Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1901 — The Solstitial Season Again. [ARTICLE]

The Solstitial Season Again.

Everyone knows that there had been a decided chilliness lingering in the atmosphere for 8 or 9 days preceding last Sunday, Dec. 22nd, but if anyone thinks there was any winter in the weather we were then having, they have only to consult the almanac to find their mistake. Winter began at just 37 minutes past 7 o’clock Sunday morning, and promptly on schedule time, the cold weather having neitner delayed or accelerated its arrival. Bnt most people will think that if the weather we have been having lately wasn’t winter, it was most awful late in the fall. And the almanac which gives us the time of the beginning of winter to a minute is also equally exact in stating the length of its duration. It is 89 days and 39 minutes. If the 89 days could be thrown off, no one would object to the 39 minutes. The sun rose Sunday, which was the winter solstice, at 7.21, and set at 4.35, in this latitude, making the day’s length 9 hours and 14 minutes. Its length remains the same until Friday, when it slowly begins to lengthen, and the cold begins to strengthen, as per the old Down East Yankees.