The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1899-02-22
STATE NOTES.
Several Interesting Items about
the State.

The Cold Wase-The Lowest Recorded
Temperature Abolition Of Prep De.
partment- DIR. Raymond's Lectures
Reception to Soldiers by Fairmont
on next Wednesday.
WHEELING, Feb. 16.-The coli
wave that passed over the state Last
week took the iceing SO far as orr ii
records go for the past twenty five
years, for it has been only within
little more than decade that gov
eminent registers were in general
use. 1t is undisputed by the Oldest
inhabitant that the thermometer
registered lower than at any time q
his memory, though the old fellow
does find it going against the graf
to acknowledge the fact, and seeks
to palliate his acquiescence by in
stancing some year when certain
marvellous things happened by rea-
son OF excessive cold snaps. But
there was no system of observation
years ago generally accepted, that
is, no recognized or accepted ther-
mometer Last week Fahrenheits
at different points in the state sent
the mercury frigidly down the line,
and while the cold was not confined
to special localities the difference of
registration was due to the places
where the thermometers were ex
Losed and the efficiency or in fficien-
cy of the observation-disclosures.
All government thermometers are
tested. The lowest authentic point
known OF was in Triadelphia, Ohio
county, which came forward with 80
degrees below zero. At Spencer, in
Roane county, 80 was reached. Many
fatalities from the cold were reported,
in nearly all instances being deaths
of aged men living as hermits in
shanties out in the country. The
extended gorge of the Ohio river
was illustrative OF the hard freeze.
The old fight for the abolition Of
the preparatory department of the
state university, at Morgantown, is
being made, and sight is apparently
being lost Of the other preparatory
adjunct of this institution at Mont
gomery. The hief argument to the
Morgantown prep is that it is a
happy medium between the public
schools and the university, almost
exclusively for the youth of Monon
gala county, and the catalogue will
show this argument to be we'll
founded. That condition. however,
is but a natural sequence of the
school being in the county. The ar
gument that the school is a weighty
expense is not so strong, for only a
few teachers are paid out of the fund
so devoted, the university's corps
being largely drawn on. AT present
the prep" is a great builder for the
university, and its abolition may
weaken rather than improve, unless,
as its opponents claim the breach
will be filed by the states high and
normal schools
President Raymond, of the state
university, is an advanced thinker
and in his series Of lectures thi )
winter to the Wheeling Teachers As
ISOLATION, two of which have alread 7
been delivered he has treated of Sc
cial economists and philosopher,
such as John Stuart Mill and Charles
Kingsley, both of whom strove to
make better the conditions of the L.
boring classes. The Ohio Valley
Trades and Labor Assembly has eS
pressed its appreciation of Dir. Ray
mond's lectures
AS the members of the First Regi-
ment returned home in punches, and
not in body, their home towns were
prevented from giving them the well
come which would have been their due
had the return been in companies and
| the flag in front. That its welcome
shall include every volunteer from the
town, Fairmont at a mass meeting OF
it's citizens, decided on Westinghouse
birthday next week, as a fitting time
and the boys will be given the glad
hand in reception and banquet ir
the evening, preceded by a street
parade in which veterans of the civi
war are to participate.