THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 173 



The wind does some peculiar things. I have seen it blow at a 

 fearful speed from the southeast for three days, and then suddenly 

 drop at night, and five minutes later be tearing down from the very 

 opposite direction with the same terrific speed. 



Storms will come across the prairie battling with a heavy wind 

 but stopping for nothing. We were having a big southeast wind 

 one day, and a big storm came down from the northwest. The 

 front clouds on the storm were whirled over and over, and, when 

 over my place, a huge mass of clouds was sucked down till it nearly 

 touched the prairie, and then whirled aloft in an instant. It was a 

 peculiarly wild scene. 



Daring the winter the principal sights are sundogs and north- 

 ern lights. The sundogs are grand when there is lots of frost flying 

 in the air. A ray of light extends from the sun to the right and left. 

 At the point where it crosses the inner circle it forms a ball of white 

 light bigger than the sun and from these the rays extend completely 

 around the horizon. At a point directly opposite the sun a dull 

 misty ball is formed, and the same at a point on each side half way 

 between the sun and the light opposite it. The uppermost half 

 circle is the most brilliant and the centre of it is always directly over 

 head. This circle lies horizontal, although in a drawing it is impos- 

 sible to make it look so. 



Sun dogs are our only reliable weather signs. They always 

 mean colder weather ; it does not need a certain temperature to cause 

 them ; it may be 20° below zero for a week and sundogs may not 

 appear, but if they do appear it is sure to get colder, even if it is 

 above zero. One fine day in May I was rolling a field. It had 

 been a hot day, but towards sunset a pair of sun dogs came. I 

 thought they were decidedly out of place at that time of the year, 

 but next day was cold — too cold for comfort. 



This country has a bad name for blizzards, but it is not so bad 

 as people think. The reason is that the word " snow-storm " is not 

 used ; a real blustery snow-storm is called a blizzard. 



We have some very bad thunder storms out here, the worst I 

 have ever seen. I often wonder how the few houses manage to 

 escape the lightning ; but very few ever get struck, although my 

 nearest neighbor has had his struck twice. 



