Telegram-herald., 1891-11-14
WHAT About 7HE COLDl
Shall We Have Q Winter Of Snow
and Icer
WHAT TIE OLD 'usS SAT ABOUT IT
The oigss asd Their faterprssAttsns
The nuskrAt. Squirrel. Neg. Goose
AID Beer - the faturs Atnes-
pierre Condition..

Yesterdays little furry Of snow
started all weather-wlse citizens into
prophecying either hard or open WIN
ter, and into "reminiscences OF the win
tiers gone by. Some Of the old settlers
differed very materially in their ideas
about the matter-to such . degree
that one WAS reminded of the story of
the woman who said the way 10 tell
good indigo WAS this, eff it is good, II
will either sink or swim, but don't re-
member which," So some of the old
settlers said that according 10 all the
signs the coming winter would be very
open, while others were perfectly sure
that all pointed to very hard winter.
"Aunt Hattie" Burton thought that
the chances were about eQual-that
her experience had been that Grand
Rapids had seen just about as many
hard winters as open ones. In the WIN
ter of 1884, there was not sign OF
snow untilthe first day Of January,
when few great flakes fell. There
was very little cold weather at
any time during the winter, "just as
pretty ploughng as you ever saw" he
ing done in January and February. On
"Aunt ie's"weddingda April 18th,
1884, the bees were out singing ~ mer-
rily as IN summer. The winter after
VIM. Henry Harrison was elected Pres
jdent of the United States was very
hard winter. There was little hay or
grain raised in this part of Michigan
then. owing to the few and far between
| settlements, and the cattle and hogs
suffered terribly for food. A load Of
potatoes was often traded for . good
COW. Farmers took their cattle down
| TO Plaster Greek bottom and cut down
young trees for them to browse upon.
They would feed upon the tender
young buds, and that's about all the
nutriment many of them got during
the season. Many of the cows were 90
weak that they would get mired in the
! swamp, and die there. Hundreds of
cattle and hogs died of starvation that
| winter. One winter the snow came on
! SO early and was SO deep that men
couldn't get into the woods for dry
cord-wood, and so fires had to be
started with wet pine and fed with
green wood all winter.
"Grandpa" Barr has been at the lake
almost every day for some weeks past,
AID he says the muskrat houses would
indicate cold winter, being all COM
pieted and unusually large. Two years
ago. when it will be remembered that
there WAS no ice at all IN the lake, il
was next to impossible TO find a musk
rat house around the lake. Last fall
the houses were quite large-not as
large, however, as they are this year
and the winter was . very good one so
far as the amount of ice i'm tho lake
was concerned. So Mr.. Barr thinks
that if the muskrat can he depended
on, the coming winter will be q hard
| one.
Another sign is this: If the largest
end of the milt of a hog is forward, the
hardest part of the winter will be in
the beginning; if it is the other way,
ths latter months will be the coldest.
The corn husks have been unusually
heavy this year, which is an old Indian
sign that the cold north wind. will blow.
Then, too, the yield of nuts has been
large. and many believe that is one of
the ways Providence has of warning
the squirrels that it would be well to
make their nests as warm as poss bic.
When the goose hone IS cartiIagen.
Gus, mild spring.llke breezes will blow
all winter: but when II is osseous, il is
just as well to provide yourself with a
good warm overc At. THUS far, no
two housekee pers agree on the subject,
some declaring the bone this year very
soft, others very hard.
The changes in the weather have such
a direct hearing on human interests
that attention has been paid to the sub.
iect since the earliest timrs. In every
language are found weather progn o.ti.
cations, some of them shrewd anu of
much value, and some of them posi-
lively absurd.
That orbd maiden. with white fire
laden,
Whom mortals call the moon,"
Has been supposed TO have much to dc
with the weather, but the Greenwich
observations for fifty years has proved
that the predictions based on the
phases of the moon have been failure.
quite as often as they have been cue
cessful.
MANY of the weather signs have
come from the Indians. who depended
on nature fof weather observations
rather than on the government. Tney
gave much attention TO the actions and
conditions Of animals in The fall ss pro
rhetlc OF what the winter will he
! Whether the sun shines or not on Can
dlcmas day ~ matter OF much i'm
portance to the grounding and ths
bear who come ont on that dsy 90 zee
# they cast q shadow or not. Every
body knows that VI they see thell
shadow they 60 back tn their homes te
escape the following cold sDeli.
The open winters of the past tws
seasons have gwen rise To the belle
held by many that the age OF severe
weather is past aud that hereafter W.
shall have only the mild, hainy breeze
10 remind We that winter 10 at hand