

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 61 
** Tf the moon show a silver shield 
Be not afraid to reap your field: i 
But if she rises haloed round, F 
Soon we'll tread on deluged ground.” * 
Equally unfounded with their prejudices against a change of the 
moon on Saturday and a full moon on Sunday, though more easily 
accounted for, is the notion which prevails among our people that 
the weather on Friday differs from that of all other days: the 
saying is :— 
‘*To every other day in the week 
Friday is not alike ;” + 
a somewhat obscurely-worded sentiment: but doubtless it origi- 
nates in the same principle which causes sailors to dread putting out 
to sea on a Friday, viz., the custom, once religiously observed, of 
keeping Friday as a weekly fast. 

* So the French say :— 
“¢ Tune encirclée, pluie prochaine ; ” 
And we ;— 
“ Clear moon 
Frost soon,’’ 
_ + This remarkable fancy was also current in France and Germany, thus :— 
*Vendredi aimerait mieux causer 
Qu’a son voisin ressembler.’’ 
** Freitag hat sein apartes Wetter.’’ 
“Die ganze Woche wunderlich } 
Des’ Freitags ganz absunderlich.” 
So also was the notion (which however somewhat contradicted the last mentioned sentiment) that 
the weather of Friday and Sunday were commonly alike :— 
** A rainy Friday 
A rainy Sunday; 
A fair Friday 
A fair Sunday.” 
* Quel est Vendredi 
Tel Dimanehe.” 
*¢ Freitagswetter 
Sontagswetter.” 
Sunday however in some sense was supposed to rule the weather of the week, thus :— 
‘Tf it rains on the Sunday before mess [mass] 
It will rain all the week, more or less.,’’ 
 Regnet’s Sontag iiber dass Messbuch, 
So hat man die ganze Woch genug.”” 
