The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-06-20


for years, and it is from the pages
of an old diary begun in 1910 and
kept up unbroken until 1910 that the
following information regarding this
year without a summer has been
taken:
January was so mild that most per-
sons allowed their fires to go out and
did not burn wood except for cooking.
There were few cool days, but they
were very few. Most of the time the
air was warm and springlike Feb
ruary was not cold. Some days were
colder than any January, but the
weather was about the same March,
from the LIST to the 9Th, was inclined
to be windy. 1t came in like small
lion and went out like a very inno-
cent sheep.
April came in warm, but as the
days grew longer the air became
colder and by the first of May there
was a temperature like that of win
ter, with plenty of snow and ice. In
May the young buds were frozen
dead, ice formed half an inch thick
on ponds and rivers, corn was killed
and the cornhelds were planted again
and again, until It became too late TO
raise a crop. BY the last of May in
this climate the trees are usually in
leaf and birds and flowers are plenti-
full. When the last of May arrived
in 1916 everything had been killed
by the cold.
June was the coolest month of
roses ever experienced in this latitude
Frost and ice were as common as
buttercups usually are. Almost every
green thing was killed; all fruit was
destroyed Snow fell 10 inches deep
in Vermont. There was 7-inch fall
in the interior of New York state and
the same in Massachusetts. There
were only few moderately warm
days. Everybody looked, longed and
waited for warm weather, but warm
weather did not come.
1t was also dry; very little rain
fell All summer long the wind blew
steadily from the north in blasts,
knit socks of double thickness for
their children and made thick nit
tens. Planting and shivering were
done together and the farmers who
worked out their taxes on the country
roads wore overcoats and mittens.
On June IL there was a heavy fall
of snow. A Vermont farmer sent
flock of sheep to pasture on June 1G.
The morning of the 18th dawned
with the thermometer below the freez
ing point. About o'clock in the
morning the owner of the sheep start
ed to look for his flock. Before leav-
ing home he turned to his wife and
said iokingly:
Better start the neighbors soon;
it's the middle of June and may
get lost in the snow"
An hour after he had left home
terrible snowstorm came up. The
snow fell thick and fast, and, as there
was SO much wind, the heecy masses /
piled in great drifts along the wind
ward side of the fences aud out
Dulldlnss. Night came ana the FARMER
had not been heard of.
His wife became frightened and
the neighborhood. All the
neighbors Joined the searching party /
On the third day they found him.
He was lying frozen; he was half
covered with snow, but alive. Most
of the sheep were lost.
A farmer near Tewksbury, Vt. |
owned large field OF corn. He built
fires Nearly every night he and his
men took turns in keeping up the
fire and watching that the corn did
not freeze. The farmer was rewarded |
for his tireless labors by having the
only crop Of corn in the region
July came in with snow and ice. !
On the Fourth OF July ice as thick I
as window glass formed throughout