Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 204, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1920 — Rann-dom Reels [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Rann-dom Reels

By HOWARD L. RANN

THE DROUTH THE Drouth, is a long, dry spell followed by a series of sharp explosions in the wheat pit It is also followed by the agonized accents of the rural speculator who Invested somebody else’s money and was promptly punctured while reading up on the baseball scores. The Drouth is caused by a total absence of rain In places where a little would 1 go a long way. One of the strange and Inscrutable mysteries of this fleeting life below is why the rain should fall with such fervor and exuberance In the spring of the year, when everybody wants to plant corn or try out a new automobile, and then as soon as summer opens up withdraw from the immediate vicinity and allow everything to dry up but the political orator. In the spring it is harder to head off a soaking rain than it is to discourage a visiting collector who is accustomed to speak without notes or mercy, but Just as soon as hot weather sets in and raises large, luminous blisters on the common people not enough rain will fall to properly water one perspiring citizen. A Drouth which has not been advertised in advance is a big asset to successful gambling on the price of December corn, wheat and other breakfast foods. Many a man has

bought a few million bushels of No. 1 wheat long before It began to peep shyly from the ground. In the hope that a double-geared Drouth would cause It to wither from the ankles up, and has been gratified to Such an extent that he could pay his barber bill for the first time since his marriage. Thousands of men who bet on the price of wheat, howfever, are now llv-

Ing In peaceful seclusion at the expense of an industrious father-in-law, the ratio of plungers who beat the game being about the same as that which holds good in bucking a slot machine. The Drouth is a very uncomfortable article to live with, but It Is easier to get along with than some people, for which let us give thanks. (Copyright.) •

Not enough rain will fall to properly water one perspiring citizen.