Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-10-05
AHnra winter.

In moving the books and paper
of the County Court Clerks Office
some old files of a Nashville paper
printed in 1881 turned up, which
were very obligingly submitted tc
our perusal by the Deputy Clerk,
Mr.. c. II. Bailey. The paper IL
entitled the "Nationai Banner
and the number now before us Is
dated December Goth, and records
one of the severest winters ever ex-
perienced i'm Tennessee. Now that
the whole South is so eagerly inter
ested in the frost question, we need
make no apology for reprinting the
whole article. Oh, for one half
hour of such a freeze at this day to
get his death grip on the throat OF
Yellow Jack and throttle the mon
ster:
THE SEASON.
The present will, probably, long
be remembered as the cold winter,
or, ut any rate, "a the cold Decem-
ber. Our Oldest people tell us that
the Cumberland river has never
been completely frozen at this place
but twice before, viz: in 1886 and
1896. 1t is not TO be inferred, how
ever, from this fact, that the weather
has not been sufficiently cold during
any other winter TO freeze ordinary
rivers. The truth is, il requires
more intensely severe and longer
continued frost to CONCEAL the waters
OF the Cumberland than to produce
the same effect upon the Hudson or
the Delaware. This is owing to the
very high and almost perpendicu-
lar banks, and to the rapid current
of our noble river. And TO these
two permanent causes may be adj
ded the generally high state of the
water at this season. At present,
the river is not swollen beyond its
ordinary summer level, and it is
now completely bridged over with
solid ice, so that the heaviest loaded
wagons cross it i'm safety.
Since about the first instant, the
mercury in Farenheit's thermOme-
ter has ranged, at sunrise, between
several degrees below zero and ten
above, and with very little increase
of temperature during the day. On
the morning of the 9th inst. Il began
to snow, and since the morning Of
the 7th the snow has remained about
ten inches deep without any appa-
rent diminutiOn. Even the roofs OF
the houses, with southern expos
ure, continue covered as at first.
Scarcely wind enough To rustic n
leaf has been perceptible during all
this period. This Circumstance and
a clear sky will account for the
very bearable and rather bracing
character Of Greenland atmos-
phere.
Many temporary sleighs have
been suddenly got up, and our
worthy citizens have tried 90 amuse
i'm Yankee style. But
their rude vehicles are such pitiful
Of the comfortable and
establishments of the north
erners, that they can attain at best
but a sorry notion, from this exper-
iment, Of the delightful mode of
land-sailing which renders a north
ern winter the most Joyous and
social portion of the whole year.
This morning (Friday, Dec. 16th)
the mercury stood at fourteen de-
grees below zero, on College Hill, at
sunrise in the open air What will
the BOstOnians say to this? Oh,
for NJ. Chaubert's red-hOt oven
Sherry wine i'm decanters, in a closed
was nearly n solid mass
of ice, in a well built brick house.
How alcohol Jared, had no oppor-
tunity of ascertaining. Though ac-
to "a northern climate,
having lived some thirty years
within fifty miles of New York,
have never experienced such cold as
this-nOr have | ever known a cold
spell to last so long without some
abatement.
/ find on referring to my memo
randa that on the 25th Of January,
1921, in the city of New York, at
o'clock A. NJ, the thermometer was
fourteen degrees below zero, and
this was pronounced in the city pa
pers of the day the seVeTest weather
there for upwards of
thirty years. At my own residence
i'm the country the thermometer
was at the same time five degrees
below zero, which is the lowest ever
by myself until this morn
ing. While writing this, / am
seated close to a huge fire, with
gloves, mOccasOns and grettt coat
On, and / can with difficulty keep
my ink i'm "A liquid state long enough
10 record the passing features ofthe
/ have now before me the last
of Brewster's Edinburgh
Journal of Science, which contains
an abstract of the meteorological
made 10 the regents of
he University of New York from
"a academies I'm different parts of
he State for the year 1880, from
which il appears that at Albany
he lowest point to which the mer-
curry fell during the last year was
Twelve degrees below zero and at
Erasmus Hall, near the city of New
York, to only four above zero. The
whole abstract would be worth re-
here, If had leisure and
warm fingers to copy il, or II space
'ould be spared for IL i'm the columns
If newspaper, at such busy, pO-
itical, fighting, bank-making and
crisis as the present.
q. II. G..
Friday Morning, Dec. lG.