Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-14
WET OR (WHICH?
Watch TomorroW's Weather for
a Traditional Sign.
ST. SWITHIN'S DAY is NEAR
Sunshine a Forerunner of Forty
Days of Drought.
TIPS FOR RAIN-SHY FOLK
Damp Monday Presages Long Period
of Dripping Skies-How It All
Came About.
TIPS FOR RAIN-SHY
FOLK
St. Swithin's day. gin it be fair,
st. Swithin's dar, gin 1t shall rain,
For forty DAYS Il will remain.

Ancient Scotch Bard.
According to the old-time almanac and
tradition, tomorrow will be St. Swthin &
day. That there may be some cosmical
connection between it and grounding day,
which occurs on February 2, Is said to be
more than probable. St. Swithins day is
near midsummer while grounding day is
near midwinter. Both days have a bear
ing upon the matter of humidity and cloudi-
ness in the atmosphere.
If the second day of February, on which
the little grounding is supposed to awake
from It's winter nap and crawl out into
the open, is cloudy the fact is said to be-
token an early spring. Should 1t be rainy
ST. Swithin's day, similar falling weather,
according to tradition, Is indicated for six
weeks, or, as the old almanacs used to
state it, for forty days.
Strength of Tradition.
II tradition is utterly without founda-
ton 1t weakens in time and finally fades
away But If there is the least possible
physical cause for If the fact keeps re-
curing and the tradition is kept alive. 1t
| Is not necessary to support tradition that
the fact on which it is based shall always
prove invariable. The slightest preponder-
ance in its favor in the long run is suf-
its favor and science is unable to account
for the exceptions to its rule, that is simply
the misfortune of science, il not Its fault as
a result of It's ignorance.
Last Candlemas day the grounding did
not see his shadow and an early spring
was expected. But sun spots made their
appearance, and while there was no very
severe weather after the I'd Of February,
spring was very much belated, because,
possibly, the spots kept appearing and re-
appearing, and interfered more or less with
the so-called solar-constant, which is now
known to be very incOnstant and to de-
pend on circumstances over which the
weather man has no control and about
which also he may know very little. One
thing is sure, that for every event and even
part of an event there IS an active and suf-
ficient cause, and It is the duty of the sci
entfic man to find 1t out, even If the con-
nection be hard to trace. And il one man
cannot find it out. 1t is not his privilege In
this age of discovery to say that another
shall not.
For many years. probably ever since the
ninth century of the Christian era, St.
Swithin's name has been associated with
an English ecclesiastic, who was chaplain
to King Egbert and tutor to his son, Ethel
wuf. In $50 he was consecrated Bishop
of Winchester. He originated the tribute
of "Peter-pence," and procured the passage
of an act requiring all the English to pay
tithes. At his own request he was buried
where the rain might fall upon his grave.
To make this sure he was buried under the
caves Of his church. When it was pro-
posed on one July 10. to place his body
on the inside of his church, the elements
protested and prevented 1t by raining on
that day and every day after it for forty
days, and hence the tradition.