The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-11-21
a WEATHER VAM CRAZE


IL 6o80o 41o9oeSy IN = 2O00oOe1o0t
Town Macy Ysas@ Ago
~ ~-.
oean 0sese eAs Eys efjths W.
iese - the Aneatqtsd
sus.
Only the Oldest inhabitepts can re-
call It now, but years ag6a weather
vane epidemic swept throufh this coun-
try, and for q time it ragged as fiercely
- the lightning-rod plague or the tancy
htching-post curse Of none recent
yean.
Everybody aud every ything fell before
it. Churches, barns and meeting houses
all bore the badge Of the malady, and
'farmers, vestrymen. and volunteer fire.
men reveled In the wea<h vane until
it almost became hahitwith them.
Like the metnlkc but hollow wild
beasts that ten years ago roamed over
the front yards Of the land and then
suddenly returned to their native
haunts In the iron fonndriea, the
weather vane ran It's course and the
epidemic passed away without seriously
affecting the nations health or pros
perity.
In some places the relics of that era
are still to be found, and for the collec-
tor of antique weather vanes no locality
offers such promise of a fruitful and
bountiful harvest as Stratfoad, Conn.
C1,a coo< ~ %1a ~.-foln co1 Il =, rn<c,u @v,
have been located in that quiet little
New England village, and for miles
around itraged with unabated fury long
after the rest of the country had recov-
cred.
Within two miles of Oronoque, a tiny
suburb of Stratford, there are dozens Of
weather-vame monstroGties still stand
ing. They blossom on either side of the
road and from every barn and farm.
house. There are bronze arrows and
helmets, wooden race horses. warped
Venuses ard stunted Apollos. But the
gem of the collection undoubtedly is a
weather-beaten old Cupid impaled on
the sharp end of a stick high above the
gables of q weather-beatm old barn.
From the general outline it Is supposed
that it originally was intended as a
cross between cherub and a Cupid, but
some excellent authorities hold that THE
vane is really q reproduction from a
weA-known photograph Of Gabriel
taken while be was still in short
pants" This theory is based upon the
fact that the figure holds in his hands
trumpet instead Of the orthodox quiver
and bow. Those who oppose this view.
insist that the trumpet is note trumpet,
but merely q dinner horn which the
architect playfully put there to tease
the honest but hungry hired man
To the casual tourist who is not a
student Of weather vanes the monrrel
Cupid seems more like the living ex-
ample OF some new brand of babies
food, and as he balances himself by his
fet little stomach on the sharp end of
that stick and wiggles around where
the wind listeth, dc seems to have
taken an overdose. AS the weather
vane y not a scintillating success, and
unless the wind lieteth unusually heard
it cannot bulge him, but as am example
OF tire most acute form Of the mania, he
is practically pricelesa
Farther down the road, toward Shell
ton, there Is another striking proof of
the virulent form of tie ancient craze.
In . pretty old colonial farmhouse, with
green blinds and yellow and white
trimmings, lives a retired minister of
the Gospel, and from the peak of the
house Of the minister arace "hossn with
brazen effrontery is taking warming
up gallop in midair. As an ornament
for jockey club the hooded and
blamketed steed could not be improved
upon, but as weather vame on min
ister's home, it is simply illustrative OF
how the plague spased neither the
righteous nor the ungnlly. By curl
ous coincidence horve trainer lived
near the minister, and a. If to eanpha.
size the curfoua forms of the disease
from his barn a truck horse cast in an
heroic mold and totally out of sympa-.
thy with the traineri1 spirited stock
and the trainers spirited ways, plotle
rlacidly onward, never getting any-
where and never telling within four
points OF where the wind is, but con-
tented in setting worthy example for
the young brothers below and in rent
ing out his arched neck az lodging
house for the birds Of the air..
But high above all these, proud in the
consciousness of it's own superiority.
stands theuarest and th4 oldest weather
vane freak IN that vasae-stricken ter
ritory. From the pinnacle of the stoeple
OF Christ church Is perched = fighting
cock, with head thrown back in q lusty
crow and tail feathers aached defiantly.
For 1a9 years that rooster has stood
there growing ceaselessly and bolster
ously over all creeds, all denomination
and all other weather cocks. Christ
church, the oldest Protestant Episcopal
church in the state Of Connecticut, has
been rebuilt thae4 times, and over each
structure that old bird has stood guard
in all kinds Of weether, and somehow,
in his brave old strut and swagger,
he seems to embody both tie idea Of the
Church militant 7and warning" Of to-
day and the promise Of the church
triumphant" Of the future.-N. Y.
Press.
A Fathers A1t1eity In Tfanoe.
This father has full and complete au-
thority over them, ahd demands strict
forms a respect. In France good son
the important acts Of his