Evening star., 1949-02-20
Fifty Years Ago

The whole country half century ago was
suffering from the effects of strenuous WIN
..-., .,,.--. ter. "A dispatch to The Star
Cold of February H., 1899, from
Weather Pittsburgh said: Never in the
history of navigation has the
situation in river affairs been so critical as
it is just now After three days of the cold
est weather ever known in this section
the rivers are frozen as tight as a mill race
at many points, and the ice is growing thicker
every hour. = To these conditions add the
fact of an almost unprecedented accumula-
ton of snow in the watersheds OF the Mo-
nongahela and Allegheny and it becomes ap-
parent that the inevitable breakup in the
rivers is to be feared. Twenty years ago
a similar state of affairs resulted disastrously.
number of vessels were wrecked and much
coal was lost. = Both rivers are frozen over
from Pittsburgh to the headwaters, notwith-
standing the efforts of pool boats to keep an
open channel
But Washingtonians had no need to go to
Western Pennsylvania to see winter at its
worst. The Star on February
locol 13, 1899, reported prodigious
BIizzord blizzard raging in the District
of Columbia and vicinity. Six
teen inches of snow had fallen in "a hours
and gale had been blowing an estimated
So miles an hour. Drifts six to eight feet
high had formed. "A sandStorm in the Sa-
hara," it was explained. docs not compare
with the conditions prevailing in Washington
today. The snow fine and dry, is caught UP
by the raging winds and hurled through
space, making it impossible for one to see
more than few feet ahead. The cold wind
bites bitterly and the snow stings severely
making life out of doors almost unbearable."
Realizing the suffering of the poor, The Star
organized a pound party in their behalf
Every citizen of the Capital was asked to
donate at least one pound of food. Cash
gifts also were solicited. Among readers
quick to respond was the novelist Thomas
Nelson Page, who sent $l00 to the office OF
the Associated Charities.
The Grand Opera House in grandfather's
time was devoted to vaudeville, and The Star
for February IA, 1899, sug-
Vaudeville in gested how good such enter
Flower sainment eoulo oe. niue:
excellence, proved magnetic, graceful
performer. Her cake walk was unapproach-
able by others in its grotesque yet graceful
figures. She will be very much favorite
here among those who desire art and comeli-
ness in union" Raymon Moore, "the ballad
tenor of minstrel renown, was praised as
IAN engaging singer - calculated to touch
the heart chOrdS the ValdareS, TRICK Dlcy-
Gle riders. also were commended, and Will
liam Rowe, "the pedestal clog dancer" was
strongly applauded' by both audience and
critic. Only Amy and Violet La Bretta,
child artists" failed to win appreciation.
They were described as agreeable, but not
clever enough" When the weather cleared,
Kittie Mitchell, 'the comedienne without
peer" and the nine Okabes, Japanese aero
bats and jugglers, would be added to the bill.
Many famous American women were in
Washington for the third National Congress
of Mothers, the National
Women in Council Of Women and other
Convention organization meetings, chron-
icled in The Star on Febru-
ary Is, 1899. Miss Susan B. Anthony, DR..
Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs Phoebe Hearst,
Mrs May Wright Sewall. Mrs. Louise Barnum
Robbins Mrs. Ida Hustled Harper. Mrs.
Judith Ellen Foster, Mrs Belva lockwood,
Rev Amanda Deyo, DR.. Margarita M. Stew
art, Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer. Miss Sarah
j. Farmer Mrs. Virginia T. Smith Mrs. Kate
Waller Barrett, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis,
Prof. Ellen NJ Hayes and Mrs. Theodore w.
Birney were among the active participants
in the several programs arranged. Mrs.
Birney, incidentally, was co-founder Of what
now u the Parent Teacher Association move