The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1906-08-30
HOT WEATHER MUSINGS.

HOT WEATHER MUSINGS.
The writer has had much hot wealth
er experience, but it was never attend
ed with such discomfort as that of last
week. In hot climate one is prepar-
ed for hot weather, and IN clothing and
diet conforms to the situation. In San
Antonio, Texas, where the skies are
cloudless for months, where rain sell
dom falls and there are no dews at
night, the heat is intense at midday and
business is-or was at the time of
which we write-suspended until even
ing. Every one seeks the shade and
hammock and enjoys a siesta. Store
doors were partly closed and clerks
slung their hammocks inside. At night
a breeze comes over the intervening
100 miles of prairie from the Gulf of
Mexico and perceptibly lowers the tenn
perature. In New Orleans condi-
tions are much the same, except that
business goes on and the siesta is cut
out; but men dress in white linen, with
out vests, and many whose duties call
them out of doors carry umbrellas. A
walk of mile or two on the levee on a
summers day is trying even to the sea-
soned native. When during the heated
term cold wind blows it is termed
"yellow fever weather." probably be
cause after exposure to the sun you
are liable to feel chill when you reach
the shade where the wind blows on
you. A chill is one of the symptoms
of yellow fever, with which the writer
became intimately acquainted during
the epidemic Of 1867, having previously
encountered Yellow Jack, or Bronze
John, as the newspapers sometim es
term it, ten years before. But at night
the south wind blows through the
streets and everybody is out of doors,
sitting on the balconies or spending the
evening in the ice cream parlors, where
fountains plash and palms and other
tropical plants transform the rooms
into leafy bowers. No ice cream made
elsewhere seems to have quite the flavor
of that SO daintily served in the Cres-
cent City. Coming as far north as
Washington, d. c.. we find almost
tropical conditions, the south wind
blowing at night to alleviate the in
tense heat of the day. Nearly 40 years
ago. when the writer first went to
Washington, there were no pavements
and the city was not bnilt up as it is
today. Then it was truly a "city of
magnificent distances" Now it has
nearly 200 miles of asphalt pavement,
which absorbs the heat in the day and
gives it out at night, and this is true in
a lesser degree of the many brick build
ings, which also shut out the cooling
breezes from the river. Baltimore is
or rather was, for all this must be re-
garded as of the past tense--hotter even
than Washington. So hot, in fact, were
both these cities that trip to New
York was found an agreeable change
not only as TO temperature OUT Ill eScap-
ing the myriads of flies which made life
a burden in the National Capital. New
Workers themselves would complain OF
the heat while the visitor fancied he
felt something of the cool breath of old
ocean and could partake of more or less
frugal fare at Moquand's, Delmonico's
down town place, or the English chop
house close by Wall street, without
using both hands to ward off predatory
and persistent flies. Now, to come
down to the present time, it is worth
noting that visitors from Boston the
past week found our Maine weather
delightful; and no wonder, for hot
weather in Boston is certainly more
trying than in any of the cities named