IS IT GOING TO RAIN? 87 



" 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 

 upward, 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 wadded. It wants two or three thicknesses to 

 get up a good rain. Especially, unless you have 

 that cloud-mother, that dim, filmy, nebulous mass 

 that has its root in the higher regions of the air, and 

 is the source and backing of all storms, your rain 

 will be light indeed. 



I fear my reader's jacket is not thoroughly soaked 

 yet. I must give him a final dash, a " clear-up '* 

 shower. 



We were encamping in the primitive woods, by a 

 little trout-lake which the mountain carried high on 

 his hip, like a soldier's canteen. There were wives 

 in the party, curious to know what the lure was tliat 

 annually drew their husbands to the woods. That 



