Connecticut western news., 1878-10-23
THE DARK DAY,
MAY 19TH, 17SO, IN NEW ENGLAND EGYPTIAN DARKNESS so DENSE THAT HIS EYES.

HIS EYES.
 The notable Dark Day in New Eng land was May 18th, 1780. A writer in St. Nicholas says that for several days before the nineteenth, the air was full of vapors, as we often see it when fires are raging in the woods near us, and the sun and moon appeared red, and their usual clear light did not reach us, espe- cially when rising and setting. The winds blew chiefly from the southwest and northeast, and the weather was cool and clear. The morning of the nine- teenth was cloudy and in many places slight showers fell, sometimes accom- panied by thunder and lightning but as the sun arose it did not increase the light, and the darkness deepened and deepened, until the children standing before the tall clocks could not see to tell the time, and older people peering over the almanac were not able to dis tinguish the letters. The birds sang their evening songs and flew to their nests in the woods, the poultry hurried to their roosts, while the cattle in the fields uttered strange cries and leaped the stone fences to gain their stalls, and the sheep all huddled together bleating piteously.
 | Nor were men and women and children less afraid and the mysterious changes in nature that then took place have never been fully explained.
 Color, which you know depends upon the light of the sun, filled many with astonishment by it's unusual appearance, for the clouds were in some places of a light red, yellow and brown the leaves on the trees and the grass in the mead ows were of the deepest green, verging on indigo, the brightest silver seemed tarnished, and everything that is white in the sunlight bore a deep yellow hue.
 The shadows, which before noon fell to the westward and after noon to the eastward, were observed during the dark ness to fall in every direction.
 The rain, also, was unlike any other rain, and it set all the people to wonder ing as they dipped it from tubs and bar rels for scum formed on it resembling burnt leaves, emitting sooty smell, and this same substance was seen on streams and rivers, especially the Mer- rimac, where it lay four or five inches thick, for many miles along it's shore.
 Another peculiarity was the vapor /; in many localities it descended to the earth from high in the atmosphere; but at one point gentleman saw the vapors, at pine o'clock, rising from the springs and low lands :; one column he particu- larly noticed rapidly ascending far above the highest hills, then it spread into a large white cloud and sailed off to the westward; a second cloud formed in the same way from the springs, but did not rise as high as the first, and third formed fifteen minutes afterward. At 8 quarter of ten the uppermost cloud was of reddish hue, the second was green indigo and blue, and the third was almost white.
 So unwholesome was this vapor that small birds were suffocated in it, and many of them were so frightened and stupe6ed that they flew into the houses, adding to the fears of ignorant people, who considered it bad sign for bird to enter dwelling.
 The commencement of the darkness was between ten and eleven in the fore noon (when the men were busy In the fields and offices and workshops, the women spinning, weaving, and prepar- ing dinner, and the children at school or helping their fathers and mothers at home), and it continued until the middle of the following night; but the degree of darkness varied in some places the disk of the sun was seen when the dark ness was the most dense.
 Lights were seen burning in all the houses, and the people passing out-of doors carried torches and lanterns, which were curiously reflected on the overhang- ing clouds.
 Thousands of people were sure that the end of the world had come, many dropped their work and fell on their knees to pray, others confessed to their fellows the wrongs they had done, and endeavored to make restitution.
 The meeting houses were crowded, and neighborhood prayer meetings were formed, and the ministers and old church members prayed long prayers, mention ing the nations and individuals of Bible times who had been destroyed on ac- count of their sins, and begging that as God spared the great city of Nineveh when it repented, so he would forgive them, cheer them again by the light of the sun, and give victory to their armies.
 Many regarded the darkness as an omen of some disaster that was about to befall the country, nor could they have had more fitting emblem of Arnold's treachery, which was disclosed only four months later.
 Some persons supposed that blazing star had passed between the sun and the earth, and many even believed that a huge mountain had sprung up, they were not quite decided where, and ob- structed the light of the sun.
 It is said that the Connecticut legisla- ture being in session, the members became terrified when they could not see each others faces, and motion was made to adjourn, when MT. Davenport arose and said
 "Mr. Speaker, it is either the day of l ,4- ;o o% &1or io no need of adjourning If it is, desire