IS IT GOING TO RAIN? 99 



all sun and sky. They are too fair ; they are 

 suspiciously so. They come in the fall and spring, 

 and always mean mischief. When a day of almost 

 unnatural brightness and clearness in either of these 

 seasons follows immediately after a storm, it is a 

 sure indication that another storm follows close 

 follows to-morrow. In keeping with this fact is the 

 rule of the barometer, that if the mercury suddenly 

 rises very high, the fair weather will not last. It is 

 a high peak that indicates a corresponding depression 

 close at hand. I observed one of these angelic mis- 

 chief-makers during the past October. The second 

 day after a heavy fall of rain was the fairest of the 

 fair not a speck or film in all the round of the sky. 

 Where have all the clouds and vapors gone to so 

 suddenly ? was my mute inquiry, but I suspected 

 they were plotting together somewhere behind the 

 horizon. The sky was a deep ultramarine blue ; the 

 air so transparent that distant objects seemed near, 

 and the afternoon shadows were sharp and clear. At 

 .light the stars were unusually numerous and bright 

 (a sure sign of an approaching storm). The sky was 

 laid bare, as the tidal wave empties the shore of its 

 water before it heaps it up upon it. A violent storm 

 of wind and rain, the next day, followed this delusive 

 brightness. So the weather, like human nature, may 

 be suspiciously transparent. A saintly day may undo 

 you. A few clouds do not mean ~ain ; but w"hen there 

 are absolutely none, when even the haze and filmy 

 fapors are suppressed or held back, then beware. 



