The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-01-10
COLD SNAPS.
SOME ACCOUNT OF SEVERE WINTERS IN EU-
ROPE-INTERESTING DATA OF
FIFTEEN CENTURIES

ROPE-INTERESTING DATA OF
FIFTEEN CENTURIES.
What passes in England aud Continent
al Fur"Ie f"r "a severe winter would be
regarded in the Northern States aud Cana
da a. "a comparatively mIld aud open sea-
son. ''For'y six degrees of FROST" as the
L"ndnn papers SIIiveringIy put it when re
Calling the hard winter of 1860, lose much
oi Their lmpoitaucs when translated into
oar equivalent of fourteen below zsr,,"
and stnce the iuveniion of he thsrmome
ter II Is doubtful " the mercury has gnue
down In England below 20 degrees, Memo
rable severe winters there have been i'm
Europe, not few of which have had their
Importance as we'll As their interest in his
tony. la 40l tina Black Sea is said to have
Ot en- huzeu over for twenty DAYS, aud he
tween Oci"ber, 763, aud February. 764
such iIOst prevailed at ConstantiuoIIe
that the seas aie sp ken of as frozen for
q hundred miles fIOm shore
Ii Is certain taai two centuries before
Ia 500, Zabergan, King of the Huns, eros
sed lie Danube an the ice, and lonIing the
troops of JustInian spread over Thrace to-
the very walls Gf ConstautinOple, :his be
Iug the hrsJ incuIsIon of the BulCaI iaus
Who are now To- cbOOse a prince aud regain
their autonomy. In 1922 ice covered the
llelespnnJ. In 1894 tue Catiegat was FRO
zen over; in 1923 the Baltic was passable
I" traVelrIs Tor SIX weeks again In 1902 il
was frozen from PomeIania to Denmark,
aud t~ euty -four winters later It's surface.
would bear a rider from Lubbock to the
shore of Prussia. In 1860 hofsemen rode
isum Denmark to Sweden, aud in l54S
siedges drawn by oxen Travelled on the sea
from R"stcck To Denmark In 1858
Charles y, with his army-horse aud foot
and hts artillery trains aud baggage,
crossed the Lutte Bel. from HolSleiu to
Denmark, to lay seige to Copenhagen.
The German chronicles Contain aS many
records of severe seasons. Ia 1433 The
large fowls of the AIR sought shelter la the
towns of Germany in l46S aud again in
1914 wine merchants IN Flanders cut their
~imes-champagne frappe With a ven
geance. only champagne was still thing
c"rked up and wired in the bottle of the
IuIure-With hatchets and sold them in
Jumps. In 1865 the lazy ScheIdt was
frezcn So haId that IL sustained the weight
of loaded wagons again. in 1894, it aud
the Rhine were frozen over. In the great
cold nf 1922 the Zuy der Zee was ice bound
aud in 1861 the winter brought the wolves |
into the streets of Vienna, where they at
Iacked hoIses, aud even men.
ho cold Seasons of modern England !
have been most carefully noted, with an |
abundance of interesting details. Ou mid |
stI"yed all the fruits nf the earth in 1916 |
latter the period of forty one years that /
the writer in the Gardeners Chronicle has /
been hguTing Out-tbeTe were dreadful |
frosts from November 10 April, and in /
l4O7 all the small birds perished The
Thames WAS frozen from London bridge To |
Graveseud from November "a, 1434, till |
February 10, 1435. aud in l515-afIer the /
long cycle of eighty years u al been full |
hllrd-ii was again crossed by vehicles be
tween Ltmbeih and Westminster In
1864 aud 1907 the river Was the scene of
bonfifes aud diversions. elabOTately des-
cribed un later occasions by writers whose
passages are as familiar to- Eng lish readers
ui this day as the stories of the great plague
and great tiIe. Some o!Iakesysareau com
men.atorS think that they have found in
this un~onted sight of fire upon ice the
source Of the inspiration Of some of The
Bal6 uf Avon : images, aud would use this
as evidence tO settle The date of the com
position Uf play.
The winter of 1884 was terribly cold.
The forest trees and even the oaks split
by the frost most of the holIes were kill
ed the III aIneS was covered with ice
rleven inches thick. aud nearly all the
birds perished'' '.rhe frust," according
To a cItiz,.ns diary. began in the begin
niug at December. The people kept
trades ON the Thames as ia fair tIll Febru
airy 4, 1884. About forty eoaches daily
pIIed on the Thames as ou dry land
Bought this book AT shop upon she ice
in the middle of the Thames" In the
winter of 1909 there was "a three msssghs'
fiOst with heavy SNOW, aud ia 1116n fair
was held the Thames aud oxen were
roasted whole upon the zee. ''Coa cbes
piIrd from Westminster to the Temple
aud from other stains To and fro as in the
streets, that it seened to me Bac
chanalan triumph, or carnival on the wa
Ter, while Il was a severe judgment on the
land"
Again. in the famous ''hard winter" OF
lao, there was aurther frost fair ON the
Thames, which lasted for nine weeks, dur
ing which period coaches piled regularly
)n The frozen surface and the usual amuse-
nents, were enj yed. II was in this -win-
er that the fam ius ice palace. with all its
of natures crystal, WAS built on
he ice al ST. Petersburg. In 766 there
vas q SEASON ot intense cold, lasting from
Christmas day To the 22d of January and
en years later Gilbert White, of Seiburne,
ecOrded the only severe winter that he
seems 10 have encountered in his thirty
tight years residences. January T. 'Ihe
now was driving all the day" and on the
9th "a prodig ious mass overwhelmed all
he works Of men, drifting over the tops of
he gates and filling the hollow lanes
Ibe Company at Bath that wanted To at
end the Queens birthday were strangely
ncommnded-" The cold was so peuetrat
ng that Il occasioned ice in warm cham
,ers. aud in the day the wind was So keen
hat persons of robust constitutions could
he season. skylarks settled in the streets ,