The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-11-18
Highest of all in Leavenng u S Govt Report
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ABSOLUTELY PURE

| Gus, nCWeVer-the former simply an
nounces what is going to happen or
his own inspired authority, dIsdainine
TO bolster it up bv corroborative cir
cumstances or indications of any kind
You can believe him or not, as you
please; if you 90 not, he merely ex.
presses contemptuous pity for your
ignorance and incredulity and leaves
you to your, fate. His scorn is so sub.
lime and whitening that ordinary NOR
tails do not dare generally to disagree
with him openly. They would rather
meet one of his cyclones or hot waves
than excite his scorn, and they accept
his statements with the meekness that
IS essential to the preservation of the
peace when dealing with the man who
knows it ALL" The cold weather
prophet is less dlctatorial, but e;.u,
more alarming. He assumes a phiIo-
sophical and scientific air, and terrifes
his hearers by weighty array of rea-
sons ID support of his predictions.
don't ask you to take my word for
IT, ne says, but just listen to the voice
OF nature. She never makes any mis-.
takes Or false prophecies, and how do
you propose TO get over such indica-
tlons and auguries as these, and then
he cites all the familiar signs that are
supposed to presage severe winter.
This year, as usual, his voice is raised
IN the land to emphasize his predic-
tlons OF exceptional frost and cold by
solemn reference to the following infal-
lible proofs
FirSt-The husks on corn are much
thicker than usual, and of deem
orange tint instead of a light lemon
hue.
Second-The hogs melts runs Jagged
instead of smooth.
Third-The goose bone taken from
May raised fowl shows larger and
whiter spots than customary, which
resemble the canals of Mars.
Fourth-The crop of nuts of all
kinds is immense, and the squirrels and
chlpmunks are LAYING in prodigious
stores early in the season.
Fifth--The parlridges and woodcocks
are lighting In barns and outhouses
Instead of trees, and ducks are flying
in U-Shaped instead OF V-shaped f1ocks
towards the South.
Sixth-The green frogs are changing
their skins and are now seeking pro.
tected wells and springs tor their win.
ter quartets.
Such reasoning as this is unanswer.
able by the ordinary observer, and a
helpless horror seizes him as he covers
before the triumphant logic of the cold
weather prophet. He might pooh
pooh the thickness and the color of the
husks cf corn, smile at the eccentriclty
and crookedness of the hogs melt, and
even treat the venerable goose bone
with lrreverent scepticism. But when
we are told that partrldges and wood.
cock are flying into our outhouses
almost begging to be taken into the
kitchen and cooked to keep them
warm, and that the frogs are already
putting On their heavy overcoats and
setting out for the warm springs, even
the rankest infdelty is silenced I'd
overwhelmed. The cold weather pro.
phet this yeai, moreover, is supported
III only by the signs mentioned, but
BY an old old poetical prophecy which,
according to the London Times, was
1nearthed in 1865 from the Harleian
MSS, No. 2252, follos 153 a., in the
British Museum:
III Christmas Day on Monday. be,
great winter that year you'll see,
And full OF winds both loud and shriIl;
But in summer, truth to tell,
High winds shall there be, and strong,
Full OF tempests lasting long;
While battles they shall multiply,
And great plenty OF beasts shall die,
Ihey that be born that day, ween,
They shall be strong each one and keen;
He shall be found that stealeth aught;
Tho thou be SICK, thou diest not"
Christmas this year falls on Monday,
and if there is any dependence to be
placed in prophetic rhyme and reason,
cold chills ought already to be creep
ng down our backs. If the prophets
turn out to be right about the cold, let
is hope that as compensation the
partridges and the woodcock may roost
close to our kitchen fires all through
he