The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-29

| In pleasant weather, when there's nc storm in the works, they'll go off or 1 long tramps sometimes miles away from home; but when you see 'em hang
 around the barnyard and stay in a ] huddle, you may safely calculate 't'u 1 rain fore tn days over. When the rain is close at hand you'll see all kinds O fowls standing around oiling their wings and feathers"
 This remark caused me to laugh. | Why didn't you ever see a hen oil 1 herself?"
 | l confessed negatively and intimated 1 that 1 had not come to a consideration of the subject with a view to bur 1 lesquing 1t,
 Bless your heart. my dear man' ! was the earnest rejoinder. "Id no in- tenton of making light of the topic. Of course, you've seen a cat washing her face, as they call it? We'll, have you never seen a hen going through pretty much the same kind of motions? thought so Now, the hen wasn't washing her face but she was, as l re- marked before, oiling herself against the coming of the rain storm The next time you have a chicken sent home from the market, just take notice of a little nipple like pimple, on the back of the chicken, right on top of what is called the 'pope's nose. That pimple is nothing more nor less than can of oil, over which the fowl rubs it's bill, getting it all covered; then she rubs her bill over her feathers, making them waterproof. Hens, turkeys and wild birds as well always give them selves an oil dressing just before rain, Ducks, geese and other water fowl per form the same operation before going into the water, so that they are worth less as sign birds,
 Pigs, too, will remain near to their sty if it's going to rain, while at other times they will wander far away When spiders spin freely and their webs are seen on almost every bush and shrub, you may rest assured there will be no rain for the next tWenty-tour hours. Living creatures furnish the most trustworthy weather signs, al- though accurate forecasts may be made from inanimate things. Take the com- mon plaintain, for instance; when its
  shape of sugar scoop, it is always safe to calculate upon having rain within twelve hours. The same may be said of many floral plants, though some of them reverse the order, like the cow slip which closes up for fair and opens for stormy weather There ade also signs to be observed among the ele- ments that are tolerably trustworthy. No doubt you have heard the old dog gereI handed down through genera tions:
 Evening red and morning gray, Will set the traveller on his way, But evening gray and morning red, Will bring down rain upon his head.
 Also
 Rainbow in the morning gives sailors
 warning: Rainbow at night gives sailors delight.
 Likewise If smoke in the evening doth down.
 ward incline
 The sun on the morrow unclouded will 1
 shine; But if it mounts upward, as straight as |
 a die,
 Then storm clouds and tembest will |
 battle on high,
 "The sentiment of those lines is prac- | tically trustworthy. The latter embod- l ies one of the surest signs observable, | When you see the smoke from chim- | hey going straight up into the sky it | shows that the smoke is lighter than | the air; the atmosphere being heavy | with moisture, will be very likely to discharge itself in the form of rain at m early hour" "-New York Tribune.