Have you ever wondered where all the phrases and weather predictions came from? Call them fables or old wives’ tales, but modern weather forecasters know better – many of them are honest to goodness reliable predictions. How did our ancestors back in the 18th century know so much? They were observant and watched nature at work. Only since the dawn of professional weather forecasting has there been a dependence upon the professionals for information that our great-great grandparents knew from simple but consistent observation.

A few of those sayings about the weather:

Rain before seven, fine by eleven. Haloes around the moon mean that rain will surely come. Moss dry, sunny sky; moss wet, rain you’ll get. If cows are standing in a field it will be fine, but if they are lying down it is going to rain. No weather is ill, if the wind is still The sharper the blast, the sooner it’s past. If crows fly low, winds going to blow; If crows fly high, winds going to die. Clear moon, frost soon.

Here are a couple popular aphorisms about weather enjoyed in years past:

“Whether the weather be hot,
Or whether the weather be not,
We’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.”

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“Man is a perfect fool,
When it’s hot he wants it cool,
When it’s not,
He wants it hot.”

Books are written with such material so I will not labor the point. Truly, some moderns may find some fault in such predictions but one of the professional weathermen in Columbus, Ohio, mentioned the honest value to many weather sayings. The point was made that farmers depended upon their knowledge of the weather – their living was at stake. Seasoned observers knew what kind of weather the cirrus or the very high clouds (above 20,000 feet) brought. Weather fronts were not known by such terms but the clouds could be a predictor of weather as much as l,000 miles away. In brief, our ancestors learned by experience because they were observant.

Not only farmers had to be knowledgeable about weather facts but some city dwellers also depended upon the Old Farmer’s Almanac and other known family remedies and sayings. Some of these might even be traced to biblical knowledge passed down through centuries. The appearance of some infectious sores can be a clue to the carefully trained observer. There were no emergency rooms for people to run to and people had to take care of themselves.

However, today we have nearly brought about a new type of Dark Ages simply because we depend upon the so-called professionals for what the average person knew less than 200 years ago. It is this fact that caused me to entitle this essay. Recently I discovered a mimeographed book of 83 pages, which contained guidelines and rules for Cleveland, Ohio, public school playgrounds in 1929. Certain facts were known or mentioned, which in today’s world would be “public ignorance” rather than “common knowledge”. For example: “Keep inflated balls [basketballs, tether balls, etc.] tight. Balls last longer; games are more enjoyable. Proper inflation prevents bladders from rotting.”

At 75, admittedly means my birth came along 3 years after this mimeographed book was printed and therefore six more years would pass before I would have been exposed to such activities on the public school playground. Just the same, the kinds of games played 78 years ago were in the dozens, many of which are unrecognized today; but they did have soccer balls. There was considerable organization and rules for many games while others were quite simple. A surprising activity was for boys to play “Mumble-de-peg” commonly called “mumbly peg” when I was a kid. This activity involved a pocketknife; today’s safety police would be all over parents who let their boys bring a knife to school, let alone use a sharp knife in a game! There were fifteen parts or steps in that game with a knife and I doubt if there was one parent who worried about their son.

Spinning tops, the kind wrapped with string and holding the end of the string, you threw the top, letting the string unwind, thus continued spinning as soon as it hit the ground; this was a popular activity. Several kinds of awards or judgments were made as to how the top traveled on the ground. Not to overlook those who might not be a good knife player or sports enthusiast they had activities for learning how to tell stories, make a ukulele out of a cigar box or learn how to play a harmonica. Hohner, the manufacturer of the harmonicas, provided as many as 35 “Marine Band” harmonicas (sponsors may have paid for them); and at the close of the summer those who learned how to play got to keep their 50-cent harmonicas! Typical tunes they learned started with “America.” “Home Sweet Home” and “Swanee River.” (For the sanitary conscious reader, the supervisors kept the harmonicas in boxes with a label of the child’s name and with the proviso that the instruments were not to leave the grounds.)

Why say all this? Differences in the assorted interests and abilities of children, for starters. Individual responsibility, cooperation with others, gaining knowledge firsthand knowledge of these two virtues was of paramount importance. Today’s child may be seen with eyes focused on a hand-held computer game or playing an electronic game on a cell phone! And today’s youth is so organized businesses have to provide uniforms for their sponsor-teams and competition is fierce with parental observers. None of the public school playgrounds mentioned parental involvement.

“Entertain me” is what people demand today. Such entertainment is expected to come from TV, computer games and movies. Entertaining oneself is obviously accomplished in a different way in our 21st century. “Tell me” what weather is expected.– turn on the 11:15 p.m. news to know how to dress tomorrow. Folks 78 years ago had no such professional advisors, nor did they need them.

THE WORDWRIGHT