The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1881-02-17
WEATHER TALK.
mon subject lhai al Men viii Admire.

Burlington Hawkeyc.l
Fairly on the road, man came and sat down
in front of me, and turned around and faced
me.
"Cold, this morning. he said
i folded my paper, and famed myself with il
vigorously moment or two before i replied.
Then / unbuttoned my coat private toeditors'-
il was originally a hree-buttOned coat but the
exigencies-of the season, the long absence from
home, and the necessity of dropping something
into the contribution box every time | went to
church, has reduced it to the minimum of one },
wiped my frigid brow with my handkerchief,
and said in painting tones:
Il don't find it So"
The man looked astonished, but presently he
said:
maybe you've been a runnin'r
NO" replied, ''Tye been asleep for the past
two hours, in n Sleigh
'.And ye didn't feel the cold !" inquired the
man.
''Manw said l, in tones of establishment, 'Cold,
on the 9th of June p
''Juner he echoed Strengthening up. care
you craZyi 1t is the Jth of January
"Well,' / said, sit felt like the 9Th of June TO
me-"
Its mighty fine sleighin', all the same" said
the man.
l told him, without blush, that had never
seen the mud worse on Ohio roads since l could
remember.
"Where on earth,r he asked in utter astonisll-
ment, did you come from ~
Dayton | said.
His eyes began to creep out and look at each
other over the top of his nose.
''Whcn r. he asked.
This morning" l said, calmly, ''since eight
o'clock"
'.How p he fairly shouted.
SIN a one-horse Sleigh said.
'Sakes alivew he shrieked; 'sits impossible
It's only eleven o'clock now, and Dayton is fifty
miles away.
Cant help it," insisted; Il left there little
over two hours ago in sleigh, with poor horse,
drove slowly, and the mud was up to the hubs
of my wheels all the way. Ii was warm as May,
and haven't seen enough snow to make one
boy slide in five thousand miles,
The mans hair stood on end, and he got up to
start to the other end of the ear.
"lf you amt crazy, and believe you he, he
said, with grave earnestness, 'yOu are an awful
liar"
Good man." | said. 81 expect AIN, but am
not a fool. | may tell startling lies, but do
not talk like an ass, and would rather he taken
for liar maniac than an imbecile. do
not come into a car when the thermometer marks
three degrees below zero, and tell a living,
breathing, intelligent, sensitive man that it is
cold, just though was imparting some in
formation to him. / do not watch him drive up
TO the train in a sleigh, spinning over the dry,
wisp snow, ON the smooth, perfect pixies of Ohio,
and then attempt TO instruct, amuse, or startle
him, by telling him that the sleighing is good.
| would rather astOnish n man than bore him.
If have nothing better to tell him than some
thing he knows already far better than do nv
mouth is sealed, and will never speak. In or
der to astOnish him or startle him, may have
To lie to him. bat that is better than boring him.
lOu might well sit down and tell me that
twice two is four, to tell me that il is cold.
You might well tell me that George Washing
ton is dead, 10 tell me that sleighing is good
Go away, good man; 90 to sleep. | tell you il
is June; there is no snow; there is dust, and
there are roses. 1t is two hundred miles from
Dayton to LOyeland, and l walked from the
North Pole this morning Go, get thee To a nun
merry, and when You can model your CONVERSE
ton ON something besides the United States sig
nal service reports, come and wake me up, and
hold me in the matchless charm of Your nstrct-
i've talk. | know not what course others may
take but for me, gol blast the man who talks
to me about the weather."
And straightway the man ariz and got him
to the after wood-boN for lac was astouishcd.
And as fell into suInber, The forgotten dreams
of which contained more real valuable inforlna-
ton than that man ever did or ever will know,
| heard him opening conversation with the
tacitum brakeman, by remarkinS:
Sold, this mUrnin'r