Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1936-02-06

don know what some people would
do if it wasn't for the weather.
Those who have been thinking our
climate had changed would do well
to accept the advice. Of the weather
bureau at Washington. But us old
folks have our ideas about it, and
We're going to stick to them. We
have known people who were more
concerned about getting q Jaynes
almanac than anything else that
could come by mail. They wanted
TO know what was in store for them.
And then there were a lot Of signs
mat could be depended CD upon,
which, were we to enumerate, would
take up more space than the editor
would allow to us. However We
win venture one: We were down
at the Cumberland Touring mill on
the 2nd day of December, many
years ago. Il was one OF those
warm spells when the honey-bee
would venture forth in guest OF
hector, and there were several busy
bees On The ground Just outside the
door OF the nil. An old weather
prophet happened along and lie
toId It's that the first three days Of
December ruled the three months
OF winter. The January following
was about such as we have just e.
nerieaced. nut the thing that just
swept us oG cur feet was that the
very next year lie was proclaimins
tne very same thing to a crowd at
the door Of a church. That thing
was SO deeply rooted in his mind
that You couldn't change it with a
iack-eerew. If we were going to
express an opinion as to whether
any climatic change has taken
place here il this part Of the coun-
try, we would guess that when It
was more nearly covered with for
est, and winters might not be sub
jcct to such blizzards as was eXper-
fenced here last Christm2s night
As we said, that is just a guess.
Many Of cur young folks can truth
fully say that this has been the
worst winter they ever saw. II
cold winters are not accompanied
vita something else by which to re-
uc1aBeg. We ere apt to forget. ~
haefa vth let It's go back 10 tha
cola Nau Years day oG 1864. lat-
a.a 0ck Ellison #ho lives
meas. a1ancheae church, migst
i.nl4r something aboUJ tais. as sc
ara tglG io was his bl-hday. Tlea
la e-T5, was q snowy winter and
disease broke out amcng the
horses. called epizootic. IN 1860-6l.
WAS cold aaoH-oouud winter, and
tla scarlet fever became Very paey-
alca5 and many children fell vic
ns OF The scourga. There were
more fresh mounds in the Gene
teries than at any time since. In
.7s24. there VASE much snow, and
this was followed by a disastrous
aood on the Ohio river. soon after
fhis. rerhaps the middle Of SOS,
there RACED severe blizzard with
iha temperature about 10 below
zero. A young man by the name Of
Frazier, who lived up in Meigs
township, froze to death. He had
walked to Cumberland and on re-
turning by the way OF high ridge,
was found two days later crouched
down at the roots of a tree, pre-
sumably in the act Of trying to
warm himself. In the early part OF
February, 1899, the ground hog
saw his shadow and SUNK back into
his hole. and by the morning Of the
10th the thermometer registered
40 below zero, the c0ldest we ever
experienced. Beginning Sunday,
Nov. 9. 1913, was one of the worst
snow Billiards that there had been
Ear Years. The snow fell to the
denth Of about two feet. There
was cutie q loss Of life and vessels
On the lakes especially lake Huron.
Drifts were 10 feet deep in places
Tn 1916 or 1917 there was very
sudden and unexpected cold snap
right On the heels of THANKSGIVING;
the mercury reaching p below. 4
r.rners' institute was on and one
Of the speakers. a lady, was in the
of McConnelsvilIe,
and word was gotten to her to not
try to come. There were some
Canadians in the community get
ting out ship timber and they tWit-
ted us for thinking it cold, but they
resorted to gloves, and one suffer
ed a badly frozen thumb. All this
about cold would sound tame to
our old grandmother who was born
in New Hampshire, within Is miles
of the Canadian line. Many farm
ers there would connect their barn
with the house by continuous
string of buildings between, SO ar
ranged that they could get to their
livestock without having to dig
through, or tunnel snow-drift 1t
was on the head-waters of the Con-
necticut river, where the tempera-
ture would reach so degrees below
zero.
I T~onL