The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-07-17
KANSAS DAY.
All Eones and Seasons Condensed into It's
Brief Space.

.....A- KANSAS DAY.
All Eones and Seasons Condensed into Its
Brief Space.
The moraing may dawn upon us
clear. cool and soft, with sparkling
dew. and the song of thousand
meadow larks. The sun comes grand
ly up above the clean-cut horizon. We
feel no languor. Il il delight to live
and breathe and move. The sun
mounts toward the zenith, and the air
begins TO grow hot. 1t is insufferably
hot There is no tree, no hill, no rock
to give cooling shade, and the deep
blue sky contains no passing cloud to
give us a moments respite from the
suns binding rays. We think regret
fully of the umbrella that yesterdays
wind turned inside out, and determine
to put up tent as soon as the weather
is cool enough to encourage the effort.
But atmospheric stiffness never lasts
long in Kansas. The wind begins to
blow, and our sitting breath grows
more free. From the south the wind
comes, reaching our ears with q MUIR
muring sound before we feel it in our
faces The prairie grass and fields of
grain rise and fall, first in waves. and
then in heaving pillows. The wind in
creases in force and becomes sirocco.
scorching our faces worse than the hot
test rays of the sun could do. There
is no dignity in walking. We struggle
with our skirts and wraps. We tie
cur hats down, we hold on to them
with both hands, and still they
escape us, and we rush madly after
them. The clothes on the line at
the next door tapped wildly around,
beating out their hens and splitting in
every weakened spot while the wash
er-woman is striving to keep her bal
ance long enough to rescue them be-
fore their total destruction; lucky is she
if they are not snatched from her
grasp and scattered far over the prairie
never to be recovered. Great tumble
weeds come rolling like hoops across
the plain. Here comes market-basket
escaped from the hand of some urchin
who for a moment forgot to be vigilant.
we SIdEt W CsttCu IL iOi I'LL, pit IL
eludes us, and goes humping over the
prairie for half mile or more, and is
soon out of sight A canvas covered
carriage is seized by the wind and rolled
down the street On the next house
comes topping down the stove-pipe
chimney Three or four ''claim shan
ties" are laid over on their sides, and
the builders of the large house in the
upper part of the town will have to be-
gin tomorrow putting up their frame
anew. We think about tornadoes and
cyclones, and then remark quietly:
This isn't anything; just an ordinary
straight blow" Clouds of dust fill the
air, penetrating the thickest wells, red
dening our ewes and sitting through
the cracks of doors and windows to the
utter ruin of all good housekeeping.
The only comfort is in the thought that
this state of things can not last long; a
change will surely come soon.
Aud here it comes. In the southeast
a black cloud appears, moving rapidly.
We look anxiously to see if it is funnel
shaped, and few nervous persons re-
treat to their cellars or caves Chat is.
artificial excavations that serve as out
side cellars for some of the houses).
But this is not a tornado, only Kansas
shower. First come cloud of dust,
sweeping with the rapidity of a whirl-
wind and yelling the town from sight
The lightning blinds our eyes and
streaks the black sky with chains of
light Housewives bring sheets and
pieces of old carpet to stop the cracks
IF the doors and windows on the wind
wari side. and .'hurry" must be the
word, for in moment the rain is upon
is, not in drops, but in binding sheets
moving horizontally along. In a few
the roadways are streams of
water, the tubs and rain bar
rels and cisterns are overlooking. The
farmers exultingly eXclaim: This in
sures the corn CROP" and the local edit
Or writes for his item column: "What
slanderer said .Drouthy Kansas'?"
1t is no longer rain; it is sleet and
hail. Next comes a rift in the clouds,
perfect arch of rainbow. and the clouds
roll away out of sight, leaving the
earth dotted with flowers.
The afternoon wanes. The winds are
still. The sun sinks in blaze of golden
glory. and almost without a twilight
The day is ended. In the ocean of dark
blue ether above and round us the moon
and stars are shining. 1t is the per-
lection of glorious night. We linger in
is beauty, unwilling that sleep should
claim the best hours of the twenty-four,
out at last. the thought of to-morrow's
abors and vicissitudes drives us to our
couch. We fall asleep, to awaken per-
maps in few hours and find that the
oed.covering is insufficient. We wrap
ourselves in all the blankets we can find,
put are still cold and grow colder. The
south wind has given place to norther,
which creeps in through the seams of
he windows, lifts the carpet in pillows,
md drives us back to our warmest tlan-
lels, and our rekindled fires.
In weather, as in almost all phases of
his prairie life, it is the unexpected
which usually happens, What adjective
5 there, applicable to weather. that may
lot he used in the superlative degree
,e-e! / do not wonder that this is
,allel sunny Kansas" but it is also
windy Kansas. Yes. it is drouthy Kan
as. but it is also, fertile, beautiful Kan
IL Leonard, i'm atlantic