The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-20

Yet people say. know not why,
That we shall have = warm July.
The records In the office Of Mr. Emery, the
man who handles the straws which show
which way the wind blows. disclose that In
tho year 1900. which had a rainy July IS.
twenty-six out Of the forty folio wing days
were clear. Statistics since that date point
to results equally significant. with four or
nve consecutive days without a recordable
rainfall.
This poetic inaocuracy over the effect Of
the old saint was hit In the head about half
century ago In England. when the weather
sharps found out, after investigating the
records for more than twenty years at Green.
witch Observatory. that the midsummer period
introduced by cloudless fifteenth Of July
was frequently more ,watery than the sea-
sons when the charmed~day was stormy.
weather is no more false than the notion that
swithln was a saint or the story OF the oc-
Ssi . on Tbsh he by was the se d f ss shn
Enfflsnd i9 the ninth century, Tradition
IL d saGet e the e F1 hs' a hd
holy ahurchni an; The chronicles report
outside Of the church there, where the
sa e.. from the ed b Ys
More than one hundred years later. the same
popular writings record, The clergy, holding
to remove the body into the cathedral at
a. On as ana ers
rainstorm was Interpreted BY the monks
Is an admoniton from Heaven. TO desist
S% ms the aepshbsd wishes nss y od
Abandoned. and a chapel. instead, was built
thn hay
miracles, we're worked. In tie year Of these
days Is .ns%fn have
70 Be buried Inside OF the church. and that
eashsdps was attendsd With us Splendid cere-
HOE and without any indication of heavenly
within was home made saint: BEGINNING
she rank q A;hop Bsloysd Of Ahe !, people ,gl;,
ssss1:: Ia vs q Rome until two
hs 81 Rbs ssn KSs sss hsd
made the tutor and companion Of Ethel
wulf. bic successor, to the throne. swlthn
meSts, inciSdlns ths construction q the
frst. stone bridge IN that part Of England,
ths l.ehe x Liter b. eeSsme he pss
on his pilgrimage TO Rome, when Alfred WAS
little more than . baby. He also introduced
the system OF tithee, setting apart for the
died. Winchester Cathedral received his
pte and Peters, the names
The 81. swithln legend nuns through Ene lish
literature with great inslstence and Is often
challenged. Ben Jonson, nearly four GEN.
turtles ago. In Every Man Out Of His Humor.
almanac and utter the following comment;
o here. St. swtthln. the fifteenth dayi Variable
most part rain! Why II should rain, forty days
AFTER. now, more or less, was a rule held afore
was abls TO hold pillow. and yet here are two days
no rain: hn! II makes me muse.
Poor Robins Almanack- for 1907 contains
these verses:
In this month OF 81. Swithin's day.
On which II that II rain. they say.
Full forty days after II will.
Or more or less. some rain distil.
This Swtthin was a saint, trow,
And Winchester's Bishop. also.
Who In his time did many a feat
As popi8h legends do repeat
woman having broken her eggs
BY stumbling az anothers legs.
For which she made a woful cry.
81. swtthin CHANGED for TO come by
Who made them all az sound or more
Than ever that they were before
But whether this were so or no.
lis more than you or do know.
Better II Is to rise betlme
Than 10 believe In tales and lies
Which Idle monks and fT.ars devise.
John Gay. In his TRIVIA" the great weather
poem. refers to the old legend, which has its
analogue in the literatures Of many of the
Continental nations. LEX
NEW ToKk. July il.