The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-10-05
SIGNS OF A SEVERE WINTER
A weather Sage Meets Never Failing In.
dlcatInns EverYwhere.

A weather Sage Meets Never Failing In.
dlcations Everywhere.
"There1l be plenty Of good sleddin' this
comm winter, remarked Catawissa Valley
farmer yesterday to Colonel M. P. Fowler,
as he cast his meteorological eye
skyward and watched the neecy, white
clouds scudding along. This farmer, it
ou ght to be stated, is an old inhabitant and
so far as weather goes, knows as much about it
as any other man. Yes, sir, he continued, it'll
be hard winter an the snow'l be deep
I've kept account of them white clouds nyin'
all summer an this makes 81 days they flew
Thet means thet it'll snow 81 days this winter
an generally heavy snow, too, for the clouds
were heavy. Never knowed it to fail 'cspt
possibly the winter Of '43, but didn't never
count much on thet You see l he'd 2S days
down thet year an it showed 20. / allus
thought thet | made a mistake in countin' an
hev been keerfuller since then.
"But tell you there's no mistake this
time. Why, sir, the moles in my medder
are buryin' deeper this year than ever afore,
you rickolleck the heavy snow we had then.
That was winter for snow! Jimmy, but
she did come down. mind it WELL for thet
fall we butchered our big hog. Weighed 423
pounds Fact Speakin' of hogs iist brings
it to my mind thet we butchered one afore !
left. Well, sir, you mayn't believe it, but III
swan if its meat wasn't growed tighter than
the dickens and was the whitest I've ever
seed. Fact You know what that means.
Cricks'll be froz ID shut and we'll hev the
longest cold spell we've had since $50.
Shouldn't be 'sprised if it'll last longer, but
thet was a cold snap.
"See that hoss's fetlocll? Look at that buIch
Of hair CROWN there. Never see it so long
an thick less it's goin to be long and hard
winter, do you? No, stree, nor anyone else,
either. Never knowed that sign to fail, 'cept
possibly in '39, but you could hardly count
that, fer it was purity sharp all that winter
you rickolleck. Noticed, too, that the cattle's
hair is CROWN longer this year Thets
sure sign, an now that happen to think over
it, we remarked at the time in 80 that it was
horses should be so long an thick an the
cattles hair jest ordinary like. Now you take
the squirrels for instance, an I'll say right
here an don't keer who knows it, that you
can place more dependence on a squirrel
than you kin on an internal groun' hog, for
there is sometimes when the groun hogafails;
but as fer the squirrels | kin say thet l never
knowed of EN- to miss hittin' it. burned if
the squirrels isn't layin in the biggest stock
of nuts l ever hearn tell on an they started
in early, too. Now if thet don't mean that
this here's goin' to be the longest and severest
winter we've almost ever had what in the
name of common sense and reason does it
mean?
"Jist look at the corn husks onct They're
thicker than you've ever seed them, an you
mightn't wanter blieve me, but the ingyuns
have three outside peels on EN- Look out
fer this winter, l tell you. tn be a nippin'
one. Them thick corn husks an three in
gyun peels isn't there fer nOthin'. An then
there's the spruce trees. There's more moss
on the bark than I've ever sawn, an the bark
on the hicz'ry saplins is thicker than its
been since IA, an you know what thet
winter was. Besides the ginsing roots is CROWN
deeper than fer long time an you've got ter
dig for your sassyfrack this year, Thet long
dry spell meant somethin, an as soon as
seed frost in August begun to fgger on my
woodpile. l hev'nt looked at the goose bone
yit but I'm told it has all signs of a hard
winter an it's not surprsin,' either, for dang
my buttons if l ever seed so many pin-feather'
on chickens afore in my life,not leavin' out the
fall of '27, an you know what hard winter
thet was.
well, 1 must be goin.' Hev the rooma
tz? No tisnt roomatz. Like blamed foo
l cut my corn in the full of the moon thou
ever thinkin' what 1 was doin.' l rubbed i
with half of pertater couple days ago an
I've got to wait now till there's enough rail-
drips off the house to rot the pertateI.
this dry weather keeps up I'll be lame, but
think I'll take a few slices off the corn as sOoI
as the moon gets we'll in the last quarter
Shouldn't wonder if it 'ud rain tomorrow
Noticed last night that the horns q of tn
moon was pointin' down. If they're the
way to night it'll rain sure, Never Eknowe,
it to fail 'cept once in the spring of "a, an
was jst as we'll it didn't rain thet day, 'caus
| rickolleck had to walk seven miles to tn
nearest widow woman's to borry a piece G
bread, cause our brindle COW had lost her cue
Yes, sir, you can depend on it, all signs ar
fer a hard yinterU