THE WEATHER-PROPHET FARCE. 353 



ant people claiming it for Mr. Vennor. When confronted with the "weather 

 prophet's" own statements the few fair-minded ones admitted that it was not 

 "just so" and that he was a little "off" this time. Again, on the 21st of July, 

 Mr. Vennor appears with a supplement for the last half of the month, wherein the 

 24th was to be hot and windy; 25th oppressive and stormy; 26th and 28th cloudy, 

 cool weather, with cool nights and cool showers; 29th cool and showery; 30th 

 and 31st warm weather, high winds and rain showers." 



The 24th was not hot and windy, the 25th was warm but not "oppressive 

 and stormy." We did not have a heavy rain storm and winds on the 26th. The 

 rest of the month was very even, neither hot nor cold. On the 30th the barom- 

 eter was highest in the northeast with an extended area of " high" generally over 

 the United States while an area of "low barometer" was appearing in the north- 

 west. 



So much for July. For. August no better success attended these efforts, at 

 least up to the time of writing this article. In his almanac for August Mr. Ven- 

 nor says, "August, in striking contrast to the same month in 1880, looks decid- 

 edly moist, and will probably resemble that of 1877 in Canada and the United 

 States. The month will enter warm, but cooler, and rather unseasonable weath- 

 er may occur, on the 4th and 5th, after which sultry and stormy weather will again 

 set in. Thunder and lightning and hail storms are likely to cause considerable 

 damage over wide spread areas both in Canada and the United States, especially 

 in western sections, and the month again promises to resemble that of the year 

 1877." 



His after statement in the daily papers is as follows: " ist, probably warm 

 and oppressive ; 2nd — 5th generally pleasant weather with fairly warm days and 

 cool to cold days, and fall-like evenings and nights; 6th fair and pleasant; 7th 

 Sunday, heat and storms; 8th and 9th sultry weather with heavy showers, cooler 

 evenings and nights; loth ditto; nth — 13th heat again in the United States, 

 with cloudy and sultry weather, with storms in Canada; 14th Sunday, cooler — 

 change; 15th cooler to cold and cloudy and pleasant; i6th storms in Virginia; 17th 

 and 1 8th hail storms, and frosts probably in some sections; 19th heat and storms ; 

 20th ditto; 2 ist Sunday, sultry and showery ; 22nd sultry and windy ; 23rd heat and 

 wind; 24th ditto; 25th and 26th heavy storms on the lakes, St. Lawrence and 

 New York; 28th and 29th cooler weather with rains and frosts in northern sec- 

 tions; 30th and 31st fair and pleasant with cool evenings and- nights with indica- 

 tions of returning heat. " 



Up to the time of writing (August 22nd), this has certainly not been a wet 

 month ; on the contrary it has been a very dry month, and if one will take the 

 trouble to refer to the weather map he or she will see not only what kind of 

 weather we had here at the National Capitol, but what they had all over the 

 country, and they will also see that any intelligent person with a knowledge of 

 August weather in this country could have written out as good a probabilities as 

 any weather prophet of this or any other country. The month began with "low " 

 in the northwest, making it hot. On the 2nd there was a "low" in the Gulf, 



