The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1910-02-02
BRER GROUNDING WAKING FROM
NAP.

On In NNOOlNOiIOA WANilNO NUN
NAP.
1t won't matter how long or how
loud the weatherman talks of "atmos-
pheric pressures" and "moist weather
areas" today; he can squirt wisely at
the map and theorize from the dark
circles and red lines there-but no
one will heed him.
He has been relieved of responsible
ity, weather or no, for the next six
weeks by his eo-worker, the ground
hog AT noon sharp this canny little
animal is scheduled for date with
the world in general, and will emerge
from last hurried forty winks to per-
form the thankless task of weather
forecasting.
Plain folks may call him n wood
chuck or marmot, but in the social
register of the rodent family, his title
is an impressive one-nothing less
than Arctomys Monax. 1t seems on
investigation that Arctomys has con-
densed his ideas while he slept and is
prepared to come ont and give them
to waiting world.
AT last we are to know the fate of
our fur coats, and spring house clean
ings, for Arctomys holds them in the
hollow of his paw. He sneaks out
with prodigious yawn, and, after
blinking up at his pal, the Sun, COM
muning with the clouds, he looks sly
ly behind him out Of one eye.
Now this is the crucial moment. If
his shadow has failed to materialize,
then you may be sure that spring is
beating it hot foot to Lambertville.
and will reach here at an early NOM
ent, breathless from haste. But, on
the other hand, if Arctomys spies one
faint bit of darkness behind him, it is
six more weeks of slumber for him
and winter for the city.
Just to prove what an effort all this
is for Arctomys, the nervous reaction
after seeing his shadow is mercifully
tempered with driving SHOWS, bitter
winds and pelting rains. On the
other hand, if he comes out, he plung-
es into round of dissipation that
battles description.
Is it any wonder then that the wea
therman is besieged with questions as
to the likelihood of the ground hogs
ola FIRE ha Al
thing about not being able to say, but
If he is driven into corner he will
probably confess that the ground hog
may see it, and that spring will be
late.
at is probable that great many
clouds will be ont tomorrow" he an
nounces with careful cunning. .But
then, too, there may be sun-a large
amount of sum-" he continues before
you can utter the remark you were
framing. $50 perhaps the ground
hog will see his shadow and probably
he won't"
III by this time you are reall y angry,
and say something violent about his
enmity to the poor little marmot, he
will become naughty and say that
there never was such thing as a
ground hog. nohow. It's all supersti-
ton, and that even if the other coun-
tries do observe similar customs with
other animals it doesn't go to prove
anything. Suppose the ground hog
does guess right once out OF tire Q
hundred and sixty-fve times, that's
nothing. This isn't professional ieal-
ousy on his part either, he will ex-
plain, because the poor beastie abso-
lutely fell down on one big month OF
storms, even he was right about the
blizzard on March ~, 1888.
Then he will bring out this schedule
to prove what he says. Between 1897
and 1909 the ground hog has been
| wrong three fourths OF the time, and
sometimes when he has'seen his shad-
ow, as he did in 1893, 1901 and 1904,
the weather has persisted in remain
ing warm and clear much to the
weatherman's delihht. On the other
hand when it was cloudy as in the
past three years, and he didn't spy
his shadow. things went on as usna
and spring came in a nice, orderly
fashion.
But this is what the weathermar
says. and the records may have beer
cooked up to rebound to his discredit
So all in all, there are several shades
Of opinion over the single shadow o
the grounding.
Every community, from the smalles