34 



IN WINTER. 



doubtless have recorded the present as the 

 warmest winter in thirty years, which is not the 

 fact. Besides, we are not yet out of the woods, 

 for February is often very cold, and March, to 

 put the best face upon it, exceedingly tricky. 

 Considering that weather is the most talked-of 

 of subjects, is it not strange that upon no other 

 is so much ignorance displayed ? 



It has been said that every man is a fool or a 

 physician at forty. Whether true or not, every 

 sexagenarian hereabouts is a weather prophet, 

 and their combined wisdom is, as might be seen, 

 valueless. Every one of these worthy men, as 

 such, is a delusion and a snare, but all have 

 faithful followers. Uncle Zephaniah, for in- 

 stance, was very impatient, to express it mildly, 

 when I spoke of the winter of i88i-'82. The 

 curl of his lip, the glitter of his eyes and wave 

 of his hand, when he remarked, " As if I didn't 

 know ! " spoke volumes. Yet, in spite of his 

 eighty years, he did not know. There is still 

 another feature of weather wisdom, if I can call 

 it such, that is even more remarkable the 

 proneness to forget the character of a season so 

 soon after it has passed. It may be hard to be- 

 lieve, but many a person will stop to think when 

 the question is put whether the great March 

 blizzard was last year or the year before. Un- 

 less such a storm is coupled with some political 



