iS IT GOING TO RAIN? 101 



111 the winter, we see the sun wading in snow. 

 The morning has peihaps been clear, but in the after- 

 noon a bank of gray filmy or cirrus cloud meets him 

 in the west, and he sinks deeper and deeper into it, 

 till, at his going down, his muffled beams are entirely 

 hidden. Then, on the morrow, not 



" Announced by all the trumpets of the sky," 

 but silent as night, the white legions are here. 



The old signs seldom fail, a red and angry sun- 

 rise, or flushed clouds at evening. Many a hope of 

 rain have I seen dashed by a painted sky at sunset. 

 There is truth in the old couplet, too : 



" If it rains before seven, 

 It will clear before eleven." 



An old Indian had a sign for winter : " If the 

 wind blows the snow off the trees, the next storm 

 will be snow ; if it rains off the next storm will be 

 rain." 



Morning rains are usually short-lived. Better 

 wait till ten o'clock. 



When the clouds are chilled, they turn blue and 

 rise up. 



When the fog leaves the mountains, reaching up- 

 ward, as if afraid of being left behind, the fair 

 weather is near. 



Shoddy clouds are of little account, and soon fall 

 to pieces. Have your clouds show a good strong 

 fibre, and have them lined, not with silver, but with 

 other clouds of a finer texture, and have them 

 iradded. It wants two or three thicknesses to get 



