everybody who is at all interested in the changes
of the weather ought to be grateful to him for his faithfulness and
devoted attention to duty.

But why should the Government of the United States--that is to say, the
people as a whole--take the trouble and bear the cost of keeping a
small army of men to watch the weather all over the country, and to
telegraph their observations three times a day to Washington? Why
should the officials there take the trouble to compare these
observations and telegraph back to each locality what weather it may
expect, and what the weather will be elsewhere, so that you and I may
know when to stay at home, or when to take our umbrellas with us if we
go out?

Hardly. There are more important matters at stake. Most of you are old
enough to know that it is unexpected weather that causes most of the
trouble that the weather occasions. The farmer expects fair weather,
cuts his hay or grain, and a storm comes and spoils it. He looks for
rain, and lets his crop stand; the bright sun injures it, or he loses a
good chance to harvest it. The ship-master expects fair weather, puts
out from port, and his ship is driven back upon the shore, a wreck. He
expects a storm, stays in port, and misses the fair wind that would
have carried him far to sea.

Now, a very large part of these disappointments and losses may be
prevented, if one only knows with reasonable certainty what sort of
weather it is likely to be to-day and to-morrow; and that is just the
information the Weather Herald furnishes. The great storms usually come
slowly driving across the country--so slowly that the telegraph may
send word of their coming two or three days ahead. Thus the farmers may
know just what they may safely undertake to do; and so may the
ship-masters.

Since the farmers and seamen have learned to value the weather warnings
rightly, this service saves the country every year millions and
millions of dollars' worth of property, and, it may be, hundreds of
lives. Often a single timely warning has prevented losses that would
have amounted to more than the entire cost of the weather service from
the beginning until now. And possibly the yearly saving effected by
warnings of ordinary "changeable" weather, may together amount to more
than those in connection with great storms.

TOO MANY BIRTHDAYS.

BY FANNY M. OSBORNE.

The king of the island was the father, and the queen the mother, of the
little princess abou