The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-03-26
The sum mer Of n Hundred Years
Ago.

IA feeling of resentment against the
alternating grounding because he
proved To Ice II false prophet when he
hobbled from his winter home on
February . tn take n weather obser.
Nation. .Arctomys monaX not seeing
Il shadow of himself returned to his
snuCgery for II brief stay. confident
that spring would soon come up from
the south. So tradition had It.
Forthwith winter began to rage with
billiards and bitter cold. storm upon
storm and rude blasts unintcrmittent,
day after day and week after week.
until It seemed that when the season
changed IL must be from winter In
summer, with >prin. lost in the shuf-
fc. But the grounding was right
after all. lie went back into his hole
prepared to stand n long Siege of
wintry weather. II was leap year.
and IN old verse has it:
II cloudy Candlemas day in leap year M.
And the w~oodchuck his shadow cannot
zee,
Back to his ground hole he goes 10 stay.
For winter will last tn All Fools day"
This In justification of the ground.
hog or ~woodchuck. As II weather
prophet his reputation has really
been enhanced. But what we should
like To know i whether the arctic
year of 1916 is to be- repeated in
1916. Unfortunately The grounding
cannut enlighten us. although his in
tercst in the matter Is paramount. 4
vegetarian, rations would he hard n
find If there were to be no summer
Ia 1916. Twenty years ago THE SuN
published nm interview with nm aged
man, JAMES WINCHESTER. who was
II years old when his nutive State
of Vermont was devastated by snow
storms in the summer Of the year
after Waterloo saw N~APoLEoN's star
go down In blackest night and peace
return to war wasted Europe. The
whole year Of 1916, with brief inter
walls of t%cridity, was cold and com
fortress. TN June ~ snow fell 10 a
depth of ten inches In Vermont, and
IN New York, New Jersey ana Penn.
|sylvania 1t was three inches deep.
That storm Of June IL said JAMES
WINCHESTER. "wus one of the SeyrrcSt
| ever saw. even in the depth Of win.
ter. I'm that locality of severe SHOWS
\ wind, bitter cold, came out of the
north and piled the SHOW in drcI
drifts. An uncle of JAMES WINCuEs,
TER who sailed out in the whirl Of
flakes to herd some sheep In II dis
tant pasture lost his way, and three
days nftPrwnrd n searching party
found him dead in II great drift
There was no summer that year.
Describing the terrible season. Mr..
WINCHESTER said:
1.-THE wind during June, July and
August 81 1916 was continuously from
the north and it blew ;ierccly and cold
Farmers wore heavy overcoats and
mIttens while about their work every
day during those months. There was
hut little usc of planting ANYTHING
nothing grew to speak Of. but they did
plant corn as usual and planted will
mittens on. July was colder
even than June, and August was cold.i
than July, Ice half an inch thick
formed in July. but IN August Il froze
an inch and more. There was a heavy
snowstorm on August 80. The whole
sunme was as bleak and dreary rs
November, There was not a green thlne
to he seen anywhere"
How did the woOdchuck ckc out 1;
subsistence? How did amy one keen
warm? As II mutt"r of fact, every,
body was miserable and many were
gripped by superstition. Had the sun
lost It's power. and was the end of
the world coming? JAMES G0ODING