Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-07-15
FORETELL STORMS
GEESE SERVE AS BAROMETepo
A NEW JERSEY FARMER

While the Fiocks Sometimes Max. ",
sances OF Themselves With Thai.
They Yet Perform Valuable Service.
Predicting What the Weather wp,
Maybe you have often notjcAa ;.
some farmers keep geese year IN
year out, let them have the RIM 90 :
farm and seem to show them all Il,
of consideration, said an obserrse
summer boarder, yet are ALWAYS sp.'-
ing that they are the biggest Duis,r.
in the world. If you have noticed y.
popularity of the daily rounds Of Il
husbandman, you have doubtless mo-.
time wondered why in blazes \,
farmer kept such nuisances on his nyon
Uses used to wonder why it wis l..
/ never bothered myself to find out Il.
reason, and one summer an explanar.-
of the mystery came about in a FINN
way. | was passing my vacation ON
farm over in Jersey The farmer had
big flock of geese, and be was eternal,
throwing the weightiest kind of .Jerss,
cuss words at them One day sat !,
the front stoop talking with my hos, =
The geese were placidly cropping ers,,
down along the road, big gander lea8
ing them on. Peace, tranquility ana
cont eminent spoke III every moyemqr
the fowls made. There wasn't elon5
in the sky that | could see The farm
er's men We're working without mucb
apparent vim at raking and loading ha7
down in a meadow not great way of
Suddenly the old gander poked m
his head, gave voice to peculiar
squawk. lifted his wings and started
off on run as fast as his big webbei
feet would let him go All the getse
poked up their necks at the sound Of
the gander's voice lifted their wings
and, with chorus of noises that only
a flock of geese can produce, started
after the gander as fast as they could
waddle. The gander ran perhaps 20
yards. and then, with a wild shrek he
took wing and flew in the direction of
a pond short distance from the road
The geese flew after him, filling the air
with their discordant cries Gander
and geese alighted i'll the pond, where
they all gathered in bunch, held
consultation in Il subdued chorus Of
cackles and went through all sorts Of
cratic maneuvers for few minutes
Then they separated and swan about
as placidly as they had been pasturing
4, q, 1t..I t.t1 l..',
AT the first movement Of the gan.
der, when he disturbed the tranquility
of the feeding flock, my host rose quick.
ly to his feet and as he moved toward
the meadow exclaimed
"'There's them ding haydn hands
workin as if they had all the rest OF the
year TO git that hay in, and here we're
goin to be ketched i'll tearin old show
er in less than an hour or else there
ain t no use i'll keepin geese.
Then he hurried down te the mead
ow, spurred up the men and took an
active hand himself at the loading Of
the hay Before / 5 minutes had passed
l saw clouds banking in the horizon,
and presently the mutter Of thunder
was heard among them The farmer
was right In an hour one Of the hard
est thunderstorms | ever saw was rag
ing over that part Of New Jersey, and
it caught the last load of the old man
hay in transit After supper that night
/ questioned the farmer on the goose
! question and found that the reason he
| tolerated flock of geese on his farm
was that they kept him posted on the
| weather
They hain't never failed me yit
he said When git up In the mornA
and see them geese oat on the pond, avn
and dressin down their feathers as
they was gittin ready to 90 to some par
| ty or other, | know that we are sure o
clear. warm, dry weather, and ! mah
! my calculations accordinly II u
geese amt a dressin themselves much
| but act kinder as If 1t WASH Of nue.
use to spruce up, then ! keep my eye o.
'em That's a warnin that we are i
danger of a spell Of weather II IN
geese quit the pond and don I go pac
much through the day, | know that u
danger holds, and | gitmyself ready lo
a good old fashioned rain sot IN 10
day or two anyhow If they feed aloH
awhile and waddle back to the pom
chippcrlike and 20 to dressin theuse!''
and divin. I'm quite certain toF SUI
that there won't be no sot ram CO.,
mencin that day If the gees "
all of a sudden and tears aroG- "A
you seen EN- today, then there
shower comm, and a-oomin fast 70
KIN bet a cooky
That's the reason some farmers Ae1
geese around and still 'holler IT OF
every little while that they WISH u
ding things We're in Halifax, lhay IL
weather prophets, and the farmers o
lieve in them as firmly as they GO
| the tradition that there's rlghJ anu
wrong time of the month TO pat III p
tatoes and to butcher hogs This iafiH'
| told me this and other funny tAl1a
about geese as storm prophets. he sti
that when they prophesy a storm u
sounds they make are not like tnelr GU
at any other time An expert resoei
| geese signals can tell the frightened q