Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 142, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1911 — Rain. [ARTICLE]

Rain.

The soft thud and patter of rain upon the roof are as musical to the imaginative listener as is any symphony. Monotonous dipping on thickleaved trees soothes one’s weariness, and makes the Importunities of life seem easily resisted. One can be lulled to fair visions during a transient spring shower, and gain the sense of sharing the destiny of nature. But, sometimes, the storm brings moods far from serene when it sweeps along with a kind of fury. Heavy douds make noon as dark as night, the air is thick and ominous, rain pours in sheets of gray that gusts of wind shake into fine mist Trees bow tn the ground under the rush of the whirlwind, and thunder reverberates continually, while often a sharp flash of lightning gives a sudden golden tint to the heavy rain and shows the blackness of the sky. There Is something startling and fearful in the tumult of the storm; it Is as if the laws of nature had broken loose and left the titanic elements to have full swing. Still it is beautiful, a picture in chiaroscuro, illuminated by the unearthly flame of lightning. There is a wild and awful sublimity in the tremendous power, which has wrought such darkness and floods of water, such breathless silence and responding crash and whirl. —Atlantic Monthly.