After the Revolutionary War, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, asking her to join him in London. Mr. Adams had been appointed ambassador to England, representing the new United States of America. Needless to say, he was not popular in official circles, and being so isolated, he requested his wife to join him.

Abigail needed to find someone to run their farm in Quincy, Massachusetts, and had numerous other affairs to settle before Boston Harbor froze over, which would have prevented her from sailing until the spring. This happened in the early 1800s. In the early 1900s, Portland Harbor would freeze over.

When I was a child, we ran into the water at Crescent or Higgins beaches, for the water was 54 degrees. If you walked into the water at those temperatures, your legs would turn purple before your bathing suit became wet. We played in the cold water until our lips turned purple and we were shivering uncontrollably. That is when my mother would say, “OK, you kids, out of the water! You have had enough!”

Today, the water in Casco Bay is a pleasant 64 degrees during the summer months. This is a strong indicator that our world is getting warmer.

If the Republicans were to acknowledge global warming, they would then be under pressure to do something about it. But they cannot admit to global warming because their master, the energy people, would cut off their funding. Without the big dollars to buy television time, they would be at a total loss as to how to fool the people.

Theodore Davis

Bath