Evening star., 1925-10-21
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

and ring on top to hang 1t up by.
There was q blue hand, and a gold
hand and a dial, with elaborate red
and black letters.
The barometer was really nifty
looking article, and Templeton Jones
was very much pleased with his pur-
chase.
There was sheet OF directions.
too, for reading and adjusting
barometer"
Jones looked at the blue hand, and
read:
29.1O.
Looking at his directions. he found;
Rising barometer, 29.6 to 29.9, fair
weather, with fresh winds tonight
and tomorrow
"Hit it the first time out of the
box" said Jones, highly pleased.
Right square on the head. | don't
see how the Weather Bureau could
do any better than that
Like the hen watches her brood,
Jones eyed the barometer. He wanted
To see it Ego up"
Sure enough. slowly but surely the
blue hand was going up. 1t rose four
one -hundredthS of an inch In half an
hour Jones got over his wish that
the thing would begin to spin around.
You see what monkeying with radio
dials had done to him.
Barometers, Jones SolCmnly assured
himself, are not radio dials, neither
are they thermometers. They work
according to the immutable law OF air
pressure Jones wondered If 1t was
all right to keep his prize in the house.
He recalled the story of the latest
recruit to radio. who asked the sales
man II ne would have 10 keep his
windows open.
Guess it will work al right in
doors" TeInpletou told himself. with
Il smile
The barometer was really Il very
pretty thing Made in Germany"
said 4 small line Of type at the bot
uated dial, in letters OF red and black,
We're the following words, reading
from left To right, clockwise: stormy,
Rain, Change. Fair. Very Dry.
Jones soon got wise TO the fact that
these markings mean practically
nothing. The gold hand vas mostly
for show, being fixed IN the glass. in
front of the dial, so that il could be
placed directly over the blue hand, and
thus one could readily see which way
the hand was going.
1t did not take Jones long TO see
that his barometer. despite its com
paratively small cost, really was per.
forming most capably ON the several
times that he called the Weather Blu.
reau-with Il most guilty feeling-to
ask the correct harometric readings
for the hour he discovered that his
instrument was indicating right along
| with the official one at the bureau.
II fascinated Jones TO look back into
! the bowels OF the barometer and see
| there the coiled nickeled tube, with =
! sort Of nickel saddle over the top OF Il,
| and the fine spring, the little levers
and the blue hand. set on its pin, and
! a gold thread running down into hid
| den reCesses.
| 1t all looked SO scientific, 50 capable.
! American to the core. Jones neVerthe,
| less had great confidence in that trade
line in small letters at the bottom Of
/ the Immediately porcelained dial.
! He admired the detail, the care that
had gone into every bit Of his baron.
eter. and felt sure that the instru
| nent was accurate. despite its com
paratively small cost.
/ "If il had been made over here" he
said to himself. ut would have cost
/ five times $ much"
! Templeton Jones was having as
much fun with his barometer as he did
| with Willies electric train last Christ
mas.
The barometer is carefully adjusted
before being packed" read the direc
tions. 80 that all that IS necessary tc
! be done iS hang il on the wall. Set
the brass hand directly over the blued
/ hand and the course taken hy the
blued hand will Indicate the rise on
fall Of the barometer"
/ Tomorrow ] propose to give the re
forecasting, as told t. me by that gen
Ileman himself