward with many expressions Of
childish fear. The inevitable candle shone
out of the windows of all dwellings-eyery
countenance gathered blackRess-an hearts
we're filled with fear of an approaching, un-
paralleled storm, or the occurrence of a ter
restrial conVulsion; but it was not the
biackness of the stOrm-cloud, such as some
times, with frightful agitation, breaks over
single city; it was the silent spreading of
the pail cloth over the earth by strong, in
visible hands. Many anecdotes of terror
are related. In Boston, from the hours of
IL or till 3 O'Clock, business was generally
suspended and shops closed. At Groton, a
court was in session in a meeting house
full OF large windows, as was the old style
of worship; but at halfpast eleven all faces
began to wear a sombre hue, whereupon
magistrate and people followed suit with
all New England, and all called for lighted
candles. Connecticut went totally under