“It had been a close and rainy day in October.”
_The Resident Patient_
To me one of the most delightful touches in the tales of Sherlock
Holmes is the frequent mention of the state of the weather. As far as I
know, no one has emphasized the numerous references to the weather by
Dr. Watson. Especially in the opening of the short stories can these
be found, but they are not confined there, for they appear throughout
the longer tales as well. Many instances can be cited to illustrate
Dr. Watson’s allusions to the state of the weather. Let us freshen our
memory by reviewing some of these.
Numerous references to the rains and winds of autumn may be found, such
as, “... the weather had taken a sudden turn to rain, with autumnal
winds” (_The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor_). And, in a similar vein,
“Outside the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered
against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come to us
from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet of seaweed in
a gale” (_The Five Orange Pips_). And in _The Problem of Thor Bridge_,
we find that, as Dr. Watson was dressing one morning, he observed how
the leaves were being whisked away from the plane tree (we would call
it a sycamore) which graced their back yard.
The events related in _The Hound of the Baskervilles_ took place
in the autumn of the year, and several interesting allusions to this
season may be found: “I walked over to the black window, and I looked
through a blurred pane at the driving clouds and at the tossing
outline of the wind-swept trees. It was a wild night....” Another
reference, “A dull and foggy day with a drizzle of rain. The house
is banked in with rolling clouds....” Also, “All day today the rain
poured down, rustling on the ivy and dripping from the eaves....”
And in another instance, “Rain squalls drifted across ... and the
heavy, slate-coloured clouds hung low over the landscape, trailing in
gray wreaths down the sides of the fantastic hills.” And lastly, an
especially interesting allusion may be cited:
We hurried through the dark shrubbery, amid the dull moaning of the
autumn wind and the rustle of the falling leaves. The night air was
heavy with the smell of damp and decay. Now and again the moon peeped
out for an instant, but clouds were driving over the face of the sky,
and just as we came out on the moor a thin rain began to fall.
The paragraph just quoted pictures a rather wet autumn night, but not
an especially bad one. In _The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez_,
an extremely wild and stormy night toward the end of November is
depicted. Dr. Watson describes vividly how the wind howled down Baker
Street, and how the rain beat vigorously against the windows. Another
reference may be cited which depicts gloomy autumn days: “It had been a
close and rainy day in October....” (_The Resident Patient_).
It would appear, then, that many of Sherlock Holmes’ adventures took
place during the fall of the year. It must be inferred that the dark
and stormy days of autumn depressed the great detective, for we find
him saying to Dr. Watson, “Draw your chair up and hand me my violin,
for the only problem we still have to solve is how to while away these
bleak autumnal evenings” (_The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor_).
From the instances just enumerated, it would seem that Dr. Watson was
fond of picturing a background of wind, rain, and storm for many of his
stories. He also described the well-known fogs of London with telling
effect. In _The Adventure of the Copper Beeches_, Dr. Watson writes,
“A thick fog rolled down the lines of dun-coloured houses, and the
opposing windows loomed like dark, shapeless blurs through the heavy
yellow wreaths.” And again, “It was a September evening and not yet 7
o’clock, but the day had been a dreary one, and a dense drizzly fog
lay low upon the great city” (_The Sign of the Four_). In the same
story, we find Holmes saying, “See how the yellow fog swirls down the
street and drifts across the dun-coloured houses.” _In The Adventure
of the Bruce-Partington Plans_, Dr. Watson tells how, during the month
of November of 1895, such a heavy fog descended on London that it was
impossible to see the houses on the opposite side of Baker Street.
In addition to wind, rain, storm, and fog, Dr. Watson makes reference
as well to sharp winter weather. In _The Adventure of the Blue
Carbuncle_, it will be remembered that Dr. Watson visited Sherlock
Holmes two days following Christmas to give his friend the season’s
greetings. Watson writes, “I seated myself in his arm chair and warmed
my hands before his crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and
the windows were thick with ice crystals.” When he and Holmes set out
to obtain information about the goose which had swallowed the blue
carbuncle, Watson tells us: “It was a bitter night, so we drew on our
ulsters and wrapped cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars
were shining coldly in a cloudless sky, and breath of the passers-by
blew out into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out
crisply and loudly....”
In _The Adventure of the Abbey Grange_, Watson describes an adventure
which took place on a bitterly cold morning during the winter of ’97.
On another occasion, Watson tells how he and Holmes went for a walk on
a cold and frosty winter evening (_The Adventure of Charles Augustus
Milverton_). A description of a beautiful winter day may be found in
_The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet_: “It was a bright, crisp February
morning, and the snow of the day before still lay deep upon the ground,
shimmering brightly in the wintry sun.”
Mention is made too of the weather in the spring. On several occasions,
references are made to the cold and stormy weather of the early part
of this season: “It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we
sat after breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room
at Baker Street” (_The Adventure of the Copper Beeches_). _The
Adventure of the Speckled Band_ took place in the spring of ’83.
Watson writes: “It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside,
and the rain was beating and splashing against the window.” In _The
Adventure of the Wisteria Lodge_, the good doctor writes that it was
a cold, dark, windy March evening, and a fine rain was falling. And in
_His Last Bow_, Watson writes that he had recorded in his notebook
that, in the latter part of March in the year 1892, it was a bleak and
windy day.
Milder spring weather also claimed Dr. Watson’s attention: “It was an
ideal spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy clouds
drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining very brightly,
and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge
to a man’s energy” (_The Adventure of the Copper Beeches_). In a
similar vein, “It was a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy
clouds in the heavens” (_The Adventure of the Speckled Band_). In
_The Adventure of the Three Garridebs_, a lovely spring evening is
mentioned, and Watson writes that the slanting rays of the setting sun
made even a little prosaic street look golden.
For some reason or other, less frequent mention is made of summer
weather. There are, however, several interesting references to this
enjoyable season. In the story of _The Greek Interpreter_, Dr. Watson
writes, “It was after tea on a summer evening....” And similarly, in
_The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone_, our attention is called to the
fact that it was the evening of a lovely summer’s day. It would be
expected that somewhere in the stories an allusion would be made to
the torrid days of August: “It was a blazing hot day in August. Baker
Street was like an oven, and the glare of the sunlight upon the yellow
brickwork of the house across the street was painful to the eye” (_The
Adventure of the Cardboard Box_). An especially poignant reference to a
hot summer night may be found in the story _His Last Bow_. Dr. Watson
gives a vivid description of a hot night on the second of August. He
mentions that there was an awesome hush and a feeling of expectancy in
the sultry and stagnant air. The August to which reference is made was
that of 1914--the beginning of World War I. In that holocaust, Great
Britain lost the flower of her youth. She has not yet recovered from
that mortal blow.
People living in the Victorian era, just like many of us today, were
interested in barometric pressure. In _The Boscombe Valley Mystery_,
an interesting reference to barometric readings may be found. Sherlock
Holmes remarks to Lestrade of Scotland Yard: “How is the glass?
Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud in the sky.” Somewhat
later in the day, he mentions to Dr. Watson: “The glass still keeps
very high.... It is of importance that it should not rain before we
are able to go over the ground.” Fortunately, in this instance good
weather prevailed, for Watson writes, “There was no rain, as Holmes had
foretold, and the morning broke bright and cloudless.”
One might well ask why Dr. Watson emphasizes the state of the weather
so often? Several reasons come to mind: To make the setting of his
stories more realistic; to take up space in the manuscript; to use the
subject of the weather as an excuse for some fine writing; to reveal
Watson’s little-suspected love of nature; or perhaps still other
reasons. Let us examine some of these.
It is well known that writers often have dirty weather prevailing when
foul deeds are to be committed. Dr. Watson, however, does not abuse
this privilege in his writings, although he does occasionally take
advantage of unusual atmospheric conditions to make the story more
exciting. A good example of this is to be found in the novel _The
Hound of the Baskervilles_.
One recalls that Sherlock Holmes laid a trap to catch the villain,
Stapleton. A part of the plan made it necessary for the hero, Sir
Henry, to walk across the dismal moor alone after dark. Holmes had
calculated that Stapleton would let loose his spectral hound that
particular night. It was carefully arranged, of course, so that
Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Lestrade would kill the hound before
any harm befell Sir Henry, and then catch Stapleton redhanded. All went
according to plan until a dense fog started to rise from the adjacent
Grimpen Mire. The low visibility produced by the unexpected fog almost
upset Holmes’ well-laid plans and nearly caused the death of Sir Henry,
because his friends could not see the hound until it was dangerously
close to him.
Can the good doctor be accused of writing about the weather simply to
make the manuscripts longer? I think not. In the first place, there
is no evidence (certainly not in his early career) that the money he
received for his stories bore any relation to their length. Further,
and more important, a man with Watson’s imagination did not have to
rely upon such a mundane topic as the weather to lengthen his stories.
We can dismiss this argument promptly by stating that he was not guilty
of padding his manuscripts in this manner.
Did he use the weather as an occasional excuse for fine writing?
Probably not, although some of the paragraphs in which he describes
the state of the weather, if examples of fine writing, are certainly
examples of vivid writing as well. Several instances could be given,
but one will suffice:
It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had
set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and
the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the
heart of great, handmade London we were forced to raise our minds for
the instant from the routine of life, and to recognize the presence of
those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars
of civilization, like untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in,
the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a
child in the chimney.
_The Five Orange Pips_
What other reasons could be given for Watson’s frequent allusions
to the weather? There are, of course, the dapper gentleman and the
Scotchman, who are conscious of the state of the weather since they
deplore--for different reasons, to be sure--losing the press in their
trousers by being caught in the rain. To the Londoner, however, who
seems obliviously unaware of the somewhat disheveled state of his
attire, such an explanation could scarcely apply. On the other hand,
one cogent reason does come to mind. It must always be remembered that
Watson was both a physician _and_ an author. Now the state of the
weather is of perpetual interest to a general practitioner of medicine,
and this is what Dr. Watson pretended to be. It is true that the
physician who practices in the city probably is not as weather-minded
as his colleague in the country. Dr. Watson lived in the great city of
London, but often made his professional calls on foot and doubtless
trudged through storm and rain: “When your round is a short one you
walk, and when it is a long one you use a hansom” (_The Crooked
Man_). He mentions that after his marriage he dropped in at 221B
Baker Street from time to time when walking in that vicinity.
In point of fact, the kind of weather is of no little importance to a
person who is called out at any time of day or night, as almost any
physician will testify. This may be one of the important reasons why
Watson makes such frequent mention of the weather in his stories.
All may not agree with me that such descriptions of the state of the
weather add greatly to the interest of Watson’s writings. This is a
matter of opinion; for doubtless there are many men who have little
interest in the weather under any circumstances. Earl Derr Biggers, the
creator of Charlie Chan, had one of his less liked characters remark
that he was not interested in the weather, since he was not a cabbage.
Be that as it may, I have always pitied those individuals who pay
absolutely no attention to the weather; they are missing a great deal
in life.
There are people who see beauty and interest only in a beautiful day.
The poet probably was right when he sang, “What is so rare as a day
in June?” But would anyone deny that there is beauty in a snowstorm
or a sleetstorm, and is not a cloudburst or a thunderstorm an awesome
spectacle, and can not even a duststorm be a striking phenomenon? Now
nature, I grant, can overdo this matter of storms, and too much dust
in the atmosphere or a week of rainy, sullen weather leave much to be
desired.
To those of us who have been thrilled by the saga of Sherlock Holmes
and Dr. Watson, and who have found enjoyment and relaxation in reading
about these famous characters, I would like to make one further
suggestion: Let us think of Dr. Watson not only as a practitioner
of medicine, or only just as an amateur detective and confidant of
Sherlock Holmes, but also as a man interested in many things--a lover
of nature and one who could see charm in all her moods.