Connecticut western news., 1878-03-21
MODERN STORMS.
Heavy Falls of Snow i'm the 17th and Sth
 Centuries.

 Heavy Falls of Snow i'm the 17th and Sth
 Centuries.
 Early in the seventeenth century there was succession of severe winters which culminated ia the years 1906 and 1907. It is recorded in 1906 that the snows of that winter were greater than had ever before been remembered, while in the following year there is an entry in an old record, under date March :-"A prodiglous snow fell. This winter last past has been such an extreme one for frost as no man living doth remember, or can speak of the like. The next year was one of tempests, and that again was followed by @ season of heavy rains, so that year after year passed by with no satisfactory harvest, and the dearth of corn was great"
 In the quaint diary of Philip Wyot, Town Clerk of Barnstable, England, from 1858 onward, there are some refer ences to the winters of 1GO7 and 16O9 The hard frost in the former year began fortnight before Christmas.
 l65S A SEVERE WINTER.
 The winter of 1858 was very severe, and the Baltic was again frozen, the ice being so thick that Charles K, of Swe- den, was able to march his whole army over the Little Belt. In 1874 snow fell in England for eleven days. But this was far surpassed by the winter of 1683-4, which appears to have been the severest ever recorded in this country. This was one of the occasions when the Themes was frozen over and fair held thereon. The river was frozen from De- cember to February. Trees were split in the forests by theviolence of the cold, 7, nearly all the birds perished and the heavy snows made the roads in some parts of the country absolutely impassa- ble. In cu1.ous contemporary MS. record, w-:tten by one of the fellows of the Royal Society, we find :-
 "The winter of this year proved very seveare. Fast winde, Frost and Snow continued moneths, so vt ships were starved in ye mouth of ye channel and almost all ye Cattle famisht. ,Ye fish left ye coast almost moneths all pro- visions excessive deare. Ye Thames was frozen up some moneths, so vt become a small city, with booths, coffee houses, glass-houses, printing, bull batting, shops of all sorts, and wlole streets made on it. Ye birds of ye aire died nu- merously." The next winter is noted alse as being " terribly cold"
 HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE.
 The winter of 17O8-9 was notable for it's three months continuous frost and snow. Ten years later snow storm on the border lands of Sweden and Norway caused terrible disaster The Swed- ish army were marching on Drontheim. They were overtaken on the mountains by snow storm so severe that 1000 of them perished and the expedition had to be abandoned. In the south and west of England snow fell for several days in succession early in January, and, as one of the sufferers remarks, there "a very hard frost for long tyme, besides snow very often, and all tn ngs very deare, so that a halfepenny rowle weighed just Q crown piece, and two turneps sold for a penny, and coals sold for 4Os. quarter, and all theis things, notwithstanding soc deare, was very bad in kinde." Nearly half century passed before there was any snowfall in England at all approach ing this, but in February, 1762, it showed for eighteen days without ceasing.
 The eighteenth century closed as it had begun with succession of "hard winters" Looking through the records of these times we can well understand the oft quoted remark of the |" oldest in- habitant, /" that since we were boys the seasons have changed. The winter of 1784 was one of the most severe of the series. Snow fell, and from that date until the 2d of April, 1785 -177 days there were only twelve days on which it did not either freeze or snow, or both. REMARKABLE STORMS.
 In the winters of 1778, 1794 and 1798 nearly all the principal rivers of Europe were frozen-the Thames, the Seine, the Rhone, the Elbe and the Rhine among the number. The winter of 1889 was distinguished by the extent and violence of it's snow storms, which ragged all over Europe and caused great loss of life. So many travellers perished in the gnow- drifts near Limburg, in Galicia, that thirty seven were found dead there in three days. A very remarkable story is told of the great snow storm of February, 1799, which was felt ln this country with considerable severity in the midland and eastern counties. A woman named Woodcock is said to have survived being buried in the snow eight days. MT. Whistlecroft, in his work on the "Cli- mate of England, states :-
 "This poor creature having been fa- tigued, seated herself near the side of the road (near Cambridge), on February 2, about sunset, and from cold and oth- erwise, became unconscious of the snow, which drifted around her until she was covered, but lived till the autumn after she was discovered. This story is told in detail in the Leisure Hour for April, 1861, by clergyman whose mother knew Elizabeth Woodcock well, and was familiar with the incidents narrated by her.-iSheaa7adouh Herald.