392 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
November, 1912 
Weather-vanes, as indicators of the wind’s doings, have held an honorable position in tradition 
W eather-V anes 
By Harold Donaldson Eberlein 
Photographs by T. C. Turner and Others 
T matters not a jot if conversation about the 
weather is taboo. It matters not if polite 
society falls upon weather talk only as a 
dernier ressort when all other topics languish 
in the company of unutterable bores. Just 
the same, we are all interested in the 
weather, vitally interested in it. ‘The very first thing we do 
when we awake in the morning is to look out to see how the 
day is going to be and whether it is going to suit our several 
occasions of business or pleasure. At the breakfast table, 
the chances are that, as the pater familias 
hastily glances at the morning paper, some 
one will ask ‘‘What does Old Probabilities 
say?’ or, if the skies be doubtful, the 
weatherwise member of the household will 
have to dispense advice about taking um- 
brellas or raincoats. ~..,, 
So then, since the state ‘of the weather is, 
and always has been, of such moment to 
man in his work and play; his disposition 
and his doing, it is small wonder that the 
direction of the wind should concern us, 
for the wind it is that chiefly governs the 
local conditions of the weather. Its varia- 
tions are fraught with all sorts of issues . 
for us, some good, some bad; its con- 
stant inconstancy is a kind of balance to 
the wheel of fortune, bringing divers things 
wise old Thomas Tusser, of ‘“‘Good Husbandry” repute, 
sang long ago: 
«¢ ~ . . 
Except wind stands as it never stood, 
lt ts an ill wind turns none to good.’’ 
Weather-vanes therefore, as indicators of the wind’s 
doings, have held an honorable position in society from the 
earliest times and have appeared in all forms from the 
finger of the savage, wetted in his mouth and held up to 
see which side felt cold, to the gorgeously gilt chanticleer 
perched with haughty mien atop the church 
spire, swelling his chest and perking his 
tail feathers with an air of conscious 
superiority to all sublunary creatures. A 
dependable weather-vane near by is not 
only a great help in making your own prog- 
nostications, but is also really companion- 
able. If you have a weather-vane of your 
own or one of your neighbor’s—which will 
do quite as well—that you can watch and 
become thoroughly familiar with all its per- 
formances, you will be surprised to find 
how weatherwise you will soon grow and 
how proficient in making reliable forecasts. 
An amazing store of weather lore will soon 
pile up, gathered from that best of all 
sources, personal observation. Your in- 
creasing ability to distinguish local condi- 
to divers men at each veering, just as An old Philadelphia weather-vane tions and discern impending changes will 
ar 
