New Britain herald., 1916-06-16

| OraCOT, o1cCGO. Tie was SD6aK1nS or | the pursuit of literature in general | but substituting the more definite | term ''books,"o we read Books | nourish our youth; delight our old 1 age; ornament our days of prosperity; 1 bring us refuge and solace in times 1 of affliction; they do not hinder us | at business; they are with us at night and they travel about with us.'' Are they not our friends?
 The Weather
 (Richard Lowrey White)
 Our world is world of change. One whole histroy is a history of | changes. Customs are changing, l fashions are changing, nations are l changing, and the map of the world l is changing with them. There is but 1 one thing in the whole history of l recorded time that has not changed. i The chief topic of conversation when l Noah built the Ark was the weather, l and the one topic that everybody 1 discusses today is that same weather. l The weather as a subject of conversa- | tion is everlasting.
 And what subject is more worthy to 1 be talked about? The weather has l endless variety; a variety that can al- | ways be felt even if it cannot be seen. l And there is no possible kind of wealth 1 CT that we do not get right here in New 1 Britain. We freeze. we burn, we drown, and at long intervals we even ] pray for rain. Our past winter has been one that has afforded unlimited opportunity for conversation From early in De cember until late in the spring the winter weather held on with hardly a h,~no r. r, l, snow, and the great number of snow storms was lamented by those, who like myself, were obliged to shovel the walks. Even after the rains had removed the snow from the ground, l the cold weather and bleak winds re- mained,
 It is a strange coincidence that the year of 1916, just one century ago, 1 was in many respects the most re- 1 markable year in our history. The Whole year, with only brief exceptions, was one of storms and cold. On June | 1th or that year, one of the severest storms that ever occurred even in Wlntef' devastated the northeastern section ot this country. Snow fell in vermont 10 depth of ten inches, and Ill New 1ork' New Jersey and Penn tSylVanla to a depth of three inches
 
 north, piling the snow in drifts The uncle of a certain James Nipcbas+er who went out to find some sbeen in distant pasture was lost and three days later searching party found him dead in a great drift. There was no summer that terrible season. Mr. Winchester said, 'The wind during June, July and August of 1916 was continuously from the north and if blew fiercely and cold. Farmers wore heavy overcoats and sweaters while about their work every day during these months. There was but little l use of planting anything; nothing l grew to speak of, but they did plant l corn as usual and planted it with ) sweaters on. July was colder than June, and August was colder than July. Ice half an inch thick formed in July, but in August it froze an inch or more. There was a heavy snowstorm on August 30. The whole summer was as bleak and dreary as November. There was not a green thing to be seen anywhere.
 The winter of 1741-42 was also very severe. The snow fell in the middle of November and was still several feet : deep the next April. The Boston Post , Boy for January 12, 1742 reports tent erected on the Charles river as an inn for the travellers who fre- quented the highway. As late as March 6, people rode across to Long Island from Stratford, distance of nine miles. Up to the second week in July a large body of ice as clear and solid as at Christmas time re- mained on the east side of the Conn, river
 As we read of those things we call 1 to mind some of the famous adven- lures of Baron Munchansen, who in his memories tells of riding through Russia on a cold, and dismal winter night. Tired with his long days journey and seeing no village, he stopped, tied his horse to what ap- peared to be sharp pointed post, and lay down into the snow to sleep. He aWoke in the morning but could not ma his horse. Hearing the horse nelgh he looked up and saw him hang Ing rom a nearby church steeple. It seems that he had tied his horse to the top or the steeple of the church 1 oelng buried ir the snow,