e, it's so. But how can you-all tell when the rain
began?"

"When rain comes down unusually hard," the boy answered, "the Weather
Bureau likes to keep a record of the amount of precipitation in five
minute intervals. My big record-book is in the house, but here are the
notes I made," and he took a little note-book from the pocket of his
shirt.

"'Rain began, 8.21,'" he read, "'first five minutes three-tenths of an
inch, second five minutes four-tenths, third five minutes,
three-tenths,'" he stopped and held the book open, "it began to get
less, then, and I didn't need to keep the record any longer. But you can
see, Mr. Abner, that it was impossible for Dan'l to have left the
Lindstroms' and reached here before the rain came, and just as
impossible for him to have come through the rain with dry clothes and
dusty shoes."

"An' the courts have a ruling that weather records is evidence?"

"From an official station such as this, yes!" Anton's father declared.
"Evidence as to weather is a factor in a great variety of cases. Civil
cases are largely personal injury, damage to perishable goods by
freezing or rain and loss by fire. The criminal cases are usually
confined to murder trials.

"When accidents occur by reason of a street car running into somebody or
something, the question arises as to whether the rails were so slippery
that the car could not be stopped. This fact is, of course, important in
an action for damages. A slippery rail can be caused by 'sweating' but
it is generally due to recent rain. The relative humidity may be such
as to prevent the drying up of the rail.

"An observer was called in a case where it was alleged that the
plaintiff had been injured by being pitched through the open window of a
car. It was claimed that she was trying to shut the window on account of
the raw, cold weather and, as the car reached a curve, she was suddenly
thrown headlong into the street. The weather record showed that it was a
warm and sunny day.

"The question as to whether a sidewalk was sufficiently slippery to make
it dangerous for travel frequently comes up in court. One such case, I
remember, was that of a man who asked damages from a jitney driver for
starting his bus before he had alighted. The driver declared that the
passenger slipped and fell on the ice in the gutter, several feet away
from the bus. The plaintiff declared that it was a warm day and that
there was no ice. The weather record showed rain the