A SHARP LOOKOUT 



cause the predisposition, the diathesis, is 

 so strongly toward fair weather ; and the 

 opposite signs fail during a wet spell, be- 

 cause nature is caught in the other rut. 



Observe the lilies of the field. Sir John 

 Lubbock says the dandelion lowers itself 

 after flowering, and lies close to the ground 

 while it is maturing its seed, and then rises 

 up. It is true that the dandelion lowers 

 itself after flowering, retires from society, 

 as it were, and meditates in seclusion ; but 

 after it lifts itself up again the stalk begins 

 anew to grow, it lengthens daily, keeping 

 just above the grass till the fruit is ripened, 

 and the little globe of silvery down is car- 

 ried many inches higher than was the ring 

 of golden flowers. And the reason is obvi- 

 ous. The plant depends upon the wind to 

 scatter its seeds ; every one of these little 

 vessels spreads a sail to the breeze, and it 

 is necessary that they be launched above 

 the grass and weeds, amid which they 

 would be caught and held did the stalk not 

 continue to grow and outstrip the rival 

 vegetation. It is a curious instance of fore- 

 sight in a weed. 



I wish I could read as clearly this puzzle 

 of the button-balls (American plane-tree). 

 189 



