The Hawaiian gazette., 1874-07-29

not over-burdened with many thoughts has be.
; come habit monopolizing no small part Of bis
attention. How true is the wellknown saying
Evening gray and morning red
Sends the shepherd wet TO bed;
Evenng red and morning gray
Is the sure sign Of very ine day"
And this again
"a rainbow in the morning
Is the shepherds warning;
rainbow at night
Is the shepherds delighs;"
which is our hOmely way Of expressing the "a
nous lines of Byron,
BE thou the rainbow to the storms Of ife
The evening beam, that smiles the clouds away
And tints tomorrow with prophetic ray
These are general proverbs, applicable to all
times but we have an unusual number of pro-
verbs in Wiltshire which describe the evils of too
advanced vegetation in q precocious spring in
deed, on a careful comparison of all the Wilt
shire weather proverbs with which am acquaint-
ed, by far the larger portion refer to this fact
which is perhaps brought home to US in our con-
fessedly cold county more than elsewhere. Thus
for January we have:
"If the grass grows in Janiveer
1t grows the worse fort all the year"
For February,
or all the months in the year.
Curse fair Februeer.
So, again, for March, in true Wiltshire Ian
guage,
As many mstises in March
So many fTostises in May;
And again,
Who dOTs his coat on a winters day
Will gladly put it on in May;
And for June,
dripping June
Brings all things in tune.
Every one of these Wiltshire proverbs relating
to the first six months of the year, proclaius the
acknowledged fact that prolonged winter and a
tardy spring bespeak more abundant crops and
more assured plenty than the pleasanter, however
unreasonable, warmth which sometimes gladdens
our hearts in winter and early spring. Nor is
this belief peculiar to our country, or even to
England; it is held quite as much in the south of
Europe, for the Italians haze proverb, JAN
uary commits the faults, and May bears the
blame" and it is common saying in Spain,
A year of snow, year of plenty" Moreover
that such premature midness of the season does
not in reality advance vegetation everybody who
possesses garden. knows to his cost and here
again we have several flmous Wiltshire proverbs
relating to this fact, and containing very weghty
truths. The one runs thus:
BE it veal or be twc
Beans blow before May doth 60.
Another says:
Come it early or it late,
In May COMES the corn-quake.
And third
Plant your taturs when you will,
They won't come up before April.
But again, we have Wiltshire sayings which
affirm what believe to be an equally undeniable
truth, that, together with prolonged winter and
dripping spring, dry summer is more to be
desired BY the husbandman. That, however. is a
season we scarcely seem to have experienced
this year, where the old Devonshire prOverb, ap-
Plicable enough in that rainy county, might have
been quoted with much truth even here:
The wind always brings wet weather;
The east wind, wet and cold together
The south wind surely brings Us rain
The north wind blows it back again.
Showing that from whatever point Of the CON-
pass the wind blows, rain is sure to fall. That,
however, am glad to think is quite an excep.
tional state Of things here and it is very rarely.
indeed, that we in this county experience so wet
a summer To return to the point we were con-
sidering, we have an old saying in North Wilt
shire, when snow lies about in the bitches and
does not disappear, that It's waiting for more =
aud in truth it does betoken cold atmosphere
and more snow very often supervenes. Then
February is known all over Wiltshire as Feb
'uary Sill ditch abiding to the seasonable sup
'lies OF water which should GIL the ponds during
hat month otherwise q scarcity Of drink for the
'attle during the summer would be dreaded and
10 our people have the proverb-
February MI the dyke
Either with the black Whitof
meaning, either with rain or snow.) In March
'o have, in addition to the saying Of worldwide
enowu that "A peck Of dust isworth the kings
ansOm," the less known proyerb,
"Adry March never bers it, bread"
" the following month
"An April food
Carries away the frog end his brood.p
Ind for the excellence Of drought there is say
lg reported by Aubrey as common all over the
'est Of England, that dry year never does
luse dearth,' maxim which believe would
9 Endorsed by most practical and experienced
'rmers; though another saying, that abundance
epends upon having plenty Of sour milk"
meaning. caused BY thunder storms) would not.
apprehend. be 80 readily allowed. Among
Their traditional sayings about the seasons which
have heard commonly quoted is one which
ave now for many years verified, and scarcely
Ter known incorrect, and that is that There's
ways one fine week in February" a Wiltshire
ying which l commend to the attention Of al
servers There is also another about the pre-.
'dence in putting forth their respective leaves
the part Of the oak and the ash trees. az 4 +
'ognostic Of the heat or wetness Of the ensuing
INNER, whose accuracy l cannot say have so
ccessfuIly tested, though il may possibly prove
be generally correct;
Ash before oak, fhere'lI be smoke:
Oak before ash there'll Be splash.
And there is another, commencing The adYan-
ges Of high wind in the autumn, which runs
US:
"a good October and a good blast
To blow the hog acorn and mast"
Then we have a very common tradition 10 this
untry that when the bushes are loaded with
rries hard winter may be expected. This is A
Tery beautiful opinion, for it betokens lively
III in the Providence which prepares food for
D birds in their time Of need. Ii well known,
}, in Scotland. where they have the proverb,
itch might well be taken for genuine Wiltshire:
"Ahawysar ferH
Is gnaw year."
U n