WEATHER SIGNS ancient town of Sleaford just as the sun was setting red in the west, a fact, according to the well-known proverb—which however we have not found to be perfectly reliable—that should ensure fine weather for the morrow—"Red at night is a shepherd's delight; red in the morning is a shepherd's warning." Well, I am not a shepherd, but speaking from my experience as a road traveller, who naturally studies the weather, I have frequently noted that a red morning has been followed by a gloriously fine and sunny day. When, however, the sky is a wan yellow at sunrise, and especially if the wind be south-westerly, then you may expect rain before evening with some degree of certainty; but of all things to dogmatise about, the English weather is the most dangerous.
As we entered Sleaford we noticed a monument to a local celebrity, the designer of which we imagined had been inspired by the excellent example of a Queen Eleanor's Cross. The structure certainly adds interest to the street in which it stands, and this is a great deal more than can be said of most memorials of notables in the shape of statues, which, perched high on pedestals, are generally prominent eyesores that a long-suffering community has to put up with. Close to this monument was a pump, below which a basin was inscribed, "Every good gift is from above." The quotation did not strike us as the most appropriate that might be chosen, as the pump was erected for the purpose of obtaining water from below.
Sleaford, on the day we arrived, offered a great
