The Alaska citizen., 1914-08-17
Rain before seven, Quit before eleven.

This is invariably the rule. An other saying is that There never is a Saturday without sunshine" This Is almost always true. but, as might be supposed, the same might be said of any day in the week with an equal amount of truth
 Many superstitious people are con- yinced that the moon regulates the weather in a great measure. It is a very prevalent belief that the general condition of the atmosphere through out the world during any lunation depends on whether the moon chang ed before or after midnight.
 There are other notions about the moon which are of a still more sup erstitious nature. In the vicinity of Suffolk, England, it is considered un- lucky to kill a pig in the wane Of the moon If it is done, the pork will waste in boiling.
 The worship of the moon Ga part  of perhaps the oldest of false re ligions) has not entirely died out in this enlightened twentieth century Many persons in some of the more superstitious countries of Europe will curtsy to the new moon on its first appearance and turn the money for 1Uck
 There is still another very gen eral superstition regarding the moon namely, that it is lucky to see the new moon for the first time through glass. This must, of course, be comparatively modern. An old say ing has it:
 A Saturday moon.
 If it comes once in seven years,
 Comes once too soon.
 The application for this is that if the new moon happens on a Sat urday, the weather will be bad for the ensuing month.
 The character of St. Swithin's day is much regarded in many parts of the world as a prognostication of fine or wet weather. If it rains on this day it will rain for the ensuing 40 days, or if the groundhog sees it's shadow it will be cloudy for a cor responding number of days.
 Another weather guide connected with the moon is that to see the old moon in the arms of the new moon" is reckoned a sign of fine weather. And so is the turning up of the horns of the new moon. In this position it is supposed to retain the water, which is imagined to be in it, and which would run out if the horns were turned down.
 The streaks of light often seen when the sun shines through broken clouds are believed to be pipes reaching into the sea, and the water is supposed to be drawn up through them into the clouds, ready to be discharged in the shape of rain. But it is more interesting, per haps, as an instance of the truth sometimes contained in popular sup erstitions; for, though the streaks of sunlight are not actual pipes, yet they are visible signs of the suns action, which, by evaporating the waters, provides a store of vapor to be converted into rain.
 The following is said to be the origin of the St. Swithin's day sup erstition: In the year S65, St. Swith in, bishop of Winchester, to which rank he was raised by King Ethel wolfe, the Dane, while on the verge of death, was canonized by the Pope. He had an extraordinary desire to be buried in the open churchyard, and not in the chancel of the min ster, as was usual with other bish- ops, which request was complied with; but the monks, on his being canonized, taking it into their heads that it was disgraceful for the saint to lie in the open churchyard, re- solved to remove his body into the choir, which was to have been done with solemn procession on July Is. It rained, however, so violently on that day, and 40 days succeeding, as had hardly ever been known, which made them set aside their design as heretical and blasphemous; and instead they erected a chapel over his grave, at which many miracles are said to have been wrought.
 These lines upon St. Swithin's day are still common in many parts of the country:
 St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain,
 For forty days it will remain;
 St. Swithin's day, if thou be fair,
 For forty days twill rain na mair.
 There is an old saying that when 1t rains on St. Swithin's day, it is the saint christening the apples.
 The moSt poDara1 SuDarStit;ons