Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-10-09
WOMAN A WEATHER SHARP.
Mrs Wilkins Makes Forecast iron,
 the Clouds.

tIlG SIOuOSs
 A new weather prophet has come to town, Mrs Eva Smith Wilkins of Syracuse. Her forecasts are based on the clouds, their size, shape. color and direction.
 So successful has she been that weather forecasters all over the country have become interested in her methods. Her most recent feat was to predict correctly seven days of fair weather for the state fair. She Is now in this city and expects soon to give novel entertainments autobiography seance, she calls 1t, to friends on the roof of hotel.
 It was the perplexing feminine problem of to carry or not to carry an umbrella that first led her to take up the study of weather signs. She finally made it possible for Syracuse women to decide week in advance on the gowns they would wear. But though her prognostications were originally worked out for the benefit of herself and her friends, scientific deductions have been drawn from her observations.
 Ut is the truth that I first began studying the clouds for weather signs just to enable me to tell wheth- CT it would rain or not on the day of some special social function" she said to a Sun reporter. You know most persons, especially women, are always puzzling whether to carry an umbrella or not. So thought how fine 1t would be to inform those [ knew rightly on the subject. I studied with such success that mean to devote myself to it--I hope otfi-' cially."
 On this point Mrs Wilkins would say no mere, but it is not at all irn- probable that some day she will be- installed in skyscraper observatory of her own, say in the tip top of the Metropolitan Life tower, and from there will furnish forecasts of the weather.
 Anyone can forecast the weather if he will study" Mrs Wilkins went on. "ou have seen farmers stand out in the hay fields and study the clouds and the different signs and the feel in the atmosphere for a weather forecast. I use precisely the sam0 method, only presumably I have re- duced it all to a science, and I pro. dict by method while he foretells by instinct.
 There are, I have discovered. twenty-seven signs altogether that have bearing on the weather. At times 1t is very difficult rightly to in-I terpret them as the signs that mean fair weather, if accompanied by other signs, signify rain, and tho slightest change in others may mean wholly opposite condition.
 Tt is fascinating study, as ay~l eryone will say who undertakes 1t, to- watch the ever changing panorariAE of the heavens and from it draw de- auctions. Some days I can detsr~ mine the weather by observing for an hour only. but again it often takes hours instead. When the clouds arc absent tell by the wind and tho sunsets.
 One sign invariably indicates tho direction of the wind for the next twenty-four hours. What is ftA We'll, now, I would like to tell you, but you would be stealing my thun-' der-or sunshine--if did. I VIII say, however, that the changes in tho formation of the clouds and their rec lation to each other, their position in the sky and the direction in which they travel all have a bearing on the subject. All mean different things.
 There are seven signs which when they appear together alwnys indicate fair weather. It is strange, but this number seven has sonle~ thing mystic about it. We get 1t alI through the psychological realm and the East Indian cults, as well as iu phrenology, and it is invariably lucky number. So in cloudography it carries luck with it. When theso certain seven signs appear together it is sure indication of fair wezfh- CT.
 Tt Is necessary for me to observo from some high point where I c1n| have an unobstructed view of fho horizon all the way around. This | have been able to secure both from the Syracuse university observatory and the university building. wher6 on invitation of the government fore-' caster and the carnival committee z have recently been working.
 Picture clouds in connection with other signs tell the weather a weak ahead. The many forms of the cloud, their changes and their relation t0 each other and the moon are of im- portance. At morning and at sunset the conditions for forecasting arc usually the best.
 "I truly believe that the signs in the heavens put there by One w1o did nothing in vain tell far mora. than any instruments of man. Go1'1 signs are better than mans. And then doesn't it stand to reason that we can get more information out ok' doors than by sitting in close ofIico looking into instruments on des< which are affected oy local cons ditions only and do not register dI1> tant signs one can see?"
 Mrs Wilkins has been enabled tQ make some valuable obseryaticux from the top of the Singer bui1dInr which were uniformly correct.
 On Major Hersey's return fro1 Europe this month Mrs WflkIns io make an ascent in the Eorefnm( balloon and make observationo nr