Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-08-15
.Ea From the Chicago Tri
AFTER THE STORM.

The morning dawned gloriously after
night whose terrors viii not soon be forgot
ten How iiercely had waged the war Of the
elements through long hours to which dark
ness lent new dread. The lightnings fash
ed, following each other in rapid succession,
until the air seemed to quiver with incessant,
tremulous light, from which the strained eye
shrank, without being able to shut out tho
vision. The thunders Icvcrberated round
the whole heavens, peal answering to peal,
while the giant winds were abroad and went
sweeping over the land, heighten!ng the ter
rors and dangers of the hour Here a fierce
tornado stopped to earth, rsnding and seat
tering like chaff the rich fruits of mans in
dustry. Before it, was swept away the har-
vest, the wide fields of standing grain, houses
and farm buildings. The trees of the or
chari were stripped of their fruitagc, or torn
up by the roots the forest, lashed by TIC
tempest, shreked and howled as il the fable
ed spirits of the wsod were in horrible tor
ture by the fiends Of air The lightnings, in
their fearful play smote down man and beast
alike. Out upon the lake the startled craft,
overtaken by the storm, bowed before 1t, and
were swept at its mercy. 1t was n night
long to be remembered upon which broke the
glorious dawn Of Tuesday, August 5th-after
the storm. r..f..... ..,- a. r-a
Inadequate as language is to describe the
st ong, rude features Of a night tempest, it is
a far more difficult task to portray in words
the beauties Of such morning after storm.
There were everywhere evidences of the cle-
mental warfare now ceased, rent bough
here, a torn and shattered structure there, or
sadder yet the voice of mourning over the
dead victims of the tempest, but around and
above pervadng sky and earth were the
blessed results, the purchase of the recent
strife. The day before, the summer air hung
heavy and still with noxious vapors and
earth born malaras. Men and beasts painted
laboriously In the sultry heat beneath tho
brazen sky. The fields were parchcd and
the arid highways beds Of dust. The cheek
of health gathered langour, and the pulse of
the invalid feebleness. The storm came bred
OF these elements that oppressed earth and
its sons, and after the storm, health, ard the
pure peace Of a cloudless summer morning.
| After the storm. We are now in tho
midst OF one OF those storms that at intervals
sweep over nations. Turn the pages of his
| tory, and you may trace them and note how
they have tossed and wrestled with one
another, wrcnching great kingdoms from
their foundations, struggling with and over
turning deep-seated, giant wrongs. Thus
far we have failed to realize them, we, who
have sat at ease under the shades our fathers
planted, and seen our national skies mant-
ling with summer glow. The storm is up
on us with grandeur unsurpassed in NIL the
commotions of which mankind has made his
tory. The earth shakes with the tread of a
million men in arms. Trade paused in it's
channels. Peace pale but fearless calls home
her startled doves Agriculture releases it's
sons to another harvest field, red with strife.
Religion in the cause Of right withholds
a while the trade maxims with which she has
toned man from the savage There is no
work but war, no pursuit but obedience to
the call of country. This is the storm born
OF causes as natural as those which awake
the tempest and tornado, and sure like these
to yield the results of publication. progress,
national health, and soundncss with univer-
sal liberty the heritage, blood bought and
blood defended, the, nation q haven Of shelter
to the oppressed of all the world All this
after the storm. Let patriots wait, and pray ,
and hope, and amid all, work. ..