The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-26
WINTER NOT OVER YET.
ELIzABETH JANE SdYS so, AND SHE
rs OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW.

CHESTER, n. Y, Feb. 25.-"Gentlemen,' snid
the tall stranger. you NAV talk. but You
haven't got Old Boreas on the run rs yet, not
by along sight, You would all think 40 II YOU
had aver met my Elizabeth Jane. Eliza
beth Jane isn't my wife. Elizabeth Jane Ia an
owl. and she Is IS years old IL she IL n minute.
Whenever the Goth day Of February rolls round
and joins tho endless procession of yesterdays.
and Elizabeth Jane gazes on its low-de-
scendinR sun without marking the day in
her usual manner, / know that Boreas
Is bound to blow a piping blast yet
before even the crocus peeps from its early
bed or the punctual arbutus swoctens the
damp. dark hillside with its breath. In other
words. II the Goth OF February passes and
Elizabeth Jane hasn't laid her eggs in the hol-
low tree where she has had her nest for more
years than l care to look back upon. know
that there won't be any use OF counting on
winters going away with a lame back for az
least a good round month yet.
Gentlemen, the Goth OF February was a
nice. warm, sunshiny day this year. and wa
have had nice. warm. sunshiny days since. But
Elizabeth James nest Is as bare OF eggs as a
catfish il OF hair. Listen to the prophetic voice
OF that empty nest and keep your heaviest
ulster where you can grab 1t quick. and see that
the snow shovel isn't lent. and don't let the
coal bin get low. Elizabeth Jane has given the
warning. She never made a mistake yet.
"Seventy-fve years old. IL she's q m~inutei
That's what Elizabeth Jane is. She settled in
our woods ten years before 1 was born. but OF
course no ono knows how old she was when
she came there. Elizabeth Jane ia not only an
inralllble spring prophet. but she is a living
tombstone. as it were. Not exactly n tomb
stone. either. but a monument. My grand
mothers name was Elizabeth Jane. The
prophetic owl had been one OF us. as 1 might
say. for twenty years when grandmother died.
Times were pretty hard Just then, and grand
father couldn't afford to get the old lady n mon
ument. But grandfather had n big head. He
was quite an arguer. grandfather was.
"'Juvonal,' said he to me. statistics show
a great many things, and they have shown 10
right down to a dinktum that it isn't much Of
an owl that won't live to be a hundred years
old. Now. as this particular owl OF ours said
he. amt likely to go and quit us until death
summons her, I'll Just name her Elizabeth
Jane. after your grandmother. and that will
perpetuate your grandmother's memory as
long as marble will
And so there is Elizabeth Jane. Many Is
the late and nipping frost phe has saved us
from. The dollars she has added to our COM
munity by her weather wisdom has moro, than
paid our taxes these many years. and tax } are
heavy over our way. for somehow w <can't
manage to get the sort OF Tax Assessor that
other people do-one OF the kind OF Assessors
who has the knack OF being unable to sec
S2O.00O worth OF personal property or $50, 600
in money at interest right under his nose. but
who can see an acre Of land ten miles back in
the mountains Just as plain as day. Why. sayi
At shutdown. on every Goth day OF February.
the neighbors flock to our place for miles
around to see me climb up to the
hollow In that tree to find out what report
Elizabeth Jane has made for us. II her eggs
are there. the next day folks go about getting
ready for their spring work. no matter II snow
is coming down by the acre and ice is forming
at the rate Of an inch an hour. They know that
Elizabeth Jane has said that spring is Just on
the other side of it, and the work goes on. But
tig th 81 ns sst Is empty nPb spring GI 5Hsi Pi;ss h Is shut up
f,snII sid ' RsF s sssiins 5l HSa eRs The si t=hsT@1m Saee
should go up 70 30 and the birds sang all day.
P PsIks a nnpG ,b sef he flfrf Ss S S1Me u is sti Ism lu5Ekki s
landslide when they least expect him,
There isn't any doubt in the world but that
p pc3 : n many Z year BY EIiza b Jane me- Rs's
Jasper down south somewhere to winter over.
On the both OF February he writes to mo az
What does Elizabeth Jane say?,
II the eggs are in the nest we write to Uncle
the Hs1 Si nj s'e Of Il The y big March II" blisSard i'T Thss's
Sb'syiS t. 'S%hsre ave Gca RH' qh saeS J%as ySa be ss n ds% Il i
hadn't been for Elizabeth Jane? / can't say
but he, wouldn't be alive. Remember how
fSst e. Eyot the s'o weather y eec was al the ESs6dFTieRr cy%
BLIZZARD, Ksmember I'll or course. You dol
Why. say, Tho very trees were budding. and T
month. Everybody said that 1t was hardly
necessary to have Elizabeth Jane at all that
Any A one can see, people said. that winter
made 3 m they SpH ws19 t sH s11 Fli 06 It Sh gans yhs Se,s
TO sea what she had to say about the weather.
s sRRyw1 y hesr t Sssp rep6 h9lf a A6 d3z %bs neiGe eemS
down out of the tree and announced that Elisa
beth Jane hadn't dropped her assnrdin & egg
OF precedent and declared that Elizabeth jane
Saas Po9St poShH they said. She's in her Sec
Most people around there turned IN 2 ttheif
ing, wrote that as things were 50 far, advaposd
week, But ny faith in Elizabeth Jane hadn9
there by the nape Of the neck as it ,were;,f
f2th1 and 18th Of that March, donp|t YOU p ONT
think you DO! 1t ISM likely that the March bliz-
room for the one you had last week. 1t hasn'6
slipped The /, mind minds tS Of folks j oyer our way; any
blizzard would have been tho end Of UnGle Jas
per, And the very next day after that blizzard.
Was Tas'S Piled led ith fITI feet daesp 9 ON iii and IN s dale.
Elizabeth Jane laid her eggs amid all the wintry
hubbub and evident utter annihilation Of every
prospect OF spring. Ten days later nature was
smiling from carte ear. Balmy weather came
stepping on the, heels Of Boreas. and he went
Gentlemen" concluded. the tall stranger.
don't deceive, yourselves. beg OF you'll You
haven't got Did BoreaS on the run yet. not by a
long sight! Elizabeth James nest Is as bare Of
eggs as a catfish is OF hair. and ! repeat II you
till everything cracks. evon though it be time
for the violet 10 purple the mead and tho dan
uRInn IN IHnnHlnA tina ann-EiEGan hnnk ms
won't be any too good for you"
Starving with Two Stomachs.