The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-08-02

vember. There was not a green
thing to be seen anywhere. The
first two weeks i'll Septem Der
brought the first real warm
weather there had been during
the year. The thermometer went
up to 20 degrees, watch was %
degrees warmer than it had been
since May.
WINTER INSTEAD OF SUMNER.
Spring had passed and winter
had fingered in her lap; summer
time had come but no summer.
June had come with frost and
SNOW. Now what of July-the
month of oppressive heat and sui
try dog-dayS, AS we of the present
generation know it. Was July of
1916 the same? Not by any means.
1t uShered itself in cold, cloudy
and gloomy, with heavy froSts
night after night. Ice formed
half an inch thick and was gen
eral throughout PENNSYLVANIA,
New York and the New England
States.
The people now commenced to
lose heart and no wonder, tor in
the language of contemporory
writer, II was monthof melan.
choIy torebodings, and it seemed
as If the sun had lost its warm
and cheering influence"
Such was indeed the case.
Frosty nights succeeded each
other with unbroken regularity.
The corn was chilled and wlthered
ON the stalk. The grass was
greatly injured by repeated frost
and Ice to such an extent that it
contained little or ITO SuStcnance,
aud lis hue was changed to dull
brown. Cattle would hardly
touch it for foot. or fruits and
flowers not one was left TO tell the
tale. The foliage OF forest and
orchard was dead and withcred.
Cold and morthcrly winds whiS.
He'd through the dried grasS and
sighed among the leallcSs trees.
Bleak and barren field and hill
side greeted the view upon every
side. Many OF the poor cattle ac-
tually starved Tor want of proper
food. The country appeared to
be under the spell of an evil genii.
TO better understand the STU
alton We must review the condi-
tion Of the country at that period.
We then barely numbered 5000
Geo Of people, scattered over an
area from Te to Louisiana,
from the At,,,'-,Ic to the MiSSiS-
Sippi. This population was mainly
q rural one, depending upon agri.
culture for a livelihood. Rapid
transit was then unknown, and all
travel was performed BY stages
or horse back over roads that were
impossible the greater part of the
year. Freight was conveyed from
one part of the country by either
sail or canal boat, and the NOV
ing of periShable produce was an
absolute impossibillty. Conse-
Quently the distress caused by the
failure of all crops north Of the
Potomac, would obtain no relief
from the shipment of food pro.
ducts from the South, where. al
though similar weather had been
felt, yet from climatic reasons it
had not been so severe.
There was no fruit, vegetables
or cereal crop: all had been in
Guided in the common ruin.
Scarcely any corn north of the
Potomac came to perfection, with
the consequence that the next
spring seed corn sold at s. per
buShel Wheat sold at the rate
of 81 to So bushel.
What little harvest there was
to gather, was saved in few
days, the haryesters going to
work in their coats. The writer's
grandfather, who at that period
resided i'll Howard county, went
to work in his harvest field with
his coat and gloves on
As frost and ice had made their
appearance with every month of
the year, no great hopes were en-
tertained concerning the advent
of August. The last of the sum
mer months came i'll Shivering
with cold and numbed with re-
peated trosts. 1t could not raise
one warm morning or one cheer
full day. Ice formed an inch and
"a half thick i'll many localities.
The corn. which was then in the
milk, was frozen so hard that it
rotted on the stalk, and the farm
ers cut it off for fodder, though
poor food it made.
Harvest and summer time were
now both over, but our ancestors
of lSl6 saw neither. as there was
no summer and no crops to gather.
The remaining months of this
truly remarkable year offered
nothing of interest.
The anpp9raucp of q warm Snnl1