Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-07-13
Misfellaueulls Reading.
1880 AND sTARvE TO DEATH"
The Year without n Summer. Bar
ring What Little There Was In
December.

The Year without n Summer. Bar
ring What Little There Was In
December.
From the Boston Daily Globe.
There are few persons now living
who recollect the year 1876; but Euro
pean and American data represent 1t
as having been phenomenal in almost
every particular. In New England the
year went by the name Of "eighteen-
nd-stare-to-death," and the
summer months are known in history
as "the cold summer of 1876" so re.
markable was the temperature.
The suns rays seemed to be desti-
tute of heat and all nature was clad in
sable hue. Men and women became
frightened and imagined that the fire
in the sun was being rapidly extin-
guished, and that the world would soon
come to an end. Ministers took the
phenomenon for the text Of their SER
mons, and pseudo-scientif1c men talked
Of things they know not Of, while the
fanatics took advantage Of the occa-
sions to form religious organizations.
The winter Of 1856 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 ST.
lent, and although the usual indica-
tions, "about now look out for cold
weather." or this Is a good time for
snow" were entered in the regular por-
tions Of the book devoted to the winter
predictions, those used for chronicling
the pleasanter months had no such
alarming warnings.
January was mild, so much so that
for days the people allowed their fires
to go out, as artificial heat made the
buildings uncomfortably warm. This
pleasant weather was broken by Sc
we're cold snap in February; but this
low temperature passed in a few days
and a warmer condition, similar to the
month previous set In. March "came
in like lion, but went out like q
lamb" There was nothing unusual
in the climatic conditions Of the month
which differed from those generally
found in the windy season. April was
the advance guard Of this strange freak
in temperature. The early days were
warm and bright; but as the month
drew to close the cold increased until
it ended in ice and snow and very
low temperature. To those who deligh-
ted in balmy May days and loved to
watch the building flowers the May Of
1916 was a bitter disappointment.
True buds came but so did the frost,
and one night laid all vegetation a
blackened waste. Corn was killed, and
the field had to be made ready for an
other planting; but the peoples aston
ishment was complete when they found
Ice formed to the thickness Of half an
inch in the pools. June, the month Of
roses" was this year a month Of ice and
desolation. The oldest inhabitant"
was surprised for never before had the
mercury sunk so low in the tube in
these ATTITUDES in the last month Of
spring. Frost, ice and snow were COM
mon. Almost every green thing that
had taken advantage Of a few warm
days to develop was killed and various
kinds Of fruit were nearly all destroyed.
One day the beautiful snow fell to a
80 to- 10,
inches in Maine and three inches in
Massachusetts, and Central New York.
Matters were beginning to be interest
ing. People were undecided whether to
spend the winter in the south. or at
the seashore and mountains. One day
the latter resorts were desirable and
the next would decide in favor Of the
former; but on the whole the southern
climate was preferred.
July was accompanied by frost and
ice, and those who celebrated the glor-
ious Fourth, mot wisely but too well'
found an abundance Of ice handy for
immediate use the next morning. 1t
was not very thick, not more than one
seventeenth Of an inch but 1t 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 locations, and but
small quantity escaped.
Surely August would put an end to
such cold weather; but the farmers as
we'll as hotel proprietors were doomed
to disappointment. The midsummer
month was, If possible, more cheerless
than the days already passed. Ice
formed even thicker than 1t had done
the month before and corn was so bad
ly frozen that it was cut for fodder and
almost every green plant in this coun-
try as we'll as Europe was frozen. Pa
pers received from England stated
that the year 1916 would be remember
ed by the generation then living as
year in whic.l there was no summer.
What little corn ripened in the un-
exposed states was worth almost its
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