CASUAL COMMENTS

Evening Star, Issue 19658, 10 September 1927, Page 2

CASUAL COMMENTS

THE WEATHER ' ft [By Leo Fanning.] “ O.D.”—Extract from the 9 a.m. daily \yeatlier bulletin issued by tho Government Meteorological Office. It may seem rather absurd to be writing about the weather after 1 many millions of persons have discussed it, in and out-or print, for centuries, ■but the weather has itself to blame. If it will continue to be so unspringy in various districts, somebody must dp something about it. Tho official abbreviation “ O.D. ” for “ overcast, drizzle,” accurately conveys the average unofficial feeling about tho persistent blasts and drenches, here and there. Probably by tho time these' words are published the puckish wca•ther will be in angelic mood [for at least ten minutes). * * * * ; Some years ago a professional contributor to tho English Press earned a pound or tfro by computing tho energy used in the writing of hyphens in such words as to-day and to-morrow throughout the English-speaking world, during a generation or so, and estimated that it would bo enough to run an express train right around the earth, or as far as the moon [the writer’s recollection of the original statement does not purport to be exact), but he did not indicate how the energy could bo mustered for the purpose; be left that for Science. Well, if the elimination of a few unnecessary hyphens and similar trifles could do that, what could bo effected with'the energy spent in chats and outbursts about the weather? There wouldn’t be enough trains to use up an the available energy for the round-the-world express trips. « * * * When the weather is blue or black wo like to hear our fellow-creatures brief confirmation of our own impressions of the day, but how sad it is to bo clutched into a five-minutes’ debate about it! A way to safeguard oneself from a second attack by a weather bore is to deluge him with weather statistics, to chase him into his office with facts and figures about this year’s and last year’s weather in all countries, and follow him home with prophecies of the weather for the next decade, and fill his house with meteorological noise until his wife begins ringing for tho police. •> In countries where the weather may not change appreciably during five or six months, the talk would turn on tho lino: “How nice it would be to have a change!”—-just as thirsty shipwrecked sailors on a barren, rocky isle might worry one another with narrations of past drinks,.or the drinks they would have, if— Even “Sunny Nelson,” proud of_ its annual 2,500 hours of clear sunshine, has been complaining about its August weather —and when philosophic Nelson bothers to growl about anything the grievance must bo worthy of speciallycareful consideration by any Government. Nelson may be feeling that tbc weather, devoted to its old master (Mr D. C. Bates), may bo resenting the appointment of Mr Kidson. & * t- * When the weather is vicious or villainous a livery husband may bo apt to blame his wife for it, or the Commissioner of Taxes, or even “ angelface ” at the office. There is certainly a disposition among the public to resent official forecasts of undesirable weather. “We don’t pay ’em to give us that stuff,” is the popular attitude. * * * * According to Science the average farmer (assuming the returns from tho produce are not too ruinous) should ho a cheerful chap. Ho lives_ among the birds and bees, and strides _or rides about in fresh air and sunshine, but the average farmer in every country is alleged to he a chronic grumbler and rather dismal company. The 'cause? The weather, of course. Jvo system of control of tho weather, except by the Devil of Jazz, could satisfy all the farmers in an area of, say, twenty square miles. The old school book told us how the one farmer wanted simultaneously sunshine for his haymaking and showers for his young turnips. He is like the Irishman who had wailed every season _ about the smallness of the potatoes in his crop. But once ho had a noble harvest, arid as he was forking up tho big beauties ho was congratulated by the parish priest, who hinted that the old cause of cursing must have gone. “ But what’ll I give tho pigs?” growled tho farmer. * in * * Some day patient researchers, ol the kind who become Doctors of Literature, may report that tho interest of 57 per cent, of the world’s poetry and 29 per cent, of the prose is duo to the weather. You can prove it by picking up a book of any poet, or poetaster, or proser. Tho graders of literature have not classified Milton as a “ Nature poet,” but he was a wider and deeper student of Nature than many of tho .so-called “ Nature pods.” Milton’s observations of the weather enabled him to put impressive words in some passages of ‘ Paradise Lost.’ Hero is one of them:— . , . . The sulphurous hail, Shot after us in storm,, o’erblown hath laid The fiery surge that from the precipice , Of heaven received us falling, and the thunder, Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage, Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now To bellow through the vast and boundless deep. * * * * And here is a soothing, wcatherful verso of John Masefield to contrast with Milton’s hot thundering I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by; And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and tho white sail’s shaking. And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking. Think, too, of tho weather in Shakespeare, in Dickens, and in tho ‘ Turf Register.’ + * * * Many writers have found themselves in difficulties with weather in various chapters of their books. Mark Twain saw that trouble, and took care to avoid it in one of his works. He put the whole of the weather in the preface, and readers,’were invited to help themselves to any kind of weather which they wished to associate with any part of tho narrative. Mark’s ruse was like that of the school boy who amalgamated all the punctuation marks of a composition into cine big blob at the end. * * * *' Books, more books, and still more books could be written about the effects of weather on the history of all nations. For example, Victor Hugo used many pages of ‘ Les Mherablcs ’ to’set out his belief that a shower of min robbed Napoleon of victory at Waterloo, because the soft ground hampered the movements of his famous strong arm—the artillery. s it * * 4 ■ / Maori oratory, makes very pleasant use of the weather. At the tangi of To Whiti, at Parihaka, one mourner said sadly: “A pitiless wind has blown through this garden, and the noblest tree Has fallen.’-’-

Weather, which comes so ultimately into the daily affairs of mankind, naturally lends its terms to politics, finance, and other things. fho “financial barometer’ is a frequent performer in the Press. Sometimes that barometer is the totalisator turnover, sometimes the expenditure on cakes and ale, sometimes tho mortgage statistics, sometimes tho banking returns. The most valuable political barometer is the keen-eyed, sharp-cared, strongnosed “ Independent,” whoso steps to the “ Aye ” or “No ” lobby ring true to the trend of tho times.