20 degrees below zero means 2 different things in New York and in the Adirondaks. A tourist is always on the lookout for a sensation, and the thermometer has a sensational interest for him. He rejoices when he finds the spirit thermometer stedily declining. When it registers 20 below he adds 10 degrees to his own importance. When it drops to 30 he stands before the roaring open fire with supreme satisfaction, and, with a Pharisaic delight, rejoices that he is not as some other men are-shivering with the mercury at 20 above.

It is even a matter of satisfaction to note that all thermometers are spirit thermometers; mercury is not equal to the demands of the climate. When he is told at the brekfast table that in the night the thermometer registered 48 below, he feels that he has really done one thing thoroly at last; he may know little else, but he does know a thing about the wether.

He sallies forth for the first time with apprehension of instant calamity; his mind fixt on his nose and ears. But the atmosfere is delicious; it is so like champagne that he wonders if it is quite the air for temperate lungs. Walking is no longer an exertion; it is a very grateful method of working off superfluous energy. There are no sleepy people about; everybody is wide awake and full of good humor.

Lake Placid Club Notes, 1912

*Lake Placid Club used "simpler spelling" in their publications.

Aurora Ramsay works in the Brewster Research Library at the Adirondack History Center Museum in Elizabethtown.

ADIRONDACK HISTORY CENTER MUSEUM
ESSEX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO Box 428, 7590 Court Street
Elizabethtown, NY 12932
www.adkhistorycenter.org
Research Queries: research@adkhistorycenter.org
General Information: echs@adkhistorycenter.org