The morning news., 1888-03-08
SOME COLD WINTERS.
Trees Split in the Forests and Thou
sands OF Birds Frozen to Death.
From HE Temple Bar

SANDS OF Bros FROZEN TO Oeatn.
From he Temple Bar.
Early in the seventeenth century there
was succession of severe winters which
eliminated in the years 1906 and 1907 1t
is recorded in 1906 that the snow of that
winter was greater than had ever before
been remembered, while in the following
year there is an entry i'll an old record un-
der date of March: "A prodigiOus snow
fell. This winter last past has been such an
extreme one for fIostS 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 a season of heavy
rains, so that year after year passed 10y 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 references to the
winters of 1901 and l60S. The hard frost
in the former year began fortnight before
Christmas.
The winter of 1858 was very severe and
the Baltic was again frozen, the ice being
so thick that Charles X. of Sweden was able
to march his whole army over the Little
Belt. In 1914 snow fell in England for II
days But this was far surpassed by the
winter of 16>3-'S4, which appears to have
been the severest ever recorded III this COun-
try. This was one of the occasions when
| the Thames was frozen over from December
| to February and fair held thereon. Trees
were split in the forest by the violence of
the cold, nearly all the birds persisted, and
| the heavy SHOWS made the roads i'll some
parts of the country absolutely impassable
In a curious contemporary manuscript re-
cord, written by one of the early Fellows of
the Royal Society, we find:
1.-The winter of this yeare proved very
seveare East winde, Frost and Snow con-
tiuued three moneths, so vt ships We're
Starved in the ye mouth of ye channel, and
almost all we Cattle famist. Ye fish left ye
coast almost five monetAs; all provisions
excessive deare. Ye Thames was frozen up
some moneths, so vt became Il small city,
with booths, houses, tavernS, glass houses,
printing. bill batting, shops of all sorts and
whole streets made on it, Ye birds of ye
aire died numerously."
The next winter also is noted as being
terrible cold"
The winter of 170S-'09 was notable for its
three months continuous frost and snow
Ten years later snow storm on the border
lands of Sweden and Norway caused ter
ribe disaster. The Swedish army were
marching on Drontheim. They were over
taken on the mountains by snow storm so
severe that 1000 of them perlShed 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
was "a very hard frost for long TYNE,
besides snow very often, and all things very
deare, so that a half-penny rowle weighed
Just a crown piece, and two turnepS sold for
a penny, and Goals sold for 40s. quarter,
and all theis things, notwithstanding soc
deare, was very bad in kinde.n Nearly
half a century passed before there was any
snowfall in England at all approaching this,
but in February, 1862, it showed for lSdays
without ceaSing
The eighteenth century closed as it had
begun with a succession of "hard winters -
Looking through the records of these times
we can well understand the oft quoted re-
mark of the "old inhabitants that since
they were boys the seasons have changed
The winter of 1854 was one of the most Sc
we're of the series. Snow fell and from that
date until the ID of April, I7S5-177 days
there were only IL days on which it did not
either freeze or snow or both.
In the winters OF 17SS, 1874 and 1898 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 17SSl89 was distinguished by
the extent and violence oil its snow storms,
which ragged all over Europe, and caused
great loss of life.
So many travellers perished in the snow
drifts near Limberg, in Galicia, that 81 were
found dead there i'll three days. A very re-
markable story is told OF the great storm of
February, 1909, which was felt in this coun-
try with considerable severity in the mid
land and eastern counties. A woman named
Woodcock is said to have survived beng
buried in the snow for eight days Mr.
Whistlecroft, in his work ON the "Climate
of England" states: ''This poor creature
having been fatigued, seated herself near
the side of the road (near Cambridge, on
Feb. 2, about sunset, and from cold and
otherwise, became unconscious of the snow,
which drifted around her until she was COW
cred, but lived till the autumn after she
was discovered