The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-09
MOST MODERN METEOROLOGICAL
CAL EPITHETS.
YESTERDAY WAS THE WORST.
EVEN THE STAID SIGNAL SERVICE
MERCURY CRAWLED UP TO
81.
Did Not Hesitate ut All to Go Up
Into the Three Figure
Periods.

It was too hot to speak about it yes
terday. So hot indeed that the "is-it-
warm-enough- for-you" fiend sized up
his man before venturing to PROFOUND
his eXasperating inquiry. The local
thermometers have been sporting
themselves in the sos and COS so con-
tinuously for the past two weeks that
the people are becoming seasoned as
it were by the baking process, and no
longer complain of a hot summers
day with a modest temperature of 80
degrees in the shade. But yesterday
we'll that was more than a hot sum-
mer's day. The superlative degree of
hot fails to describe it, 1t was mel
ter, a scorcher, a regular old sizzler.
In vain did the breeZes bloW-and
there was lively breeze all day-they
brought no relief. Every object ami
mate and inanimate gave it's charac-
teristic symptoms of q hot time in the
old town. The soggy banana peel that
usually f1attens itself on the sidewalk,
waiting to be revenged on the owner
of the first foot that steps on it, curled
up like a Withered leaf and was blown
away. There was a notable scarcity
of dogs about the streets. The CANNES
Staid at home and lolled in their door
yards. Nine men out of every ten seen
walking in the streets carried their
coats on their arms. and their hats
in one hand while with the other they
nopped their perspiring brows. Par
asols and fans were in constant ev1-
dence. The heat waves We're visible
a foot above the asphalt pavements.
The street cars were literally patron
lied. Men and women could be seen
standing in open doOrWays leaning out
of windows. and employing various
other devices to court the tickle breeze.
Everything wore a Wilted look.
Thermometers received large share
of attention, and those who studied the
tubes between the hours offs and in
the afternoon discovered that they
were enjoying life in a temperature
anywhere from 95 to 1O5 degrees above
zero. 1t all depended upon the loca-
ton and susceptibility of the thermom-
eter
The foregoing sights of the streets
were among the visible evidences to a
man up a tree that hot day had ar
rived. But the people had other than
visible evidence, that it was the warm
est proposition of the year 1897. For
such it really was
If the record of the signal service bu-
reau is appealed to in the hope that it
will show as lofty a temperature as
the people really moved about in, the
result will be disappointing. Observer
Lyons thermometer is a cold and con-
sentative affair not in sympathy with
perSpiring mortalS 100 feet beneath it.
While many reliable and respectable
thermometers on earth informed swell
tering humanity that it was undergo
inn ~ a no TO No t11O Of
degrees in the shadIs-one well-known
thermometer said 102 degrees-that
government apparatus on the Cham
Der of Commerce building declared
that the highest temperature reaches
was only "a degrees. But when Mr.
Lyons admits that it was 81 degrees
up where he is the people know that
that means they are getting a brand Of
weather from to 10 degrees hotter
A visit to some of the leading Their
mOmeterS in the downtown district
was made yesterday afternoon, ami
this is what they had to say for them
selves:
The big thermometer on the mort!
side of the Windsor hotel, out of reach
of the suns rays, registered SO degrees
shortly before D. M.
The thermometer at Halls drug store
across the street, was a little more
susceptible, though likewise in the
shade, as it registered 1902 degrees. The
thermometer at the Seven corners drug
store recorded 81 degrees, that at G..
w. Dayton's cigar store at the market
house. did not rise above 95 degrees,
while that at George ]. Mitsch's drug
store was just as conservative as the
instrument that Mr.. Lyons sWears by,
for it never rose a hair above "a de-
grees. The California Wine house Their
mometer recorded 81 degrees at p. m,
and that at the Ryan drug store could
not be persuaded to go higher than
95 degrees.
But give a thermometer the same
chance as the people have to get un-
der the suns rays, and you will then
learn how hot it really is. The true
story of yesterdays furnace-like heat
was told by brave thermometer To-
Gated on the corner of Fourth and
Rosabel streets, directly in the suns
broiling beams, which informed the
passer by that on that corner between
3:45 and Ais p. m, the temperature
was 118 degrees above zero. And 1t
was.
remarkable feature of yesterday
heat, was its tenacity after shutdown.
Instead of following that orb's example
and going down to a proper level the
mercury fingered affectionately near the
top of the tube, lowered around the
SO, 92, 81 and 80 marks until $50 p. M,
when it reluctantly dropped a point.
At 10 p. m. it went down another