The Hartford herald., 1879-01-22

the fate of our magnolias and rhodC
dendrons, and kalmias and laurels
which seemed To be growing upon on
lawns when the cold came upon them
remains to be seen. Doubtless som
of them must perish, but it is to b
hoped that many may be spared t
lend their evergreen beauty to tn
homes they so much adorn.
In 1892 Gilbert Inlay published il
LOndCn an account of what he haC
seen in previous years in Kentucky
Of the climate of our State he hat
the following kind words to say:
"When you arrive in Kentucky yOu
experience n greater temperature oi
air than in any country which / have
ever traveled-Fahrenheit's thermom.
eter seldom falling below 35 degrees
in winter nor rising above so in sum-
mer. The approach of the season is
gradual. The summer continues most
ly to the middle of October. The au-
tumn, or mild weather generally con-
tinues until Christmas, when We have
some cold and frost until February,
when spring approaches, and by the
beginning of March several trees and
shrubs begin to 81 oot forth their buds :;
by the middle of the month the buck
eye or horse-chestnut is clad in its
summer livery, and by the middle of
April the foliage of the forests is COM
pletely expanded"
MIR. Implay must have been in
Kentucky during exceptionally mild
weather, and could not have talked
with the pioneers much on the subject
of the winters that had been expert
enced here.
The winter 1779-just one hundred
| > c"iS dSo HAS COiilt uOWn 10 us I'D
both tradition and history as one of
great severity. 1t was not marked by
the thermometer, but our ancestors
have given us facts about it as reliable
as thermometers. From the middle
of November to the middle of Febru-
ary--a period Of three long and cheer
less mouths the ground was covered
with snow and ice, over which pierre
ing winds from colder regions swept
with fearful effect. The Ohio was fro
zen and Travelled over as a highway.
No rain fell, and the creeks and ponds
and small rivers seemed to be con-
gealed to the bottom. Water for
drinking and washing and cooking
was procured by the melting of snow
and Ice. During the chilling nights
the pioneers in their rude cabins were
disturbed by the deer and buffalo and
other wild animals seeking shelter
f'om the cutting winds. The bir,is of
the air and beasts of the forests per-
iShed without number with the cold,
and from being unable to get their
food from beneath the snow and ice.
II was this winter that froze Cbesa-
peake bay and Long Island sound, and |
made ice in the Delaware river three
feet in thickness.
The winter of 1871 was also very
severe. The rain which fell was fro
zen upon the trees and shrubs and COW
cred them all over with ice. The for
ests looked like trees of glass glitteril.g g
in the sun, and We're thing of beauty
that would have been much more
pleasing to poet than to the pioneer.
The winters of 1888, 1874, 1885,
1888, 1871. 1896 and 1899 were all
very cold. At Christmas in l7SS the
OHIO river was frozen over, and con-
iinued closed until the middle of
March. No boat moved up or down
OH its solid waters during this long pc
riod. In 1871 large number of sol
diers assembled at Cincinnati with or
ders to proceed TO St. CIair's battle
ground 10 help bury the dead. The
horrors of the savage war, which had
swept away $50 men and 16 officers
under General St. Clair, were not
more terrible than the winds of this
winter. The horses which were to
transport the troops were procured
from Kentucky, and crossed the Ohio
on the ice. From Cincinnati the sol
diers proceeded to the Wabash and
st. Mary through snow two feet deep
on the ground. On the 10th of De-
cember, 1876, the river was again fro
zen over, and before Christmas the
snow was again two feet deep. In
1899 the Ohio was again closed with
ice, and the last century, with its re-
morseless cold, it was hoped. had
crossed over on the ice and gone into
the cherries past. But this hope was
vain. There was cold tor the fnture,
as there had been for the past not as
intense, perhaps, and not us hard to
bear in the better houses that are
dwelt in by Us, successors of the pio-
neers, but nevertheless cold enough to
dissipate all of the poetry which such |