OPINIONS MARCH A little bit of blowing, And crocuses will show. On every thing that's lonely a new green leaf will spring; On every patient tree-top a thrush will stop and sing. A little bit of sleeting, A little bit of rain, The blue, blue sky for greeting, A snowdrop come again. And every frozen hillside its gift of grass will bring, A March Lullaby Carolyn S. Bailey. Just before the spring's first call, 'Tis the March wind singing,— Olive M. Long. "A dry March never begs its bread." OPINIONS MARCH Proverbs for March "A peck of March dust is worth a King's ransom." "March damp and warm will do the farmer much harm." "March flowers make no summer bowers." III blows the wind that profits nobody. Shakespeare. Many can brook the weather that love not the wind. Shakespeare. "March winds and April showers When the wind is in the east Isaak Walton. The Saxons used to engrave upon certain squared sticks about a foot in length, the courses of the moons of the whole year, whereby they could tell with certainty when the changes of the moon occurred, also their festival days. Such a carved stick they called an al-mon-aght, meaning al-moon-heed, and hence is derived the name of almanac. The history of written almanacs has been traced to the second century, when the Greeks of Alexandria constructed them. From Oxford, the seat of British science during the Middle Ages, the standard almanacs emanated; for instance, that of John Somers, published in 1380, and others. Almanacs in manuscript are not uncommon; in the library at Lambeth Palace there is one dated 1460, which contains a table of eclipses for twenty years. The first almanac known to have been printed in England was the Sheapheards Kalendar, translated from the French and published by Richard Pynson in 1497. Almanacs, though common on the continent before the end of the fifteenth century, were not in general use in England until a century later. Skilful mathematicians were employed in constructing the astronomical part of the almanacs, but the astrologers supplied the supposed planetary influences, and the predictions as to the weather, and other interesting matters which were required to render them attractive to the popular mind. A humourous almanac entitled Poor Robin first appeared in 1663, for the benefit of the sceptics who ridiculed celestial science. Robert Herrick, the poet, is said to have assisted in its composition; and as a specimen of his humour in prose, under January, we are told that "there will be much frost and cold weather in Greenland." The following year, John Evelyn published the first Gardener's Almanac, containing directions for the employment of each month. This was dedicated to Cowley, who acknowledged the compliment in one of his best poems, "The Garden." An elegy, written by Swift, on the supposed death of John Partridge, the almanac-maker, brought the latter notably before the public. The Vox Stellarum of Francis Moore was the most successful of the predicting almanacs. The Ladies' Diary, published in 1704, by John Tipper, a schoolmaster at Coventry, containing versified enigmas, receipts for cooking and preserving, and biographies of celebrated women, became so popular that the Gentleman's Diary was brought out in 1741, as a rival publication. A century later, they were incorporated together. In 1733, Benjamin Franklin, under the fictitious name of Richard Saunders, published in Philadelphia the first number of his almanac, which he continued for twenty-five years. It was commonly called Poor Richard's Almanac, and contained the usual astronomical information, "besides many pleasant and witty verses, jests and sayings." A collection of its proverbs under the title of "The Way to Wealth" had an immense circulation in America and England. OPINIONS APRIL A gush of bird-song, a patter of dew, An April day in the morning. Harriet Prescott Spofford. When April, one day, was asked whether She could make reliable weather, She laughed till she cried, And said, "Bless you, I've tried, But the things will get mixed up together." Jessie McDermott. 'Tain't no use to grumble and complain; When God sorts out the weather, and sends rain, Why, rain's my choice. James Whitcomb Riley. Of all the months a woman; in her ways Heather Bigg. Moses would as soon have questioned the seasons or the weather as Cynthia's changes of moods, - which were indeed the weather for him; and when storms came, he sat with his back to them, waiting for the sunshine. Winston Churchill. |