Carrying an umbrella

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

I used to trust the weather forecast more than the sky and leave my umbrella at home whenever the chance of rain looked small. This worked often enough to become a principle. Then one brief shower left me arriving at a meeting with water running from my sleeves. My colleague offered a towel without mentioning probability, which was kind of her.

Now I carry a compact umbrella in my bag. I resent its weight on bright mornings and bless it on wet ones. Preparation is less elegant than confidence because it asks you to carry evidence that your preferred version of the day may not happen. I still check the forecast, but I no longer treat a low chance as a personal promise. The umbrella is not an admission that everything will go wrong. It is a small allowance for a world that has not agreed to organise itself around the contents of my diary.

Source B: an original letter in a nineteenth-century voice. This is a period-voice simulation, not an archival document.

Dear Clara, I have bought another umbrella, having left the last in a railway carriage. You will say that this proves the wisdom of going without one. I think it proves only the wisdom of remembering one's possessions. The rain does not become less wet because an article is inconvenient to carry, and I have no desire to arrive at every destination as an advertisement for endurance.

Yet I understand the attraction of setting out unencumbered. An umbrella occupies a hand, requires a place at luncheon and may be lost precisely when its service is most needed. Mine has spent several clear afternoons leaning accusingly against my chair. Still, when a shower begins, the burden becomes a roof. I am content to accept a little unnecessary weight on one day in exchange for useful shelter on another. Prudence need not be a gloomy philosophy; sometimes it is merely a dry collar.

Refer to the whole of both sources. Compare the writers’ perspectives on the value and inconvenience of carrying an umbrella and how they convey those perspectives. Support your comparison with evidence from both sources.