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THE DARK DAY.
«. GRAPHIC DESCRII’TION OF AN UNEX
PLAINED PHENOMENON.
T. C. Harbaugh in Pbila., Times.
My great-grandmother was one of
the few old women that could tell
from actual experience the story of the
wonderful Dark Day that fell on the
19th of May, 1780. She was a girl of
13 at the time and lived on a farm
near Boston. For several days before
the 19th the air had been full of
"vapors, as if the woods w’ere burning
somewhere in the neighborhood.
Children went to school as usual, but
on the 10th the darkness came on so
Buddenly that they could not see the
lessons in the books and they all looked
frightened. The teacher would go to
the door and stand there for a long
time looking at the strange slate of
things. My great grandmother used
to smile when she told how eagerly
the scholars watched him, and how the
childish faces blanched when he would
return to his defck with a puzzled
countenance.
They could see that lie was greatly
■perplexed if not deeply troubled. He
was a learned man for the times, and
Lad told his scholars much about the
«arth they inhabited, but it was clear
to them’ all that the singular darkness
mystified him. By and bye the
chickens began to seek their roosts,
and all at once a little girl, who had
been frightened from the first, burst
cut crying. Then the master dis¬
missed the school.
It was a silent procession that took
the path over the hills after school
was dismissed. The children refrained
from speaking, and the master walked
at their head, as grave as they. Every¬
where birds were flying to their nests,
and the cattle in the fields were utter
ing strange cries. In some instances
they leaped the pasture fences and ran
pell in ell towards the stables, and the
aheep hudled together aud filled the
heavy uir with bleatings.
My great-grandmother used to say
that the clouds that dreadful day had
the strangest colors she ever saw. Iu
some places they were red, yellow and
brown and had the most fantastic
Blmpes. Everything that was white in
the sunlight suddenly became yellow,
and the very leaves on tho trees
changed color. Whcn she reached
borne she went into the hall to see
wrliat time it was by the great clock
that stood there; but she could not see
the big hands without a light, and
thou she found that instead of being
bed time it was not yet noon.
It bad been raining since morning,
but the rain was unlike any that had
ever fallen. Upon the water that was
caught in f ubs aud barrels was a sooty
scum, and it had a smell Uke that of
burnt leaves.
You may imagine how frightened
everybody was. Neighbors came to
geiher aud discussed the situation,
but not one was competent to offer an
explanation. Some thought it meant
disaster to the Americans, lor you
know that the war of the Revolution
was going on at that time, and of late
King George's men had gained some
victories. Tlicn, it was the year
famous for Benedict Arnold's treason,
and when that deed had been done
those that remembered the Dark Day
were not slow to say that it protended
the t raitor’s work.
My great grandmother often said
that it looked more like night than
anything else, for no one went out
without lantern, and the lights
could be seen flitting hither and
thither as we see them on the streets
of n dark night. The vabor that had
arisen was so unwholesome that birds
affected by it fell dead to the ground,
or, flying blindly through the air,
would bring up in the houses. The
old lady used to recall the incident of
a robin, which flew into her father’s
house and was easily captured by the
children, who were glad to harbor the
poor bird until the next day and then
.release it in the beautiful sunlight.
It was not strange that supersti¬
tious people thought that the end cf
the world had come. Some of the
frightened ones were descendants of
those who lived in the days of New
England witchcraft, and the stories
they had heard in their childhood led
them to believe that the end of time
was at hand.
As the darkness increased the peo¬
ple flocked to the churches and reli
ligious sendees were beld. Those
that had been enemies made up and
asked each other's forgiveness, and
some men paid debts that they had
owed for years. The theme of the
preachers that stood in the pulpit that
day and discoursed to the psle con
gregations was the story of Sodom
and Gomorrah, and some told bow for
her sins God had almost destroyed
Nineveh. The churches were filled to
overflowing, and all came away silent
and cast down.
My great grandmother and her
brothers and sisters stood at the win¬
dow and looked out upon the darken¬
ed earth. They could not see very
for on account of the dense gloom,
but they could hear the lowing of the
frightened cattle and the piteous
bleating of the sheep. The darkness
extended far and wide. The greater
part of the male population were in
the army, but some of those left at
home mounted their horses and rode
away to see how far the gloom went,
but could not find the end of it.
It became known afterwards that
the Connecticut legislature was in ses¬
sion at the time, and that when the
members could no longer look in each
other’s faces a great fear came over
some of them, and one arose and said:
“Mr. Speaker, this is either the day
of judgment or it is not. If it is not,
there is no need of adjournment. If
it is, I desire to be found doing my
duty. I move that candles be brought
and we proceed to business.”
There is a story of a man who,
believing that the end of time was at
hand, ran to the creek and threw' him¬
self in. But a neighbor drew him out
and advised him to wait a little longer,
which he did, and the next day
he was so glad that he had
done so that he sent the rescuer
a fine pig as an expression of his
gratitude.
When the real night approached
peple looked for relief. The moon
would rise at 9, and they hoped her
light would penetrate the gloom and
dispel the sadness that prevailed.
Little children were coaxed to sit up
and wait for the moon, but most of
them crept away to bed and fell
asleep like frightened sparrows. There
were some children, my great grand¬
mother among the number, that
resolved to remain aw'ake and wait for
the moon; but when the hour of ris¬
ing came nothing could be seen of her,
for the darkness was total and impen¬
etrable.
Men stood in the door of their
houses and tried to believe that the
darkness was not quite as dense as it
had been, but they had to confess
that it had not decreased. It was a
dreadful night for the people of New
England.
Another strange feature of this
wonderful day was that the lights
carried abroad by the people w'ere
reflected on the clouds. It was as if
the light had gone upward and im
pressed itself there, and some of the
more frightened said they saw r images
of men and women on the clouds
themselves.
You may imagine how impatiently
everybody awaited for the coming of
another day. They were feerful that
the morning would bring no deal' sun¬
light, though all hoped it would, and
so between hope and fear the people
watched and waited throughout the
darkened country. Some little ones
tried to sit the night out with their
i trs. u m eyes succumbed , , to
sleep, aud frightened mothers carried
them to bed long before the night
waned.
My great-grandmother said she was
awakened by some one jerking her out
of the bed aud running to the window
with her. It was her mother, and she
SilOUtmg . that
WHS the darkness had
vanished and a new day come. Sure
enough, this was exactly what had
happened. Everywhere the birds were
singing their songs of joy and the
brilliant sunlight was over all. The
cattle were returning to their past¬
ures, and nature never looked so beau
tiful as then, after that night of fear
and horror.
The children of the time could
hardly believe the evidence of their
eyes. They would run into the sun
light and cry and leap for joy. The
dark day was a recollection of the past,
but what a recollection it was'.
Scientific men of the times failed to
account for it. A very learned man,
named Tenny, traveled to find out
what he could about the Dark Day.
He found that it had extended as far
north as the American settlements
and westward to Albany. In some
places the gloom lasted fourteen hours
and was very dense; in others it was
not so marked.
Such was the famous Dark Day of
our country. Among the many per¬
sonal recollections of my great grand¬
mother this one was the most inter¬
esting to me, and I never grew tired
of hearing it. When I grew up I
read accounts of the 19th of May,
1780, and found them to tally with
her graphic account of it. I dis
covered that even the great Herschel
said: “The Dark Day in Northern
America was one of those phenomena
that will always be read of with inter¬
est, but which philosophy is at a loss
to explain.”
We have dark days when there are
eclipses, but here there was nothing
of the kind. It was dark at noonday
without the intervention of a heavenly
body, and after the lapse of more than
one hundred years it stands unex¬
plained by the many great scientists
that have studied the perplexing
problem.
A negro supposed to be Rich
Lowry, the murderer of Capt.
Forsythe, has been arrested at Maxs
ton, N. C., and is held for identifica¬
tion.
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