One hundred years ago
THE WEEK has been a terrible one in point of weather, the thermometer recording at Greenwich 22° of frost, and in Loughborough, Lincolnshire, 30°. This does not surpass any record, for so late as 1890, 22° of frost was reported from Kent in March; but the cold has been exasperated in its effect on indi- viduals by a severe East wind. In Lon- don the snow has been light, but in Scotland and the Midlands traffic has been paralysed, and everywhere certain forms of work, especially building, have been arrested. As our people, even in the highly paid trades, choose to live from hand to mouth, the distress has been very great; and in London espe- cially there is need for liberal charity to be displayed at once. There are hopes of warmer weather after to-day, but it will be late next week before there is any marked change, and the 'cold snap' kills the old and the anaemic like an acute disease. The worst of it all is that liberal charity attracts crowds to the cities, and that beggars actually live for a few days better than working men. We have not hit yet on the right way of dealing with brief calamities.
The Spectator 9 February 1895
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