The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1916-04-05
CHILLY SUMMER
OF 100 YEARS AGO
Makes Wonder Whether
1t Will Repeat.
The ARCTIC SEASON OF 1876
Is Recalled and Words OF Some
People Who Experienced
II Are Quoted.
WAS LITTLE USE OF PLANTING

WAS LITTLE USE OF PLANTING
In these parts there seems to be ;
feeling of resentment against the hi
bernating grounding because h'
proved to be false prophet wher
he hobbled from his winter home
on February 2 to take a weather
observation. Arctomys monax, not
seeing a shadow of himself, return
ed to his snuggery for a brief stay,
confident that spring would soon
come up from the South. So tradi-
ton had it. Forthwith winter be-
gan to rage with billiards. and Bit
ter cold, storm upon storm and rude
blasts unintermittent, day after day
and week after week, until it SEEM
ed that when the season changed it
must be from winter to summer,
with spring lost in the shuttle. But
the grounding was right after all.
He went back into his hole prepared
to stand a long siege of wintry
weather. 1t was leap year, and an
old verse has it,
IF cloudy Candlemas Day in the
leap year be,
And the woodchuck his shadow cam
not see,
Back to his ground hole he goes to
stay,
For winter will last till All Fools
Day.
This in justification of the ground
hog or woodchuck. AS a weather
prophet hisreputation hasreally been
enhanced. But what we should like
to know is whether the arctic year
of 1916 is to be repeated in 1916.
Unfortunately the grounding cannot
enlighten us, although his interest
in the matter is paramount. A veg
etarian, rations would be hard to
find if there were to be no summer
in 1916. Twenty years ago The
Sun published an interview with an
aged man, James Winchester, who
was IA years old when his native
State of Vermont was devastated by
snowstorms in the summer of the
year after Waterloo saw Napoleon's
star go down in blacklist night and
peace returned to war-wasted Eu-
rope. The whole year of 1916, with
brief intervals of tepidity was cold
and comfortless. On June II snow
fell to a depth of 10 inches in Yer
mont, and in New York. New Jersey
and Pennsylvania il was three
inches deep. That storm of June
H." said James Winchester, was
one of the severest | ever saw, even
in the depth of winter, in that To-
cality of severe SHOWS" 4 wind
bitter cold, came out of the north
and piled the snow in deep drifts. |
An uncle of James Winchester who |
sailed out in the whirl of flakes to |
herd some sheep in distant pas
ture lost his way, and three days !
afterward a searching party found !
him dead in a great drift. There !
was no summer that year. Describ-
ing the terrible season, Mr.. Win
chester said;
The wind during June, July and
August of 1916 was continuously |
from the north, and il blew fercely |
and cold. Farmers wore heavy over /
coats and mittens while about their |
work every day during those
months. There was but little use
of planting anything; nothing grew
to speak of. but they did plant corn |
as usual and planted fifth mittens |
on. July was colder even
than June, and August was colder
than July, but in August il froze an
inch and more. There was a heavy |
snowstorm on August 80. The
whole summer was as bleak and |
dreary as November. There was not |
a green thing to be seen anywhere"
How did the woodchuck exc out a
subsistence? How did any one keep
warm? AS a matter of fact every
body was miserable and many were
rrippea by superstition. Had the sun !
lost its power, and was the end of
the world coming? James Gooding.
? Vermont farmer, thought so. In
the belief that freezing and starva-
tion was to be the fate OF all living
creatures. he humanely killed his
cattle and hanged himself in the
barn, after urging Mrs. Gooding to
follow his example. There was a
little warmth the first fortnight In
September. The mercury In the