The New York herald., 1876-11-27
The weather Prophet.

"About this time expect rain. > Old Alma
nae "a southerly wind and cloudy sky
proclaim it q hunting morning. "-O Old Song.
"A ring around the moon brings rain. - Old
Farmer. Such sayings as these not long ago
were the only weather predictions we had,
and as they were rather vague they were
never either exactly wrong nor exactly right.
No one could accurately say just how the
stormy winds would blow, nor when the
rain would fall upon the umbrellas Of the
just and unjust. But now new system has
been established. The Benevolent Order of
Weather Prophets has undertaken to furnish
us with authentic prophecies as to what the
weather will be days beforehand, and thus
to save the country much anxiety and
trouble. BY these prophecies the prudent
citizen carries his cane or umbrella, the
farmer gathers in his crops, the lover ar
ranges his wedding and the children their
picnics. Such revelations are more useful
than predictions about the end of the
world or the approach of the millennium,
though they are not as majestic and i'm
posing.
A good weather prophet believes himself
infallible, and rejoices in the fulilment of
his auguries. Rather than be disappointed
when he announces o storm he would gladly
walk miles in the rain, that he might have
the satisfaction of saying II told you so" to
the world. There is nothing SO gloomy to
him as a clear sky when he has predicted
falling barometer and partly cloudy weather.
In such cases he is the centre of an area of
depression which makes him an object OF
compassion. IT, trusting to the thermome-
ter, he proclaims that the next day will be
warm, he will be seen gayly walking down
the street in the morning without an over
coat or even gloves, and it is possible that
probably he may wear white pants and a
straw hat. "Quite warm" he will remark
to his friends, though the mercury may
almost fall to zero. The weather prophet
would rather be frozen than admit that he is
incorrect in his predictions But, like
all other prophets he is rarely with
out good explanation. DR.. Cummings has
repeatedly named the date of the end of the
world, but when the world rolled on us
usual he was never without fair excuse
for the grave disappointment. In like man
ner the weather prophet is never at a loss;
tho meteors are detected by mountains from
their paths, or tornadoes fall innocent VIC
Tins to the fury of the vindictiye Gulf
Stream. In short, the weather may often be
wrong, but the prophet is invariably right.
But there are good and bad prophets, just
as in old times there were the ofacles of
Beelzebub, prince of the powers of the air,
and the prophets of Israel. There are sew
eral thousand weather prophets in the
United States, and some OF them seek to
penetrate the future beyond the power of
mortal vision. Altogether they are scien-
tific and valuable body, and it is astonish-
ing with what accuracy the network Of sig
nails and the comparisons of the Central
Bureau at Washington enable them to an
nounce the movements of winds, the APP
proach of storms and the rise or fall of tenn
perature. 1t is not surprising that Mr..
Proctor, the astronomer, should have de-
clared our signal service the best in the
world