The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-08-27

| The evening beam that smiles the cloud
| away,
And tints tomorrow with prophetic ray"
Then again how true is the old Wilt
| shire saying:
"When the wind is northwest
The weather is at the best;
But if the rain comes out of the east,
Twill rain twice twenty-fOur hours at tn
| least"
These are general proverbs, applica
BILE to all times but we have an un
usual number of proverbs in Wiltshire
which describe the evils of too advanced
vegetation in precOcious spring. Thus
for January we have:
''If the grass grows in Janiveer,
1t grows the worse fort all the year.
And again:
ga January spring
Is worth nothing"
For February:
''Of all the months in the year
Curse fair Februeer."
So again for March, III true Wiltshire
language:
'As many mistises in March,
So many frostises in May"
And the well known adage:
4" If March comes in like lion, it goes out
like lamb;
If it comes in like lamb, it goes out like a
lion"
For April, again:
"a cold April
The barn will fill
And again:
April showers
Bring summer flowers"
And another, landing the prolongation
of the fierce winds of March:
when April blows his horn,
'Tis good for both hay and corn"
While even for May we have:
"Mist in May and heat in June,
Makes the harvest come right SOON"
And again
"Who doffs his coat on winters day,
VIII gladly put it on in May"
And for June
"a dripping June
Brings all things an tune"
Every one OF these Wiltshire proverbs
relating to the first six months of the
year, proclaims the acknowledged fact
that a prolonged winter and tardy
spring bespeak more abundant crops
and more assured plenty than the pleas
anter, however unreasonable, warmth
which sometimes gladdens all hearts in
winter and early spring. Nor is this
belief peculiar to our county, or even to
England. 1t is held quite as much in
the south of Europe. For the Italians
have proverb " January commits the
faults, and May bears the blame ;" and
it is a common saying in Spain GA
year of snow, year of plenty" More
over, that such premature mildness of
fhn QaO1 - xoo1S4~,
vegetation, everybody who possesses a
garden knows to his cost. And here
again we have several Wiltshire pro-
verbs relating to this fact, and contain
ing very weighty truths. The one runs
thus
BE it veal or be it woe,
Beans blow before May doth CO.
Another says:
'Come it early or come 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
equally undeniable truth, that together
with prolonged winter and dripping
spring, a dry summer is more to be
desired by the husbandman. That,
however, is q season we scarcely seem to
have experienced this year, when the
old Devonshire proyerb, applicable
enough in that rainy county, might
have been qouted with much truth even
here:
The west wind always brings wet weather
The east wind, wet and cold together;
The south wind surely brings us rain;
ind hoo in
that from whatever point of
the compass the wind blows, rain is
sure to fall.
There is a very curious old Wiltshire
against new moon occurring
on Saturday, which, if not common in
the county now, prevailed not many
years since, but the origin of which and
the meaning of which I am at loss to
following proverb
"A SATURDAYS moon
II it comes once in seven years,
Comes once too sOon."
unfounded, though more easily
accounted for, is the notion which pre-
walls 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"
A somewhat obscurely-worded senti-
ment but doubtless it originates in the
same principle which causes sailors to
dread putting out to sea on Friday,
viz the custom, once religiously OBJ
served, of keeping Friday as weekly
fast.
The signs to be derived from the ami
NAL world are very numerous and very
and are much observed amongst
our people in consequence. AS exam
Piles of the most common in this county,
they will tell you that seldom indeed
Will a wet day be found to follow when
IN the morning COWS are seen lying down
In their pastures; still more seldom
when rocks are noticed high in the air,
or swallows are seen at a great height
hawking after flies but rarest of all
when three white butterflies are seen
together, in the garden or field, The
latter is a sure sign of fine day, which
L have hardly ever known to fail. They
will tell you, on the other hand, that
when the distant downs look near or
the common plover or pewit, which
frequents our downs IN such numbers,
becomes restless; or the bees hurry
home and none leave the hive or par
tridges grow wild or sea-gulls make
their appearance so far inland; or pigs
carry straw in their mouths or insects
fly low; rain is at hand. These are but
of many similar instances of
unfailing Instinct in regard to weather,
which every student of nature admires
in the various branches of the animal
kingdom. l will conclude with the
clever lines of DR.. Jenner. which sum
up the matter very accurately:
'' The hollow winds begin to blow,
The clouds lock black, the glass is low,
The SCOT falls down, the spaniels sleep,
And spiders from their coOwebs creep;
Last night the sun went pale to bed,
The moon in halos hid her head;