The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1875-08-25

Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life,
The evening beam that smiles the clouds
away
And tints tomorrow with prophetic ray"
Then again how true is the Old Wit
SHIRE aaE qssssasa s.4ss+ag4s
"When the wind is northwest
The weather is at the best
But if the rain comes ont of the east,
Twill rain twice twenty-four hours at the
least"
These are general proverbs, applica-
bio to all times but we have an IN
usual number of proverbs in Wiltshire
which describe the evils of too advanced
vegetation in a precocious spring. Thus
for January we have
IF the grass grows in Janiveer,
1t grows the worse fort all the year
And again:
"a January spring
Is worth nothing
For February:
"Of all the months in the year
Curse fair Februeer"
SO again for March, in true Wiltshire
language:
'As many mistises in March.
So many frostises in May
And the we'll known adage:
" II March comes in like a lion, it goes out
like lamb;
If it comes in like a lamb, it goes ont like
lion"
For April, again:
"A cold April
The barn will fill"
And again:
april showers
Bring summer flowers
And another, lauding 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:
enlist in May and heat in June,
Makes the harvest come right soon.'
And again
"Wbo dofrs his coat on winters dNy,
viii gladly put it on in May"
And for June
"a dripping June
Brings ali things in tune"
Every one of these Wiltshire proverbs
relating to the first six months of the
year, proclaims the acknowledged fact
that q prolonged winter and q tRrdy,
spring bespeak more abundant cf6pB
and more assured plenty than the pl6ds.
anter, however unreasonable; Warmth
which sometimes gladdens all hearts in
winter and early spring. Nor lis this
belief peculiar to our county, or even TO
England. It is held quite as, much in,
the south of Europe. For the Italians
have proverb " Januafy commits The
faults, and May beats the blame ~ ntfd
it is o common sagiDgtih Spain i'hA,
year of snow, yean of plentB4Iui More;
over, that such premature mildpeasl OF
the season does pot inl reality advance
vegetation, everybody who p0ssesses 9
garden knows to His COST And here
again we have seyef8ls wiltshire pro-
verbs relating TO this faet, and contain
ing very weighty truths. ThetOne runs
thus: I'm. ve,Atail u sid
"Be it veal or bo it woe. i..,...i5
Beans bi6# befbro My doth g6.:"'"
Another sHvk.y uuG '@''1 = -',0G
'sCdms IT, SarGy'6r touhe ID late, '.a
& IniMqyieo4les the cern-quake."
And third: .atisIr'r t,i........ T..
,stPlant your 't4tgrs when you will,
They won't come up before April"
But again we have Wiltshire sayings
which affirm, what I believe to be an
equally undeniable truth, that together
WithNA sifolonged winter and dripping
spring. lls! ,dry summer is more to be
desired, by the husbandman. That,
however, is a season we gcarceiy seem to
have experienced this year, when the
old Devonshire proverb, applicable
enough in that rainy county, might
have been qouted with much truth even
here
1.-THE west wind always brings wet weather
The east wind, wet and cold together;
The south wind surely brings MS rain;
The nsrth wind blows it back again.
Showing that from whatever point of
the compass the wind blows, rain is
sure to. fall.
There is very curious old Wiltshire
prejudice against a 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 am at loss to
conjecture. It is handed down in the
following proverb:
"a Saturdays moon
II it comes once in seven years,
Comes once too so0n.
Equally unfounded, though more easily
accounted IOTs lb b1e uOblOu "IIGll pre-
walls among our people that the weather
on Friday differs from that of oil other
days. The saying is
ITO every other day in the weeA
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 oh.
served, Of keeping Friday as weekly
fast.
The signs to be derived from the ami
NAL world are very numerous and very
reliable, and are much observed amongst
our people in consequence. As exam
pies Of the most common in this county,
they will tell you that seldom indeed
viii vet 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 ak q 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
have hardly ever known to fail They
viii tell you, on the other hand, that
when the distant downs look near; or
the common plovsr or pewit, which
Fxaouerte pYYr dnvng in surb uurahnra