114 Star anfr TOeatber 6oggtp 



There is, too, an old couplet which runs : 



The skie being red at evening, 

 Foreshews a faire and cleare morning. 



Not always; and the New Year-tide of 1915 was one 

 of the occasions on which it did not. 



Nothing delights me more than to put some of these 

 hoary weather beliefs to the cold, calculating test of 

 patient, unwearied observation. True, this particular 

 test was confined to but a single evening ; it was, 

 however, my first of the kind, and it was a revelation* 



It was a New Year's Eve red sunset ; one of those 

 glowing skies that attract the attention of even the 

 most apathetic nature-lover. It enveloped half 

 London in its fiery glow. When the light died down, 

 the full moon appeared, ever increasing in brightness 

 with the progress of the night. That was indeed 

 promising for the red sunset. 



Nine o'clock came. A filmy curtain of cirro-stratus 

 cloud passed at a great height before the moon, and 

 then alas ! for that red sunset, thought I there 

 slowly became visible the blurred outline of a large 

 halo. Well within the ring, a few degrees to the right 

 of the moon, was the planet Saturn. The phenomenon 

 persisted with more or less distinctness for half an 

 hour, and when it disappeared the moon disappeared 

 too. That was certainly not so promising for the sky 

 of the " sailor's delight." 



Was it to be fair weather or foul, then ; a halo or a 

 red sunset sequel ? 



Sunrise on New Year's Day was fiery ; of a suffused 

 fieriness, not hanging folds of fire ; not even fiery stratus 

 clouds. That was promising enough for the halo. 



