The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-17
THE OLD INHABITANT.
Ever Willing to Contest Official
Weather Bureau Statistics.
From the Kansas City Starr

| tFrom the Kansas City StaT.)
Only one person can make the weathe,
1 a profitable topic of conversation. That
one is the Old Inhabitant; not necessarily
| the Oldest Inhabitant. although he is a
person of the rarest privilege and his
words fall with certain delightful flavor
! OF their own. But on the subject of the
weather he shares his prerogatives with a
select few who have not yet attained to
his dignity. but are nevertheless heirs APP
parent to the throne. The circle is not
wide At least seventy years experience
on this snowy earth is necessary to confer
the rights and privileges of the Old In
habitant.
He may usually be found any winter
evening leaning against a pile of soap
boxes in the corner grocery store. Talk
about cold weather nowadays" he says
as he strokes his white beard. its not a
marker to what il was when / was boy
back in Ohio Weeks at time I've known
1t to stay from 10 TO 80 below. all day,
creeks frozen solid clean to the bottom.
three foot of snow on the level and piled
up in the drifts under the caves of the
houses. Never thaw 4 mite from long be-
fore Thanksgiving to the end of March. -
If he Is Down Easter he recalls the time
when there was good sieighing over the
tops of the fences for months at stretch:
when he chased a fox over the stony hill
sides of Vermont and slumped into a drift
Sc deep il took his brother an hour TO get
him out: when he drove to singin' school
with the thermometer 50 low that the
falu' robes and straw and hot soapstoneS
in the sleigh.
No matter from what part of the coun-
try the Old Inhabitant comes the winter
has moderated since his boyhood. The
summer may not have changed. but the
cold Is sure to be less severe. The snow
was the deepest, the ice was the thickest
the skating the finest the coasting the
all the JOYS and sorrows of winter the
most prolonged. when he was a boy. or
course he wore tippets and mittens and
copper-toed boots and drank up the maple
streams in those dayszand ate niEce pie
surreptitiously from the buttery shelves
possibly from the cubb' rd-and went to
spsllin' bees and apple partns and hus-
kin's. Boys never have such times nova
days. There are only a few days skating
and shedding all winter long. Snow waits
TIL after Thanksgiving day and spring
fairly crowds winter of the scene before
anybody has had taste of it. Many col
ored comforters that went round the neck
and hung in yards down the back or were
crossed under the arms and tied behind,
have gone ont with the waning of the
cold Wristiets and mitteDs with a cord
uniting them are rarely seen. An enervat-
ing warmth and mildness has taken pos
session of the whole country.
The Old Inhabitant is sure Of his facts
Has he not seen the things whereof he
speaks? Has he not coasted down the
schoolhouse mill on bob almost every
night Tor months at a fifneE has ne not
warmed his feet at the bonfire at the edge
of the mill pond where he skated all win
.er when he was tired of coasting and the
chores were all done? Has he not rejoiced
every spring when the lingering of winter
put off the planting for a fortnight What
difference does 1t make that the Govern
ment Wheather Bureau declares there has
been no appreciabie change In the climate
OF any place in Europe or America during
the last few thousand years? There are
places where science may try TO go beyond
It's proper bounds and this is one Of them
Mere facts may prove this or that or the
other. But facts are false when they run
contrary to experience. The memory of
the Old Inhabitant is worth far more than
any series of data preserved in black and
white by some hard headed weather OBJ
server. OF course. there are no such win
tiers now as there We're in the Old Inhabi-
tant's bOyhood. All these years the eli
mate has been moderating. 1t will con-
tinue to moderate to the end Of time. In
trying TO prove the contrary the Weather
Bureau has undertaken an Improbable
task The Old Inhabitant is right. Feel
ingS will always be worth more than facts.