By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 61 



11 If the inoon show a silver shield 

 Be not afraid to reap your held : 

 But if she rises haloed round, 

 Soon we'll tread on deluged ground." * 



Equally unfounded with their prejudices against a change of the 

 moon on Saturday and a full moon on Sunday, though more easily 

 accounted for, is the notion which prevails among our people that 

 the weather on Friday differs from that of all other days : the 

 saying is : — 



" To every other day in the week 

 Friday is not alike ; " f 



a somewhat obscurely-worded sentiment: but doubtless it origi- 

 nates in the same principle which causes sailors to dread putting out 

 to sea on a Friday, viz., the custom, once religiously observed, of 

 keeping Friday as a weekly fast. 



• So the French say 



" Lune encirclee, pluie prochaine ; " 



And we;— 



" Clear moon 

 Frost soon." 



+ This remarkable fancy was also current in France and Germany, thus :— 



" Vendredi aimerait mieux causer 

 Qu'a son voisin ressembler." 



" Freitag hat sein apartes Wetter," 



" Die ganze Woche wunderlich 

 Des Freitags ganz absunderlich." 



So also was the notion (which however somewhat contradicted the last mentioned sentiment) that 

 the weather of Friday and Sunday were commonly alike :— 



" A rainy Friday 

 A rainy Sunday; 

 A fair Friday 

 A fair Sunday." 



" Quel est Vendredi 

 Tel Dimanche." 



" Freitagswetter 

 Sontagswetter." 



, Sunday however in some sense was supposed to rule the weather of the week, thus 



" If it rains on the Sunday before mess [mass] 

 It will rain all the week, more or less." 



" Regnet's Sontag iiber dass Messbuch, 

 So hat man die ganze Woch genug." 



