WEA THERCOCKS. 



I2 9 



haps with a cloudless sky, that, by virtue of the 

 cool breeze, from the east, are well-nigh perfect. 

 Or we are told that the moon held back the 

 water and the next storm will be doubly wet. Ay ! 

 even that Jupiter or Mars had a finger in the pie 

 and disturbed the proper order of wind and rain, 

 It is painful to think that so many thousands still 

 believe that not only ourselves, but even the poor 

 weather, is under the domination of the moon 

 and stars. How little the planets must have to 

 do, to trouble themselves about our little globe ! 

 " I don't like to see that star so shiny," a wise- 

 acre recently remarked, pointing to Venus ; " it's 

 a bad sign " ; but of what, the simpleton could not 

 or would not tell. And as to comets, or even 

 meteors, if they are more numerous than usual, 

 they make hundreds miserable. The truth is, 

 that the valuable treatises upon weather, the 

 outcome of patient study and scientific method, 

 still go a-begging, while the crudities of weather- 

 cranks find ready credence. And the day is still 

 distant, I believe, when it will be otherwise. 



What can not be said of weathercocks as 

 symbols of disappointment? To how many a 

 country-bred boy has fallen the unhappy lot of 

 being storm-bound when a fishing frolic has been 

 planned ! My initial grief was that an April day 

 proved stormy that should have been clear as 

 crystal. The time, the tide, the moon, all the 



