INTRODUCTION 



IN this volume there will be found something con- 

 cerning many aspects of Nature, from a summer 

 afternoon by the Durham shore to tempest on the 

 Atlantic ; from the merciless rage of the North Sea 

 to the peacefulness of a perfect autumn day ; from 

 the wonders of the starry skies to homely portents 

 of the weather. 



The material for most of the astronomical and 

 purely weather subjects has been selected from 

 contributions to T.P.'s Weekly and The Yorkshire 

 Weekly Post. In the main, however, it is quite altered 

 in form, sometimes only a few lines being retained 

 out of a lengthy article in the original. I have intro- 

 duced new matter wherever it seemed to tend to the 

 better treatment of a particular subject. 



The nautical sketches may interest those readers 

 who are fond of the sea. For me, born almost on the 

 cliff edge of the north-east coast, they have a warm 

 corner in my heart. It is many years since the opening 

 sketch, " When the North Sea Rages," was written. 

 I submitted it to the judgment of the late Wm. Clark 

 Russell, than whom no truer prose-poet of the sea 

 ever breathed, and to my intense gratification he 

 wrote in return : " Your description of the gale is 

 full of the tumult of storm, and the oncoming of the 

 wind is very well done." I am proud of that praise 



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