Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-03-05

air 80 that there is not enough left for us
to breathe. We call it the lull. But in Oc-
tober comes change of weather. Oh, how
it does sometimes change We used to
think we had changes of weather up in Yer
mont. | remember one of them. One morn
ing our thermometer said it was thrty.six
degrees below zero, and in less than twenty
four hours IL was twenty-eight degrees above
zero. But sometimes we have worse changes
of weather out here than that was. Perhaps
at night the sun will go down leaving the
sky looking as If somebody had been scat
tering gold dust all over the blue, making
it look very strangely. But you are tired
and you go to sleep TO be awakened in a few
hours by strange roar that makes you
think of lions and bears and wolves and
tigers all together in one great unhappy fam.
lily. You jump up to find your lamp, which
you always keep burning, blown out, aud
your papers from the study-table flying all
around and the room filed with such
cloud of dust that you choke and cough as
you hurry TO the window and, after desper-
ate efforts, succeed in closing the heavy shut
ter, and in re-lighting the lamp. The rest
of the night is not a very good time for sleep.
You thought you had heard the wind blow
up in Vermont, did you, Tom when it took
up the snow in such great piles and tossed
them into your face so hard that each little
soft snowflake seemed to be made of steel
with sharp points to cut right through the
skin. Well, that was hard enough, used
to think, too. But just listen to the wind
out here. The mats overhead slam up and
down with noise like halfa-dozen great
doors blowing back and forth. Outdoors
the great palm leaves crash and clang against
each other, as if two armies of giants were
fighting together with dead pine trees for
weapons. And then how the rain comes
down Oh, Tom; it never rains up in
| Vermont, does it 7 You remember the time
when the snow drifted. WE'LL suppose that,
instead of snow, the wind had just scooped
up the whole of Lake Champlain aud drifted
it over the Vermont hills and mountains and
valleys. That would have been something
like Ceylon rain, perhaps.
No, am mistaken, Tom. Let us figure a
little. Ceylon is forty-seven and one-half
times as large as Lake Champlain. ] saw
a Ceylon letter the other day that said the
amount of rain that fell in one place there
was over eleven feet. But the rain of the
year comes all at once, as I've told you
Now if il was the same all over the island
it would take, as | reckon it up, more thar
fifty lakes, each as large as Lake Champlain
and each ten feet deep, to make the rair
that fell that year in Ceylon. Last night
the ground out in the yard looked like &
heap of ashes. But you lie awake anC
wonder if there will be any ground left il
the morning. But morning comes, and W,
look out of the door. This is what we cal
a rain, Tom. How do you like it ? Yol
cannot count the drops now, Nellie. 1t seem,
to come in sheets or buckets.full rathe
than in drops. Aud so it keeps on nigh
and day. day and night. Scarcely lull il
it for week, or even for two or three weeks
This is Ceylon Winter, not quite like Yer
mont Winter but don't know yet which
like the best-those old cold days an,
nights, or these rainy ones. 1t is not cold
The thermometer says about seventy fv
degrees, pleasant Summer heat only. Blu
Tom says very quietly; " ii it keeps oil
much longer like this, things will begin t.
get wet" Yes, Tom, they do get wet, ant
you'll see them and hear them too befor
long. Listen minute Hear the frogs
They are out there in our flower garden
About ten thousand of them have come +
give us a serenade. And after them hav
come some other things, and before then
too. Frogs, you know, eat insects. Their
are a great many different sorts of insect
out here some of them not very pretty, am
not very good pets. The rain has drive
them out of their homes and the frogs ar
after them. They will kill great many o
them. But some of the big ones will ru
away from the frogs, and Tom will have /
help a little, think, before night. Then tn
snakes and other animals eat frogs. AN
perhaps if you look out little while you
see some of them. And Tom will think bel
ter of our good friend the rattlesnake whe
the frog concert gets to be perfectly uner
durable, and he looks out and sees the goo
old fellow swallowing down the frogs by tn
peck. And Rover is good dog now.
you never appreciated him before, you d
| l.. I1ap lilo
centipedes and big spiders any better thai
you do, and if one of them comes into you
room when he is there he will tell you of il
} But the rain comes to an end at last, a
most things do. Yet winter is not owe
The rainy season is followed by what W
, call the dewy season. Wait till that is owe
, Tom, before you make up your mind whethe
this is better than the old cold Vermont VIII
ter. The hot sun makes the water seem t
! be steaming AS the clouds pass away. 70
thought things would get wet, did you
Well, there were a few things that didn
: perhaps-some things in the house wher
the roof did not leak. But wait few day
, and then see if you can find anything that
dry in the house or out of the house. n
use to scour the table knives till Just befor
| dinner, tell Mary Then we will first scrap
them and then wash them, for they hav
been coated all over with warm tallov
That is the only way to keep them decor
in this Winter weather. And look at TIL
, books. They are just white with moul'
We must wipe them carefully and shut thel
up in the closet, and then put little dishC
3 of lime on the shelves TO dry the air Loo
) at your pocketknife, Tom Bah 1t
D all yellow with rust. Things are begiI
y ming to get wet" are they not Yes, an
q they will keep on growing wetter and welt,
( for month, perhaps. And is it not grow
ing rather cold too, Tom? Go and see WIFI
e the thermometer says now. Eighty abo'
$ zero :" Well, guess we shall not free,
n yet. But how we do lose our respect IL
4 science and for thermometers, too after
i few weeks of this weather The fact
there are some things that even wise me
a and Thermometers do not know. heard
| 4 A. 4, l.,l ,,,N