258 An American Fruit-Farm 



pointing to the blue — ''these three days." So 

 Crawford picked his sweet cherries. But a few 

 days later, when I was worrying over the barometer 

 and had appealed to Neville, all I could get out of 

 him was, 



Mackerel scales and mares' tails 

 Make lofty ships carry low sails. 



And I decided to wait till the approaching storm 

 had passed. But I think that Neville, Calvinist 

 as he was, placed most confidence — or to speak 

 truly of him, placed supreme confidence — ^in the 

 profound wisdom of the answer to the Pharisees 

 and Sadducees recorded in St. Matthew: 



"He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye 

 say, It will be fair weather ; for the sky is red. 



" And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day: for 

 the sky is red and lo wring. " 



Neville liked to have scriptural authority even 

 for his weather. So he read the seasons, the sun, 

 the clouds, the colors of the sky, the stars, the 

 wind, and even the very hollows of the air. It was 

 an uncanny power — ^so it seemed to me — that 

 enabled him to anticipate bad weather. I do not 

 recall that he was ever caught napping in a storm. 

 Everything about Neville Farm was ever prepared 

 for the weather, be it good or bad. This wisdom of 

 his contributed immensely to his prosperity as a 

 fruit-grower. Just as he made friends with his 

 vines and his trees, he made intimacies with sky 



