The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-07-05
A Rhyme of the Rain.
BY ROssITER JOHNSON.

IEluSIliS utAAIG4 IAI9 1tIILDAS
And a l0ng-drawn bOtherati0n,
the men upon the house-top, and the cattle
i'll the plain.
How it pOuTS, pOUrS, pOurS,
In a never-ending sheet!
How it drives beneath the doors!
How it soaks the passer's feet!
How it rattles on the shutter!
How it rumples on the awn
How twill sigh, and moan, and mutter,
From darkness until dawn!-
Making human life q burden,
Making joy a tiimsy vile,
Making bondage seem a GuerdOn
In the rainless fields of Egypt, by the clever
river Nile.
Yet how pleasantly the rain, /
With it's delicate refrain,
May sing way the sultriness of summer day or
night!
Set the dropping grass a~-springing,
And the robins throat a-ringing,
Fill the meadowlands with verdure, and thehills
with glistening light!
Or in April, fickle-hearted,
Ere the chill has quite departed,
That the frosts, and the SHOWS, and the bowling
winds have brought,
When all the signs of gladness
Take a sOmbert inge OF sadness,
For days and deeds that come no more, and
dreams that fell to naught!
Then, in half-unwelcome leisure,
TITS a sort of solemn pleasure
To sit beside the ingle,
Or to lie beneath the shingle,
And listen to the patter OF the ram, ram, RAM,
To the drip, drip, drip,
And the patter, patter, patter,
On the roof, and the shutter, and the pane, pane,
pane.
But whether night or daytime,
In harvest-time or play-time,
And whether pour OF patter,
The early rain or latter
Reigns over human purpose, and plays with hui
man fears
Sets mighty armies shouting,
Sends little Cupid pouting,
Turns trusting into doubling,
And triumph into tears.
Oh! sadly I remember
One treacherOus September,
When the autumn equinectial came a week or so
" too soon.
I had started, with a cousin,
For the church, with a dozen
Maids and matronS who were airing
The fall Styles" and gayly wearing
The very newest, sweetest things in bOnnets
meath the moon,
And midway Of the journey,
Like a thousand knights in tourney,
The leveled lances of the rain drove furious at
And the q fail styles" fell and wilted,
On the DANES so proudly killed,
Andby sudden transformation worse than worst
became the best.
Though I now am sere and yellow,
was then a valiant fellow,
And esteemed 1T more a joy to serve the ladies
Hs - than to live.
Imagine, then, my feelings,
Mid the shrinking and the squealings,
When nv waterproof !" umbrella proved q
= sieve, sieve, sieve!
When my shiny new umbrella proved a sieve!
What a sorry lot of mortals
Sat within the sacred portals,
In their mermaid millinery looking sad, sad, sad!
Nothing dry except the sermon,
Which discOursed on dews of Hermon
And the streams which, saith the Scripture, do
make glad, glad, glad!
So the preacher praised the waters
To those mothers, wives and daughters,
Every dripping, draggled one of whom asmad,
mad, mad! 4--z
And my bright and handsome cousin,
Sweetest girl among the dozen,
Or among a dozen dozen you might meet along
the way, -. -..r... ...
Then a hopeful, sprightly lassie,
Now, I fear, a little pGSSee,
| Dates the ruin of her chances from that rainy
Sabbath-day.
She had spent her last round dollar
For the bonnet, gloves, and collar,
That should have proved effective on the smart
young pulpiteer;
But he rode home i'll the carriage
OF her rival, and their marriage
Was solernnized Qmy cousins world in less than
half a year. eli
But gladly I remember
One crimson-hIled September,
When we strayed along the hedges and within
the gorgeous void; .
A merry autumn party
OF men and maidens hearty,
Rejoicing in the foliage Of scarlet and of gold;
And ere we thought OF turning, .-
Or saw a sign of warning, So.
We heard upon the fallen leaves the footsteps
of the rain.
Away went rules conventional!
And I, with haste intentional,
Just clapped my good old broad-brim on the
head OF Annie Blaine.
That eXtemporized umbrella
Threw cold water on a fellow .r ...# -
Who was counting, in a lazy sort of way, Miss
Annie Blaine;
While it made mt quite a gallant,
And a fine young man of talent,
In the eyes and estimation of the hpaHtn0OS
Annie Blaine. -.
In the dreamy summer haze
Of my far-of boyish days,
I had chased the Turing butterfly across the
grassy plain; s-y~ p.
But ] never threw my hat
O'er a prize so fair as that
When it sheltered, caught, and gave me-, the
& lovely Annie Blaine.
And I've blessed that gentle rain
Again and yet again, a.
For the flowers it set blooming in my life, life
SIS life; #<F $E 1877 nf "
For the crimson and the gold
That adorns the little fold -..t ~
Where / find an autumn shelter with my wife
wife, wife.
(Appletons' journal.
=- 70 ~F#4