Part 38 (1/2)

If the rain comes before the wind, 'T is time your topsail to take in; If the wind before the rain, You may hoist your topsail up again.

_Labrador._

WIND AND STORM.

1050. A broom falling across the doorway, or chairs set crosswise, is the sign of a storm.

_Stratham, N.H._

1051. If a cloud and wind are coming, the wind will last.

_Trinity Bay, N.F._

1052. If a cloud looks as if it had been picked by a hen, Get ready to reef your topsails then.

_Mansfield, O._

1053. Clothes hanging about the rigging will bring wind.

_Newfoundland._

1054. Blue blazes in a coal fire mean a storm.

_Eastern Ma.s.sachusetts._

1055. When wood on the fire makes a peculiar hissing noise, it is said ”to tread snow,” and there will soon be a storm.

_Salem, Ma.s.s._

1056. If the stove-lids get red-hot when the fire is first made, it is a sure sign of a storm of some kind.

_Cambridge, Ma.s.s._

1057. If the vessel is becalmed, throw a halfpenny overboard to buy wind.

_Harbor Grace, N.F._

1058. If the halyard lies against the mast, the wind will increase.

_Newfoundland_

1059. Sticking a knife in the mainmast produces wind.

_Conception Bay, N.F._

1060. Table-knives turning blue denote that a northeast wind is coming.

_Placentia Bay, N.F._

1061. Strange lights at sea are seen before a northeast gale.

_Newfoundland_

1062. To see Northern Lights denotes that south wind and a storm will come inside of forty-eight hours.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

1063. If the fall ”line storm” clears off warm, it signifies that storms through that fall and winter will clear away with mild weather, _i.e._, the way in which the storm closes at the autumnal equinox will rule the weather following storms until the vernal equinox storm. Then the same saying applies to the ”line-storm” of March, and the spring and summer _after_ storms is foretold.

The contrary would happen if cool weather followed the line storm.

_Weathersfield, Vt._