The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1873-08-30
Our @lio.
OLD PROBABILITIES.
His Home and Family-A Look into his
Weather-eye.

off that theme with difficulty. His amuse-
ments are simple, cultiyating bulbs and
flying kites; and the roof Of his house is
covered with toys which excite the envy
Of all the neighboring boys.
His home is an old fashioned house, with
head put on it Of Mansard and rough
coated, and the back stairs lead down into
yard where outhouses are strewn about,
full Of good-natured workmen making
maps. Il is queer place altogether.
Wires go over the neighboring houses,
pouring into it; weather-vanes--some old
fashioned, some made Of hollow cups turn
ed side-wise-swing and yeer upon the
roof. II looks life witch factory. And
yet il is close by the Office of the Secretary
Of War, to whom Probabilities must report
himself three times day; and as, in an
Gent times, commanders never went to
battle without looking for signs, flying
birds, or indications Of some kind, war
again consists of watching the weather,
and seeing how Phpbus sets his cloudy
battalions.
The name of Probabilities, with the
mystery removed, is Albert j. Myer. He
is an officer-like, cleanly-cut man, young
and trim, with light complexion, and a
pair of intelligent eyes, and sort of reas-
oning address. His head is rather small
than otherwise, and the forehead inclined.
He entered the army as a surgeon, from
the region Of Buffalo, n Y, in 1854, and
was transferred to the line in 1860 as ma
jor and chief signal officer. His present
rank is colonel in the regular army, and
brigadier general by breyet. He organ
lied the signal corps Of the army, and, after
the war, with rare expansiveness, adapted
and extended the theory Of signalling to
civil uses, and projected a system Of obser-
walton and representation which should
serve the uses Of agriculture, navigation
and the comfort of society.
The telegraph was to be the transmitter
of simultaneous observations over the great
area of the country, upon temperature,
moisture, wind and clouds; and, by the
known laws Of meteorology, the effect of
these influences could be computed with
some degree of probability by the educated
judgment of constant prognosticators at
the central Office, and be BY them tele-
graphed back to the people. Thus the
signal ofice-now called by the public the
Weather Bureau--aims to produce the
widest and most pleasing economy ever
contributed by science, mechanics, and
Government to people. 1t addresses the
picnic party and the feet-captain, the old
woman drying clothes, and the general of
expedition, the miller on the brook and
the coaster on the Gulf. The possibilities
of this Office in the human economy are
boundless; for what we call the weather is
the invisible, but systematic government
Of the world, the chemistry and exhalation,
the docility and the expression, the obedi-
ence and the act of the globe. Man has
gotten out of bed for thousands Of years
with one stocking and one suspender on,
and damned the appearance of the morn
ing. For the first time in the history Of
our species, he is not now required to look
out Of the window, and show the violence
of his temper and the degree of his igno-
rance He may lather his face, and, with
that eve which has not been soaped. regard
the bottom of the column in his morning
newspaper; and exclaim, like sovereign,
that since the weather reports began there
has been no news.
Said l to Gen. Myer:
aGeneral. YOU should write over the
door: THE Weather Bureau: Prophets
and priests desired it long. but died without
the sight"
aOh ~ said the General. athe Bible IL n
great weather.book sTbe wind bloweth
where Il liste,h and thou *** canst
not tell whence Il cometh and whittier n
poetb.' but we do I'VE Look in the East
and see that il IA red and we get a newer
deduction from that. Yes. the people and
the press of the country have supported
this bureau with an appreciation and a
unanimitv which have oyerr;ddcn the cold
or opinion fmen professedlv statements and
Swans The usefulness viii not cease AZ
the nresent mark. but civilization bv the
cable system. will in few wears mount
puard over the armament in every corner
Of the earth. and anticipate the movements
there before thew are well compounded 7
want to get few stations in that yerv i'm.
nortant mart Of our bemispbere the West
indies"
The interior Of the SIGNAL Office build;no
discloses the newest frnits in the arts of
nbotooranhv printinO and instrument mall
inc The camera 4 employed b note the
sliebtest qradations IN barometric tber.
miometr;c or anemometrie movements
and turned unop the clouds themselves 4
i bep;nn;np h deal with them ~ Iavater
might have drawn his system Of nhvsiogno-
INV The establisbment Of tho wbeafber
bnreau has sbarnsped the human w;tsin this
direction and every week develops an i'm.
movement or a sucvest;on bv which vonno
certainty advances over old nrobab;l;ty
There 4 a great Glass case of clouds in ne
office formed of raw cotton drawn ont in
The form of steatrs c;rrus cumulus ar
nimbus add This with the delicate and
involved instruments and the daily nroo.
nostications from tho work az two or three