Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-05-16

on the road to church, to hinder more
Cody folks than himself from attending
Sunday mass; the latter for making butter
upon the Sabbath day.
The Cingalese transform the man into
hare, and make the animals presence in
the orb of night reward instead of a pun
ishment. Sakyamunni, in one of the ear
lier stages of his existence was hare, liv-
ing in sort of partnership with an ape
and fox. One day, Indra paid the three
friends visit, in the guise of an old man
wanting meal. The larder being bare,
the fox, the.ape, and the hare started at
once on fOraging expedition; while his
/ cronies managed to secure something eat
able the hare returned as he went, but
rather than be reproached with inhospi-
tality, as soon as a cooking fire was kin
died, he jumped into it, thus providing
the visitor with dainty dish very literally
at his own expense. Charmed with the
action, Indra took the hare out of the fire.
carried him back with him to heaven, and
| set him in the moon. In Scandinavia,
oddly enough, tradition took the New Zea-
lander's view of Luna's character, and
made kidnapper of her. According to
the Morse legend, Mani the moon, seeing
two children named Hjuki and Bill draw
ing water from a well into bucket, which
! they suspended on a pole for easy car
riage, seized upon them, and took chill
dren, bucket and pole into the upper re-
| gions.
After testing the question again and
again, modern meteOrOlOgists have come
| to the conclusion that the moon has no
sort Of influence over the weather, agree
ing with the Iron Duke, that it is non
sense to place any faith in her as a weather
predictOr. Time was when she was
thought absolute mistress of the seasons.
Pliny has the following lunar weather
wisdom: Fine weather, wind, or rain,
| may be looked for according as the moon
rises with a pure white, red, or swarthy
light If at full moon, half the disc is
clear, fine weather is betokened; if red,
wind; if black, rain. If at the rising of
the new moon the upper horn is OBJ
scured, there will be a prevalence of wet
when she is on the Wane; if the lower
horn is obscured, there will be rain be-
fore she attains her full; if both horns ap-
pear obtuse, frightful tempest is near;
! if they are sharp and erect high winds
may be expected. Darwin declares it is a
sure sign of coming rain when the moons
head is hidden in haloes. A correspond
ent of Notes and Queries says large circle
round the moon, with a north Or north
east wind, predicates stormy weather; if
the wind comes from any other quarter,
there will be rain, but less of it. If, how
ever, the moon rises after sunset, the ap-
pearance of ring round her is not so
significant as the Dutch rhyme put it:
ring round the moon
May pass away soon;
But ring round the sun
Gives water in the tun.
! An old Spanish proverb says the circle 0
the moon never filled pond but the
circle of the sun vets a shepherd; while
| an English rhyme pronounces-
If round the moon circles
OF white, and all the sky's serene,
| The following day, you may divine,
VIII surely prove exceeding fine.
Whene'er, in autumn or in spring,
A mist the moon doth with it bring,
At noon the sun will bright appear,
The evening be serene and clear.
The turning up of the horns Of the new
moon is another sign Of fair weather:
"There's no likelihood Of a drop now, an
! the moon lies like a boat there" says
somebody in "Adam Bede" Southey no
tices this notion in one Of his letters:
| poor Littledale has this day explained
the cause of the rains which have pre-
vailed for the last five weeks, by theory
which will probably be as new to you as
it is to me. Il have observed,' he says,
that when the moon is turned upwards
we have fine weather after it, but when it is
turned down, then we have wet season;
and the reason [ think is, that when it is
turned down, it holds no water, like
| basin, you know, and down it comesn"
1t is very common belief that the wealth
er depends upon the moon changing be-
fore or after midnight; belief absurd on
the face of it, since, as has been well OBJ
served, the moon may change before
twelve at Westminster, and after twelve at
st. PauPs. Dr. Adam Clarke was Oblivl-
Gus of this fact when he put forth ga
Weather Prognosticator, through all the
lunations of each year forever; showing
the observer what kind of weather will
| most probably follow the entrance of the
moon into any one of her quarters, and
that so near the truth, as to seldom
or never be found to fail" Our
readers can easily decide as to the worth
] of the reverend doctors weather-guide;
they have only to note the time of the
moons entrance upon a new quarter. and
compare the actual result with that antici-
pated by the "Prognosticator." 1t would
| be useless to quote his formulated obser-
vations-for, like all other prophecies
concerning the lunar phenomena, there is
a total neglect of the fact, that weather is
local, and not universal. In other words,
| the change in the moon that is supposed
| to have given good weather in the south
of England has probably been attended
| with exceedingly bad weather in Scotland.
There is a time for all things; the diff
Guilty lies in hitting on the right time. No
such difficulty disturbed the minds of the
| farmers of bygone days, who took my
lady moon as their guide. They had only
| to ask themselves was she waxing or wan
ING, and they knew what to do, and what
| to leave undone. An increasing moon
was favorable to increase; a waning moon
| lust the reverse. So, under the first, grain
was cut, CRAFTS inserted, eggs put under the
| hen, sheep sheared, and manure spread
upon the land. Seeds were sown under a
waning moon, in order that the young
plants might have the advantage of grow
| ing with the moon.
| Sow peason and beans in the wane of the moon,
! Who soweth them sooner, he sOWeth TOO soon;
| That they with the planet may rest and arise,
And flourish with bearing most plentlful-wlse
When the moon was at the full was the
proper time to make bitches, tread out
grapes, and cover up the roots of trees
seven days later being the fittest period for
grubbing up such as were to be removed
Timber, however, was not to be touched
until the end of the second quarter, and
then only when the moon was upon the
change. The state of the moon, says
| Pliny. is all-important when the telling of
timber is in question, the very best time
for the operation being during the moons
silence, or when she is in conjunction with
the sun. Some, however, averred she
ought to be below the horizon as well,
and that if the conjunction happened to fall
mon the dav of the winter solstice, timber