The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-11-13

Old Settlers Don't Mind the Long Win.
ter Eclipse Of the Sun.


"Now is the winter of our discomfort"
quotes the chronic weather grumbler on
the first appearance of our autumnal
rains. Straighway he ls ready to avouch,
as have recently heard him on the street
and elsewhere, that 1.-THE sun will not
again be seen for six months: that it
will rain without intermission during
all OF that period; that, in short,
the winters of Puget sound have
not redeeming feature; that
they are seasons of pure and una
dulterated rain and mud" ETC., etc. I
have heard people who have not lived
here six months make Just such ssser-
tons; they have heard before coming here,
that instead of ice and snow and slush and
cyclones We have rainy season and take
it for granted that it must be character
lied by an uninterrupted downpour from
the clouds. They harbor and nurse the
delusion until they are convinced that our
winter is dark and drear and wet, without
a ray of sunlight to dispel the gloom.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Many of the brightest days Of the year are
seen in the winter months.
1t Is true that We sometimes have. dur
ing the winter months four or i've con-
secutiye days of gentle rams or mist, and
these are often magniiied by GROWERS into
weeks of heavy showers. Judge Richard
Osborn very soon perceived the difference
between these mists and Eastern rains.
While walking through one OF our mSts
on winter evening, shortly after his ar
riva, here, he remarked TO me:
"If you had such rams here as I have
seen in Bloomington. ILL.,. they would
sweep the houses down from the hillsides
of Seattle.
So gentle are the rains here that they
rarely cause suspension OF outdoor work.
People clad in WOODEN clothing are often
exposed TO them tor many hours without
experiencing any discomfort, while team
sters and others are daily seen in their
shirt sleeves working IN the rain. By
many old residents they are preferred to
the heat and dust of summer. which is
never so healthy a season as winter.
Whatever may be its advantages however,
il ~ always a Gisagreeaoie season TO
weather gTumbierS.
Such people are like certain deaf man
who never had any weather 10 suit him.
Whether il was good, bad or indifferent,
he was always sure to find faul; with it.
One day friend accosted him on the
street and, after the usual greeting, asked:
How is your wife,"
damp dirty and disagreeable." replied
the deaf man, mistaking the query for a
remark about the weather.
vi
prejudice and increduiity. existed abroad
for many years in regard 10 the climate OF
this state 1t WAS Idle for intelligent resi-
dents. some Of whom kept diaries and me-
neurological records, TO assert that the
most oqaable, pleasant and heslthful eli
mate on the globe was found on Puget
sound; few would credit it. Eastern PEG
| pie obstinately persisted in thinking that
| 1t ought and therefore must rain.
| hail snow and freeze here the
| greater part OF every year: such weather
| being the natural sequence of its high
| northern latitude. A friend of the writer.
! while eating with evident enjoyment, on
| bright summer dav, some tine plums
| grown on Puget sound, said he could not
| credit the evidence of his senses; he had
| always thought this region buried i'll ice
| and snow nine months IN the year. He
| was native Of Maine and here on a brief
| visit.
| A sensible and cultured lady of Olympia
! heard, during the first few weeks of ner
| residence there, SO many conflicting and
| exaggerated statements concerning our
| climate that she resolved, for her own
| satisfaction, 10 keep diary of the weather
| for SIX months, which embraced the wet
| season. Three tImes daily, morning. noon
| ana night, she faithfully noted down the
| character of the weather. 1t was an ordi-
! nary winter, with the usual amount of
| rain, not an exceptional one, Ike some
| We have had in late years This lady 3
| diary showed that there had actually
| been more sunny than rainy days during
, that horribly wet winter" as many OF
| her acquaintance termed il. The grum.
blers were surprised and COMPOUNDED when
they saw the record. What was true Of
| that winter is true Of our most disagree
able seasons; they are never SO bad as
| some people Imagine them to be-
Thirty years ago q doctor named Price
! came II Puget sound from the East to
| practise his profession. For some noaIhs
| he skirmished around for patients, but the
| population WAS too sparse and the climate
| 100 healthy Ia afford aim q livelihood as a
medical practitioner. After drifting Up
and down the SQUAD for - yes- or two