The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-02-12
Provokingly Contented.

In an age when grumblng at the
weather becomes the safety valve for
all sorts of ill-humored megrin,s. it is
something too aggravating TO find the
person you are most in the habit of
talking with always in 4 state OF IDIOT
ic c0ntentment with said weather.
Nav this is the case OF my neighbor
Pitman.
In the summer, when the mercury
bolted up among the nineties, he would
come to the front door with beads of
perspiratiOn standing out all over his
red face, and would look at the sky and
saw, Splendid! perfectly splendid!
Noble weather for the poor and the ice
companies and the washerwomen! I
never saw such magnificent weather
for drying clothes! They don't shake
up any such climate as this in Italy.
Give me nv umbreller, Harriet, while
l sit out here on the steps and enjoy
In winter, when the mercury would
creep down to fifteen below zero, and
the cold was nearly severe enough to
freeze the inside of Eesuvius, Pitman
would sit out on my fence and exclaim.
''Now Adeler, did you ever see sich
weather as this? like an atmosphere
that freezes up your very marrer. 1t
helps the coal trade, and gives Us good
skeetin'. Don't talk of summer time TO
me! Give me cold, and give il to me
stiff
When there was a drought, Pitman
used to meet me in the street and re-
mark, No rain yet, | see! Magnifi-
cent. isn't it? | want my weather dry,
l want it with the dampness left out.
Moisture breeds fever and ague, an
ruins Yer boots. If there's anything |
despise. it's to carry an umbreller. No
rain for me, if you please.
When it rained for a week and flood
ed the country, Pitman often dropped
in to see me and observed, Il dunno
how you feel about this yer rain, Adel-
er, but it alters seems to me that the
heavens never drop no blessin's but
when we have a long wet spell. 1t
makes the corn jump, an cleans the
sewers, an keeps the springs from get
tin too dry. L wouldn't give a cent to
live in climate where there was no
rain. Soak me through and through
to the inside of my bones, and feel as
if life was bright and beautiful.
On showery day, when the sun
shone brightly at one moment and at
the next the rain poured in torrents,
Pitman has been known to stand at the
window and exclain. Harriet, if you'd
asked how | liked the weather, I'd We
said, Just as it is now What | want
is weather that is streaked like bit of
fat an lean bacOn-a little shine and 4
little rain. Mix 'em up an give us
plenty of both, and I'm yer man."
Pitman is always happy in a thunder
storm, and one day when the lightning
had Knocked down two of his best ap-
ple-trees and splintered them into frag-
ments, and the wind had torn his CHM
ney TO pieces. | went over to see him.
He was standing by the PROSTATE trees,
and he ut once remarked, Ibid You
ever know 4 man havin' sich luck as
this? ] was going to chop down them
two trees tO-morrer, an as that Chin
ney never draw'd well, had concluded
to have it rebuilt. An that gorgeous
old storm has fixed things just the way
| want 'em. Put me in a thunderstorm
an let the lightnin' play around me, an
I'm at home.
They say here in the village, and l
must believe it, that one day Pitman
was upon his roof fixing shingle.
when tornado struck him, lifted him
of, carried him quarter of mile, and
dashed him with such terrible force
against the fence that his leg was bro
ken. AS they carried him home he
opened his eyes languidly and said,
'What storm that wasi When it
does blow it suits me if il blows hard.
I'd give both legs if we could have a
squall like that every day. IL"
Then he became insensible.
If contentment is appiness, then the
life of Pitman is one of uninterrupted
condition of bliss-MaE Adeler.