SIGNS OF RAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 230, 28 September 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

SIGNS OF RAIN.

The following lines do not possess high literary merit, but they provide possibly the most complete list of observations of the signs of coming rain in the language. They were penned by Dr. Edward Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination.

The hollow winds begin to blow. The clouds look black, the glass is low. Tim soot falls down, the spaniels sleep, The spiders from their cohwehs peep; Last night the sun went pale to bed, The moon In haloes hides her bend; The boding shepherd heaves a sigh. For see. a rainbow spans the sky. The walls are damp, the ditches smell, Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel. Hark how the chairs and tables crack! Old Betty's joinls are on the rack: Loud nuack the ducks, the peacocks cry. The distant hills are seeming nigh. How restless are the snorting swine. The bnsv (lies disturb the kine ; Low o'er the grass the swallow wings, The cricket, too. how sharp he sings; I'uss on the hearth, with velvet paws, Sits wiping o'er her whiskered jaws, Through the clear stream the fishes rise And nimbly catch the incautious lli,es. The glow-worms, numerous and bright. Illumed the dewy dell last night. At dusk the squalid toud was seen Hopping and crawling o'er the green; The whirling wind the dust obeys, And in the rapid eddy plays; The frog has changed ills yellow vest, j And In a russet coat is dressed. Though June, the air Is cold and still, The mellow blackbird's voice is shrill. My dog, so altered in his taste. Quits mutton hones on grass to feast; And see yon rooks, how odd their flight, I hey imitate the gliding kite, Anil seem precipitate to fill As if they felt the piercing ball: 1 will surely ruin; 1 see with sorrow, Our Jaunt must be put off to-morrow.