WEATHER AND THE SKY 207 



through the parting cloud-wrack. Never did proverb 

 have a more annoying flexibility of interpretation than 

 that one! 



The farmer, the dweller in the open, rises early and 

 looks at once to the sky. Quite aside from any ma- 

 terial considerations, indeed, the weather to such of us 

 seems of as much importance as the temper of our 

 companions, and almost as intimate. We look at the 

 thermometer as soon as we descend the stairs, just as 

 we look at it the last thing before going to bed. We 

 gaze at the eastern horizon, at the portent of the 

 sky, and often take our mood therefrom. We step 

 out, perhaps, to see if the "cobwebs" are on the grass, 

 or if there has been a heavy dew (both prophecies to 

 the weather wise), and in the freshness of the new- waked 

 world we lift our heads to the great dome of the sky 

 felt only as a dome when the eye can rove the full hori- 

 zon and see there the little flecks and streamers of 

 cloud, touched rosy by the sun, which has not yet 

 chased the shadows from the world about our feet, 

 riding to meet the dawn. The sun heaves up above 

 the world rim, the shiver of night chill suddenly de- 

 parts as the long, golden rays stream over the moun- 

 tains and across the valley to our feet, the birds re- 

 double their song, and looking aloft again we see the 

 army of little white clouds, like spirits of the night, 

 vanishing mysteriously as if they melted into the 

 blue. 



