Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-07-05
THE SUN TOOK A
SUMMER VACATION.
No Warm Weather At All in the Year
1916.

1916.
There are few persons now living
who recollect the year 1916, but Amer
lean and European data represent j
as having been phenomenal in almOs
every particular.
In New England the year went by
the name of eighteen. hundred and
starve to-death, and the summer
months are known in history as ''th'
cold summer of 1876" 50 remarkable
was the temperature.
The suns rays seemed to be destitute
of heat, and all nature was clad in :
sable hue. Men and women were
frightened and imagined that the fire
in the sun WAS being rapidly extin-
guished, and that the world would soon
come to end.
Ministers took the phenomena for
the text of their sermons, and pseudo
scientific men talked of things they
know not of, while the fanatics took
advantage of the occasion to form re
ligiOus organizations.
The winter of 1S15-15 was very cold
in Europe, but comparatively mild in
this country, and did not in any way
| indicate the severe weather that soon
prevailed.
| Even the almanacs were silent, and
although the usual indications ''about
now look out for cold weather." Or
this is good time for snow," were
entered in the regular portions of the
books devoted to the winter predic-
tions, those used for chronicling the
pleasanter months had no such alarm
ing warnings.
January was mild, so much SO that
for days the people allowed their fires
to 60 out, as artificial heart made the
buildings uncOmfortably warm. This
pleasant weather was broken by a
severe cold snap in February, but this
low temperature passed in a few days,
and warmer condition, similar to the
month previous, set in.
March ''came in like lion, but went
out like lamb" There was nothing
unusual in the climatic conditions of
the month which differed from those
generally found in this windy season.
April was the advance guard of this
strange freak of temperature. The
early days were warm and bright, but
as the month drew to a close the cold |
increased until it ended in ice and snow
and a very low temperature.
To those who delighted in balmy
May days and loved to watch the bud
ding flowers, the May of 1916 was a
bitter disappointment. True. buds
came, but so did the frost, and in one
night laid all vegetation a blackened |
waste.
Corn was killed, and the fields had
to be made ready for another planting,
but the peoples astonishment was
complete when they found ice formed
w bl1c bulChI1cSO VI lldll Ill lHCu Ill LIE
pools.
June, 'the month of roses,'' was
this year month of ice and desola-
tion. The ''oIdest inhabitant was sur
prised, for never before had the ther-
mometer sunk so low in the tube in
these ATTITUDES in the last month of
spring.
Frost, ice and snow were common
Almost every green thing that had
taken advantage of few warm days
to develop was killed, and various
kinds of fruit were nearly all des
troyed.
One day the beautiful snow fell to a
depth of ten inches in Vermont, seven
inches in Maine and three inches in
and Central New Y York.
Matters we're beginning to be inter-
esting. People were undecided whether
to spend the summer in the South or
at the seashore and mountains. One
lay the latter resorts were desirable,
and the next would decide in favor of
the former. but, on the whole, the
Southern cline was preferred.
July was accompanied by frost and
ice, and those who celebrated the
glorious Fourth, mot wisely but too
well," found an abundance of ice
handy for Immediate use the next
1t was not very thick, not
more than one sixteenth of an inch,
out it was ice, and it caused the good
people of New England, New York and
some sections of Pennsylvania to look
grave. That month Indian corn was
destroyed in all but the most favored
localities, and but a small quantity
Surely August would put an end to
such cold weather, but the farmers as
well as hotel proprietors were doomed
to disappointment. The midsummer
month was, if possible, more cherries
than the days already passed. Ice
formed even thicker than it had done
the month before, and corn was so
badly frozen that 1t was cut for fodder,
and almost every green plant in this
country as well as in Europe was
frozen.
Papers received from England stated |
that the year 1916 would be remember
ed by the generation then living as a |
year in which there was no summer.
What little corn ripened in the unex-
posed States was worth almost it's |
weight in silver, and farmers were |
compelled to provide themselves with |
corn grown in 1915 for the seed they
used in the spring of 1917 This seed
never cost so much being difficult to