The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-12-16

1t is a genuine rainy day--not showery
or dull and drz~zling--but there Is the
sound of abundance of rain.
This thirsty earth soaks up the ram,
And drinks and gapes for drink again
1t is likely to have enough of it this time,
for the windows of heaven are open, and at
this rate, before night, the dry ways will
be turned into brooks and the brooks into
rivers.
Suppose there are some persons to whom
this rainy day is a great disappointment
it interferes with their plans and disturbs
their appointments. But to others it comes
as a benediction---it is the just the day for
indoor work; we have a good excuse for
not leaving the house, and the weather is
an e~ffectual protection against the intrusion
of vexatious visitors. We can settle down
to our writing or reading, or whatever else
we have to do, without the danger of inter-
ruption, and this gives a charm to our
work. We are, of course, very sorry for
those who are not allowed to stay within
doors, let the weather be as it may---for the
milkmen, the butchers, the bakers, the post
men and the railway employees who must
face the storm, even if the rain must come
down in torrents but, then, they are used
to it, and have long since accepted this as
one of the incidents of their vocation.
We would not care to live in a region
where it seldom, if ever, rained. By scien-
tific irrigation good crops may be made to
to grow, but the artificial ditch is a poor
substitute for the ram. People want a little
variety in the weather. as they do in every.
thing else. Who would wish to have bright
sunshine and the thermometer at seventy
degrees all the time e? We enjoy things by
contrast, and the long; driving storm makes
the morning all the more glorious when
the clouds break and the sun comes forth in
its might. The sweet and beautiful rain I!
Just think of the good that comes of it.
In the first place. it washes the atmos-
phere of its foul and communicating odors,
sweeps away into the rivers and through
the rivers into the ocean those decaying sub.
which would breed pestilence on the
land replaces the stagnant waters with the
sweet dews of heaven, and furnishes to man
the only ~effectual material for his p%urifica-
ton. We are told that the Arabs in the
desert, where water is very scarce and pre-
cious, try to cleanse themselves by rubbing
their bodies with sand. The standard of
cleanliness among that people is not very
high. A sandbath would not satisfy US.
Another thing which tine rain does is to
the temperature. If the process
of evaporation and condensation were sus-
the earth would soon become unin-
habitable, and whatever was net killed by
the frost would be withered by the heat.
This would be a zone of ice and a zone of
fire, and in both life would become extinct.
In place of the gentle winds which now
gradually cool the equator, and bear away
its superfluous heat to the artic, there would
be either dead stagnation in the atmosphere
or the intermittent tornado pursuing its path
with ruin.
Another function of the rain is that of a
rivifer. Life would be impossible if there
were neither rain, nor dew, nor moisture.
a blade of grass would grow, not a
lower bloom, not a grain of wheat ripen.
Every bird would drop his wing and fall,
Every beast of the field lie down and die, +
md the inhabitants of man would be desc
ate.
Still another office of the rain is that of a
ertilizer. Water is the medium by which
Ill that goes to form the substance of living
hings is brought into contact with them,
nd assimilated by them. The roots of a
rec may be embedded in the richest soil,
he warm sunlight may play upon its
caves, all the materials that are indispen-
able to its growth may hover about it, but
Unless there is moisture to open the pores
nd convey to it its food it will never add
ne iota to its bulk, and will soon only be-
ONE a withered stick. The desert is a
'esert simply from want of water; let the
ain come, and after a little while the
wilderness will bloom with verdure.
was once a land flowing with milk
nd honey--it is desolate and barren now,
use the rain has in a great measure
eased to fall.
One of the profound sayings that has
ONE down to US from antiquity is this:--
When it rains, let it rain We do well to
ccept this without qualification, for We
oubt whether it is in the power of man to
egulate the ram and the sunshine to any
etter advantage if the matter were put I'M
er his control.