Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-08-01
RICHMOND sWELTERs
IN MIDSUMMER HEAT
Kiosk In Capitol Square Climbs to
1O7, Average Street Tenn
pcrature.
ICE MISSION MAKES APPEAL
Contributions Sent to The Times
Dispatch Will BE Promptly Ac-
neutrality-suspicious. for Relief
Is Taxing Resources of Mission.

StraininS under a sun that beat down
from a sky in which only a few clouds
scudded across to the emblazoncd west,
people in Richmond suffered yesterday.
from the heat as they have suffered
only once or twice before this sum-
mer.
1t has been more than ordinarily
cool this summer. With the exception
OF few days in the early spring, and
with the exception of the last two days
of July. the South has experienced a
season in which there was a frequent
touch of autumn, a season that has not
been the summer to which the older in
habitants have been used Summer was
long in coming. II has come at last.
II has come with some sort of final!ty.
II was summer yesterday, and. though
no records Were broken, the heat. fol-
lowing so closely unon the days when
flannel and Palm Beach suits were not
absolutely necessary TO human comfort.
struck with sudden force and with an
intensity for which the people were
UMPIRE pared.
Out on the streets where men labor.
and where women walk to do their
Saturday shopping and their market
nE for the Sundays meal. the mercury
in the thermometers hung close to the
100 mark. The kiosk in Capitol Square,
which tenaciously clings TO the truth,
marked the greatest heat for the day
at l0I degrees. That was mt o'clock,
the time of day, though 1t be three
hours beyond noon, when the farmer
with his sickle or his scythe, or the
common lahorcr with his hoe, seeks the
shade OF the trees or HES him to the
spring or nearest running stream.
DAY AND NIGHT
INSuFFERABLY HOT
At 5 o'clock in the morning. when
the sun was but three hours high. the
mercury stood at 80 degrees From
tina, marking il nuctuated back and
forth until after the stroke of H.
when its ascent in the glass tube be-
came steady After the third hour OF
the day the quicksilver began slowly,
SO slowly to descend. and at midnight
II stood at Sc degrees. II was still hot,
insufferably hot. The air was humid
The atmosphere fairly reeked with
moisture. as man and woman rocked
with perspiration. Fortunately Satur-
day. for most OF the people, is a half
holiday. so that during the hottest part
of the day laborer and lawyer. en-
ployer and employee, seamstress and
salesman went home. where some of
them had electric fans and the others
had nj least the shaded side OF porch.
There were no casualties according
TO police and hospital reports But
one man, man whose sprinstinle of
life had been spent, and who seemed
now DESTROYS only of seeking por-
ton Of that greater and longer rest
which will come later. wandered into
Capito! Square and sat down on n
bench near the fountain. Carefully he
took of his coat. and as carefully he
Of the bench. He collapsed as soon
as he sat down. His head Eel! back
over the so carefully folded coat, ana
his parched tongue loled cut. He was
taken 10 the Virginia Hospital, where
applications OF ice and cooling drinks.
him round.
But there were many others who suf-
:ered, and OF them, III. vast majority
Of them, the public will never hear.
Slow corteges winding their way To
Sreening cemeteries Will tell the story
10 those who halt moment on the
curb. Mothers tears above dying
baby will prove tale as sad. 1t is
the l'ttle ones. ha!t-nour.shcd sweltcr-
ing in baking rooms and dying upon
their mothers breasts wac suffer the
most. And they are the ones whose
cry is SO selds.i heand II is for them
that the Ice t!ssion sends forth it's
plea, and II is with deep sense. of
qualification that the officers of tho
mission acknowledge that their call
has not been in vain. The Times-Ds-
patch will gladly receive and forward
contributions. That call comes with
a deeper sound now. y little ice may
mean the saving OF a life. and every
child has the right TO demand, phiian-
throp!sts say, that society give il every
aid 10 live and enjoy its life.