St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-12-31
A Summarizes Year.

Jacob lde, one OF ot. jonnSoury SoiueSI
citizens has given the CALIFORNIAN an &C.
count of a summarizes year which was
first printed in the New York CONNER
cial Advertiser. Mr.. Ide recalls the year
very well and possibly more of our Oldest
readers will remember it.
The wear 1916 was known throughout
+he United States and Europe as the
coolest ever experienced by any person
then living. There are persons in
Northern New York who have been in
the habit Of keeping diaries for years,
and it is from the pages of an old diary.
begun in 1910 and kept unbroken until
1910. that the following information re-
parding this year without a summer has
been taken:
January was so mild, says the New
York Commercial Advertiser, that most
persons allowed their fires to 60 out,
and did not burn wood except for cook
mo. There were a few cool days, but
they were very few. Most of the time
the air was warm and %springlike. Feb
ruary was not cold. Some days were
colder than any in January, but the
weather was about the same. March,
from the 1st to the 9Th was inclined to
be windy. 1t came in like a small lion
and went out like a very innocent sheep.
April came in warm, but as the Gays
grew longer the air became colder, and
by the list OF May there was a tenpera.
ture like that OF winter, with plenty OF
snow and ice. In May the young buds
were frozen dead, ice formed half an inch
thick on ponds and rivers, corn was
killed, and the corn6elds were planted
again and again, until it became too late
to raise a crop. BY the last OF May. IN
this climate the trees are usually in lea
and birds and flowers are plentiful
When the last OF May arrived in Isle
everything had been killed by the cold.
Iune was the coolest month OF rose:
ever experienced in this latitude. Eros
and ice were as common as buttercup'
usually are. Almost every green thlns
was killed; all fruit was destroyed
Snow fell 10 inches deep in Vermont
There was a finch snowfall IN Maine
3.inch fall in the interior OF New Yor
state. and the same in Massachusetts
There were only a few moderately war;
DAYS. Everybody looked, longed an
waited for warm weather, but war;
weather did not come. 1t was also dry
very little rain fell. All summer long II
wind blew steadily from the north
blasts laden with snow and ice. MOI
ers knit socks of double thickness 'ortn
children, and made thick mittens. ran
ing and shivering were done toge.ne
and the farmer who worked out 'tne
taxes on the country roads wore owe
coats and mittens. On June ~ tue
was a heavy fall of snow. A vernon
farmer sent a flock OF sheep to PASTURE
Tune 16. The morning OF the 10
dawned with the thermometer below t
freezing point. At about . O'CLOCK IN I
morning the owner OF the sheep start
to look up his flock. Before leavi
home he turned to his wife and sa
BETTER start the neighbors soon; |
the middle of June, and may get lost
the snow" .
An hour after he left home a terri
snow storm came up. The snow
thick and last, and as there was so mt
wind the Heecy masses piled in gre
drifts along the windward side OF
fences and outbuildings. Night ca
and the farmer had not been heard
His wife became frightened and alarm
the n%eiphborhood. All the neigho
Joined the searching party. On the IN
dav they found him. He was lying II
hollow on a side hill. with ooth
frozen: he was half covered with sn'
hut alive. Most oil the sheep were Il
farmer near Tewksbury, VT, owned
large field ofcorn. He built hres arc
the field to keep off the frost Nes
every night he and his men took turn
keeping up the fires and watching |
the corn did not freeze Inc 'arme1
rewarded for his %tireless labors by nav
the only r of corn in the region.
Ipjv same in with ice and snow.
the Fourth Of July ice as thick as w'n'
class formed throughout New Eng''
New York, aud in some parts OF tnes
al PENNSYLVANIA. Indian corn, whc'
some narts of the east had strug
Trough Nav and June, gave up
and died. ,oau A.,
To the surprize of everybody an
,.oved the worst month OF all. All
avery green thing in this country,
Enrooe was blasted with frost. ,
fell at Barnet, 30 m'les Honn n.r
England. ON Aug. 80. Newspape'
ceived from England stated .na W.;
would be remembered oy, Tue eA.
generation as the year i'll when the''
no summer. Very little corn r'peh'
New England. There was greae =
t;on. and thousands OF persons !.
have persisted in this country hau =
heen fnr the abundance OF fish ana
came.