The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-07-02
TURTLES FORETELL
WEATHER 48 HOURS
When They Say RAIN" it Rains,
Asserts Their North Philadelphia
Owner.

I've three turtles that can fore
tell a storm forty-eight hours
This startling assertion is made
by Andrew Yetter, 1929 Salem street,
Frankford He is known among his
fellow ushers at the North Philadel-
phia station of the P. R. R. as an I'M
failing weather prophet.
For a long time his mates were at
loss to know from whence Andy
culled his remarkable accurate
dope on the weather. Finally he
yielded the secret.
''Turtles?" he inquired laconically.
I've been watching three CT them in
my back yard for seventeen years,
and I've never had one fail me yet. l
don't care what the papers say about
the weather, when one of those tur-
ties says it's a-goin' to rain, she
rains"
Yetter was prevailed upon 10 ex-
plain. "A turtle" he said, 'can
smell storm while the guys at the
weather bureau are working algebra
and geometry and studying Sanskrit
and trying to figure out the relation
between a drop of rain and the
| fourth dimension. The distance my
turtles travel from their den in the
corner of the backyard determines
| the forecast. Ii they travel around
to the front Of the house, it will be
fine weather for two days; if they
hang around sleeping quarters, it's
storm, sure The farther they
travel the better the weather.
"A turtle studies the sky. When
l see one of my turtles gazing up
into the ozone for an hour at a time,
| know that there's storm fooling
around somewhere within the TWEEN
ty-four or forty-eight hour limit.
| I've seen 'em sit by the hour with
their heads stretched up straight as
ramrod. making observations. The
weatherman can fool those fellows
down at Washington, but ne can't
| fool a turtle" ne concluded eagerly.
| The three awkward, hard-shelled,
round-backed members of the tor
toise family have been foster-mem-
bers of the Yetter family for over
seventeen years. One of them was
captured in New Jersey and the 9TH
er two were sent to Mr.. Yetter from
middle Pennsylvania. Two are fe-
males and one is big male, with
large hole Clipped out of the armor
on his back. Once year the fe-
males lay eggs and i'll ten days time
the young are Matched.
| They always go to some neigh
boris yard to lay their eggs in the
days you'll see the big male waddle
up to the spot and loosen the ground
! over the eggs SO the young can
crawl out One day / handled two
of the eggs. As soon as he thought
! had gone, the male did not re-bury
the eggs, but ate them up, one by
one. You can't fool a turtle.
All three of them sleep in the
cellar during winter. When the
! first frost comes you'll see them
crawl to the cellar walls in the yard
outside and scratch on the stones to
get inside. l put them under the
cellar stairs and they sleep there all
winter and come out in the spring
| looking as fat rs butter l feed them
kitchen stuff, but they like worms
| best, and walk over the grass in the
evening watching for worms. just
! like robins. They'll sit as quiet as
stone until a worm pulls himself
out of the ground and then-'snip'
the worms gone.
Best pets | ever saw; mind their
own business, don't bother anyone.
When they tell you it's going to rain,
you can believe 'em. How about the
other weather prophets?"
Then Andy turned to tell an impa-
tient woman that her train was an
hour late Like his turtles, Andy
told the truth.
A lot Of men are like the Sphinx
they don't care whether they are