The Washington times., 1901-12-08
PSYCHOLOGY OF
STORMY WEATHER
THE SUPERSTITIONS OF MARINERS
Grotrsuuc Myths Associated With
Wind und WaNe-twful Fears
That Black Clouds Inspire
in Some People.

The recent storms which clustered with
so much violence along the coast, and
which caused such grave apprehension in
the minds Of many persons, will probably
cause the reflective mind to conjure with
many curious beliefs and many strange
superstitions which have been associated
with the weather almost from n time
when the memory of man runneth not to
the contrary.
Wind and wave nave been the parents
Of an almost limitiess number of myths.
Some Of them are pretty; some Of them
are grotesque. Some Of them are even
weird and uncanGy. the kind of things
which alright the souls of men. The le
gcndary literature Of the world is rich in
these tales, and many chapters have been
written by the delivers after lore on ma
ture voices as heard in The wind and
the wave.
There are the vikings of the sturdy old
Mortimer. and in Ireland one may still
hear the voices in dear old Kilkenny
voices as weird IS strange and as full Of
meaning as the banshee cry. There is,
too. Aphrodi;e. the child o. the seafoam
and The friend OF the swooninE swain, and
one may not forget Thor, whose voice is
heard in the thunder.
But there are lesser and later myths.
There are myths yet common among
the peoples who are grouped along the
coast. and there is what one may call dis
tinctly The psychology of the storm. What
broodinEs what mental trembling, what
awful. indcscribable fears; what heart
sick dreading sometimes fall upon the
soul that is fearful of the weather, Out
of the black. ominous cloud that boils up
from behind the horizon skirting the tim
Der lines with its black and rolling bill
lows. there springs an awful fear that
some dread something may happen as
result OF natures stormngs. The primi-
tive mans belief that the cloud shadow
was haunting spirit, wild and wander
ing soul come back to haunt and taunt
the living, was not more depressing in its
effect than this black bit Of swirling wind
and water as it scampers along. growing
occasionally as it scampers and swirls. or
hurting across the earths atmosphere
one Of its jagged and flashing bolts.
Mariners signs.
When the wind comes from this direc-
tion or that it means this. that and so
TO the old mariner, and he looks for a
good voyage or a bad one, according to the
popular belief among his kind. He
watches the cloud, and the wave, and the
wind, and as he watches he gives out his
wise sayings on the unerring regularity
and sequence with which certain things
have happened in the past when the same
signs were found in the heavens or in the
sea. The symbols of the meteorologic
expert. and the charts, with their arrows
and dots and other curious symbolic
things do not mean so much to him as
the little fleece of a cloud that slips up
from behind the horizon in a certain di-
rection, according to his compass, and
swells, and boils. and spreads until il
grows into big black and threatening
aerial monster. Or 1t may be some pret-
ty tint of the sky, something merely sug-
GestiYc in lIs nature, or it may be pecu-
liar swish OF the wind as 1t filters
through & e windows of the pilot house.
or il may be any one OF an almost infinite |
variety Of other signs, either one Of which |
iorebodes something or other. They are |
the unfailing signs OF the mariner. who |
has been forced to pay more attention |
TO these things than tho fellow inland /
because he is away from the conveniences, |
and then he prefers to do il. u-Et7r
Ones bunions may hurt because OF tho !
changed atmospheric conditions. and the
learness OF a damper status, but one |.
must believe that this Is the weather's
signal. ones bunions will cease to hurt /.
after she rain. II the candle flies began 1
10 swarm In the weeds and grass. flying |
,loser and closer TO the earth, instead Of
soaring higher where they could feed on
such juicy things as might tickle their
1alates and swell their pouches, one must
believe that this is the harbinger Of rain.
II is the unfailing sign. and one may not
believe that the weight OF the air has
changed, and that the baromctric press
ire has tired the little wings OF the light
ling bugs until they could no longer To-
,omOte. II IS simply the woather's warn
ng that the weather will change. And .
so. too, there is the bit OF doSEerel which |
he man learned TO pratte in his infancy. /
and be sDouts it TO the child at his knee: |
Morning grey and evenings rod
Brings down rain upon your bead
And now. forsooth. the devil is whipping
his wife around a stump because II rains |
while the sun still shines. and out yon- I
der at the end OF the rainbow one may
find a bag OF gold. One may hear the |
croak OF the treefrog, or the sad, d;oll |
cry OF the raincrow. just the day before |
il rains.
The Dread of storms.
And thus the weather signs run. and !
iney might De piicd up WITHOUT illhil loi |
they are stilI believed in by many persons |
who stand in the glare Of the age, and |
weather maps cannot destroy pictures |
partly real.
But the psy, biology OF the storm is prob !
ably more serious because of the feeling !
Of dread which comes over The person |
afraid Of the wind The black cloud is a 1
black terror. it means that hard wind |
will follow. and that the house may be |
blown down, or that the ships Iaay be |
..--r.LnA :. .L.l nr tL.t a.rLlnt hin.. rLlnH |