"I don't know," the boy replied. "I tried to explain it the other day and I found I hadn't the least idea why, myself. I asked Father, but he didn't know either."
"Yet it's quite simple," the Weather Man answered, "and if you boys are going to be real meteorologists, you ought to know the reasons for things. First of all, why is the sky blue?"
There was a gasp of astonishment, followed by silence.
"Sure, 'tis the air that's blue," hazarded the printer.
"That doesn't help much," the Forecaster said, "though perhaps it does, a little. Why is the air blue?"
The Irishman shook his head.
"Why is annything blue?" he asked.
"That's just what I'm going to tell you," the Weather Man answered, "and you want to listen carefully, boys, because the colors of the sunset depend a great deal on the weather. You can foretell weather from the sunset."
"Yo' sho' can," interrupted Dan'l. "Don't yo' remember Mammy's old rhyme:
"Evenin' red an' mornin' gray
Certain signs of a beautiful day;
Evenin' gray an' mornin' red,
Sends a nigger wet to bed."