The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-04-21
GENTLE SPRING.

wonder how many of my readers have
ever taken down from their shelves the
rather dreary looking volumes of the
Signal Service reports, and looked at the
long arrays of figures which record the
details of this excessive variability. Let
me do 1t for them by way of rapid
glance.
Our country boasts three kinds of eli
mate, all equally variable. Oae is the
climate of the States, from Maine to
Florida, that lie east of the hundredth
degree of longitude. Here the annual
means Of heat range from 400 in the
Northern States to 160 in the Southern.
1t is an error to compare this climate
with any of the European climates.
Throughout all this great region of plain
and mountain it corresponds for the most
part with that of the eastern Asiatic
plain of China and Tartary; it is a eli
mate of sudden changes in heat. atmos-
pheric pressure, moisture, and electric
tension, and whether in the North or in
nearly equal suddenness and frequency.
Second, we have the interior Cordillera
or mountain climate of the United States,
that of interior California, Arizona, and
New Mexico, and of our Territories,
excepting the sea-coast of Washington
Territory-a full third of the area of the
United States and Territories. 1t is for
the most part dry, and both the cold and
the heat are extreme. La January, 1878,
the extreme temperatures at Denver,
Colorado, were go above and 10 below
zero-a range of 79o. In April they
were 10o and SO; and Denver lies south
of the latitude of Naples. This mountain
climate of the United States resembles
that of central Asia, and over this vast
region the cold winds of the North Polar
Sea are poured out during six months of
every year.
Third, lastly, in the Pacific coast eli
mate-that Of California, Oregon, and
Washington Territory for few miles
inland from the Pacific coast-we have
temperatures that are at least equable
all the year round, though for many of
the more delicate residents or invalids
they are somewhat too cool for comfort,
except in the southern parts of Cali
foruia. For those of US who live in one
of our extreme climates, that is to say,
east of the Pacific coast ranges of noun
tains, the question of dress, and how to
change it according to the season, is an
important one.
What uses have we for clothing? Three
at least: to cover ourselves, to keep warm
in cold weather, and to ornament our.
selves. This last, by-the-way, is the
more nearly universal reason of the three,
if we take the world round. The Poly
nesian natives run around all day long in
perfect felicity, or did before they we're
civilized, clad In nothing but their tat
tooing. Why should they not? In their
supplied the place of evening dress. But
we, whether We live in the Eastern, or
the Cordillera, or the Pacific climate,
| need to think of something more than
ornament in our costume. And it is in
| particular of the fitness of dress to the
changing season that l wish to speak.
What is the principle which governs
the art of changing from winter to spring
clothing? 1t is to change our dress in
accordance with the varying warmth and
cold and moisture of which l have
spoken. Our spring weather makes no
gentle advance upon US; it comes and
goes like a squadron of Lighthouse, or
| sometimes of heavy artillery.
Upon the Pacific coast, and in all those
regions of western Europe where the
| climate is affected by the Gulf Stream
there is gradual and well-timed advance
| from cold to warm. The hands of ma
| ture's clock move regularly, and each
new phenomenon of the season may be
looked for almost to day. In the Lake
district of England, for instance, the
cuckoo utters his first cry very regularly
in the first week OF May; and both the
blooming of spring flowers and the fold
ing up of winter over-coats are matters
of equal regularity. How different with
us! There are people who appoint set
day for changing their winter clothing,
but they are in danger both of "crowding
the season" and of catching pneumonia.
We can follow no such fixed rules as this.
The only rule of safety for us is to vary
our dress somewhat watchfully, and not
merely according to the season, but ac-
cording to the particular day. The Duke
of Wellington had fourteen overcoats,
and among them he chose the right one
| for the weather every morning before
going out. will not compute how many
overcoats or circulars one would need in
this climate in order to live up to the
Iron Dukes plan; but as he lived to be
eighty four years old, darse say his
system was an excellent one. 1t may be
! carried out with less than fourteen over
coats, for the principle is the same for all
of us. Too much clothing, when the
weather is warm, makes the skin tender,