Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-12-10
GETTING COLDER.
A Prospect for Long Winters and short
Summers.

That the climate of moro than one
region near or within the Arctic Cir
Gle is growing more and more inhos-
pitable, is indicated by several cireum-
stances. For several years past there
has been considerable immigration
of the people of Iceland into that part
OF North America which lies Just north
of Minnesota. Ii the winters of that
hyperborean section are more merciful
than those OF their own country, it can
be no cause for wonder that the people
OF Iceland arc SO eager to quit their ma
tive land. For thousand wears their
ancestors had lived on that lonely
northern isle. and got along eomforta-
Dly, so tar as is known; but the increas-
ing rlgors of the climate Tor the past
twenty or thirty years appear 10 have
dlsheartened even the native Iceland
ers. DIR. Kane speaks of similar
state OF things existing among the Es-
quimaux along the shores OF Builiu's
Bay and Smiths Sound; he says these
poor people are rapidly and surely dy-
ing out. and will soon be exterminated.
Once there were thousands where
there are now but few scores. The
same thing seems to be killing of, or
driving of, the people OF the Labrador
coast. These poor fishermen, whose
huts are perched among the ROCKS on
the desolate northern shore of the Gulf
OF st. Lawrence, have suffered series
OF years of famine. Every spring, for
some years past, the report has come
that they were dying of starvation.
Their fisheries have failed. On these
they have relied for subsistence, since
the cold and rocky shore, with its sum-
mer frosts, affords no chance for farms
and gardens. The fish (mostly cod
and mackereD seem to have been
driven out OF that part of the gulf by
the increasing coldness of the water;
at all events they have disappeared,
and the fisheries have failed miserably
this year. People are obliged to beg
for living, of the few who have the
means to give. A government steamer
left Quebec last Saturday, loaded with
fuel and flour to alleviate the suffer-
ings Of the poor fishermen and their
families on the Labrador coast. 1t is
fearful region-as gloomy and for
bidding as the shores OF Greenland
though in summer without their snow.
known to be TAR moro severe than it
was when the Mortimer discovered
and named that country for yerdure
and its vines. That, TO be sure, was
in the south part OF that vast island;
but, even there, all now is desolation.
As to the poor people oil Labrador,
Quebec dispatch says:
Their supply OF flour has been en-
tirely exhausted, and. TO add to their
sutierings and privations, scuryy has
made its appearance, and many have
died of ii. The sutlcrings of women
and children beggar description. Lit
tie ones are dying III the arms of their
mothers, who have no nourshment to
give them,
New England lies far enough to the
north for winter habtation. That
angle of 232 degrees which is called
''the obliqmty OF the ecliptic" gives us
about all the winter we want-and
little more than is always agreeable
After the sun has left our Northern
hemisphere, it is pleasanter to think
of isles and shores that he still will
brighten and warm, even when these
Northern lands are dark in shadow
and buried in snow, or shivering in
polar blasts. The climatic changes we
have referred to do not seem TO be linn
tied to the far Northern regions; they
affect the more temperate parts of the
globe. 1t is known that the climate of
ancient Greece was much more saiu-
brious $500 years ago than il is now;
and the same thing seems 10 be true Of
| many other countries. i The pla
| slowly entering upon another OF
cold cyclcs?- HnUou ifa.c8.