NOVEMBER 15, 1913 



unless you get in very deep sand there is 

 no need of pulling them off to clean out 

 your shoes. 



One more very important thing: My feet 

 as well as my whole body are thoroughly 

 washed every morning of my life; and I 

 tell you it is worth a whole lot to be entire- 

 ly emancipated from nerve-racking corns 

 and sore feet. Mrs. Boot objects to these 

 women's cloth shoes because it looks effem- 

 inate ; but in view of the relief I have had 

 I can atford to be " effeminate," and I can 

 afford $1.40 for a neat pair of shoes every 

 three months if need be. 



I forgot to mention that the Chinese 

 cloth shoe at 15 cents is a splendid thing to 

 wear around evenings indoors. There is 

 a cloth cushion under the heel, and this 

 fifteen-cent shoe might do a lot of service 

 if worn only indooi-s. 



FAKE WEATHER PROPHETS, ETC. 



A few days ago I was asked if science or 

 any thing else could tell us whether the 

 coming winter is going to be severe or mild. 

 T said at once that nobody on the face of 

 (he earth could tell any thing about what 

 the coming ivinter will be. It is true that 

 every little while we see something in the 

 papers to the effect that the Weather Bu- 

 reau says we are going to have a " hard 

 winter," etc. The Weather Bureau has 

 never said any thing of the kind, and has 

 for years been contradicting such reports. 

 Just lately the Weather Bureau has been at 

 times able to come pretty close to what the 

 weather might be in certain localities for a 

 week ahead — never more than that. Let us 

 consider the matter a little. With the auto- 

 mobiles we have now, and swift methods 

 of travel, anybody with his eyes open can 

 see that a large part of the weather is a 

 local matter. A severe thunderstorm comes 

 up, and the automobiles slip on the clay 

 roads so they can not travel. Five miles 

 away it is dry dust. A big wind does a lot 

 of damage in one town, while twenty miles 

 aAvay (and even in the same town) there is 

 little or no disturbance. Now think of the 

 difficulty of putting in print, as the weather- 

 quacks do, what the weather will oe for 

 months or even a whole year ahead! The 

 way some unthinking people are misled is 

 like this: A weather prophet predicts a 

 c;s^clone at such a time, but he does not say 

 where. He finds out that somewhere in the 

 United States there ttms a cyclone at just 

 about that time. He gets a photograph of 

 it (which is not at all difficult nowadays), 

 then places it before the readers of his 

 publication and says, " Read what I said 

 ivould happen. Now, here is what did 



827 



happen." If tliis forecaster had declared 

 there would be a terrible windstorm on Lake 

 Erie at such a time, or say in Northern Ohio 

 and a part of Michigan, it would be a little 

 more definite. 



I have made two clippings from the Sci- 

 entific American for Nov. 1. as follows: 



A weather prophet's confidence in himself is al- 

 ways in inverse proportion to his knowledge of the 

 laws of the atmosphere. The intelligent meteorologist 

 is the most modest of forecasters, for he realizes more 

 keenly than any one else the endless complexity of 

 the phenomena with which he has to deal, and the 

 extent to which his conclusions are likely to be vitiat 

 ed by unknown factors in the problem. 



By far the most numerous group of prognosticators 

 ascribe supreme influence in meteorological matters 

 to the moon. Another group stakes its reputation on 

 sun spots. Some years ago the hypothetical planet 

 Vulcan was a favorite with these seers. Others ex- 

 ploit that perennial refuge of ignorance, electricity. 



A good deal was said years ago about 

 animals having an instinct that warns them 

 of a coming winter as to whether it will be 

 exceedingly severe or otherwise. I hardly 

 need take space to go over here about' the 

 squirrels laying up more nuts when a cold 

 winter is ahead, the chickens putting on 

 more feathers, etc. No doubt these things do 

 happen. The squirrels gather more nuts 

 because there are more to be gathered. The 

 chickens put on a heavier coat of feathers 

 because their owner has furnished them 

 more and better material to make bones and 

 feathers than they ever had before, and so 

 with all these other thing's. Our United 

 States Weather Bureau has made careful 

 obser\-ations, and kept accurate tables for 

 years; and just as soon as any real truth 

 comes to light about the animals, sun spots, 

 or the influence of the moon or planets, our 

 great eager public will quickly be apprised 

 of the fact. 



FARMING ON PAPER ; THE GOOD TIME COMING. 

 The auto on the farm arose before the dawn at 

 four. It milked the cows and washed the clothes and 

 finished every chore. Then forth it went into the 

 field just at the break of day. It reaped and thrash- 

 ed the golden yield and hauled it all away. It plow- 

 ed the field that afternoon, and when the joh was 

 through it hummed a pleasant little tune and churn- 

 ed the butter too, and pumped the water for the 

 stock, and ground a crib of corn, and hauled the 

 baby round the block to still its cries forlorn. Thus 

 ran the busy hours away by many a labor blest, and 

 yet, when fell the twilight gray, that auto had no 

 rest. For while the farmer, peaceful-eyed, read by 

 the tungsten's glow, the patient auto stood outside 

 and ran the dynamo. — Orchard and Farm, San 

 Francisco. 



The above is tiptop, although it does not 

 tell who bossed that farm auto from day- 

 light till bedtime. As California is putting 

 lier good women in the foreground, we pre- 

 sume it is the farmer's Avife or daughter 

 who keeps an eye on the efficiency of the 

 dynamo while the farmer reads his paper. 



