The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1886-06-05
WHAT is BEST.


to Man. ...
The other day there was little
girl with a very long face in nursery
l visit sometimes, and when heard
what was the tier, my face grew
long too, for minute, in sympathy.
A bright, sunny morning spent in
school had been followed by down.
pour of rain that left no hope of after
noon play out Of doors, no riding on
the new tricycle., and call at grandma's
coming home. at was too bad" she
said, and echoed the words, thinking
of her disappointment. But in a mo-
ment l FASTENED to explain, and assure
the little one that we were poor judges
of what was best in the matter of
weather, and tina: the "too bad" for us
was the very best for nature and some
other people who wanted rain. And
then tins story came to mind, which
was well received by my little friend,
and tells its own lesson of contents
ment with things as they are, and trust
in higher power.
Many thousand years ago the people
of Greece believed in god whom they
called Jove. They fancied that he lived
in mountain called Olympus, and
from this place ruled the world; that
he made the clouds, and babe them 60
forth to water the earth; that he made
the thunder and lightning, and COM
manded them to- display his power;
that he made the sun to rise upon the
world, giving light and heat. At the
foot of Mount Olympus there was a
little village where the people were ale
ways grumbling at the weather. They
thought it too wet or too dry, too hot
or too cold. Even if the weather was
right for the season of the year some 1T
the people were sure to find fault with
it. If Jove sent rain, there were sure
to be people who wanted to take
Journey, or to work in the fields, or
make holiday out of doors, and they
were disappointed and cross. Jove
heard of their discomfort and deter
mined to show them their folly; so he
sent to the village a messenger called
Mercury, lively little fellow, with
wings at his shoulders and heels, with
which he flew swiftly on the errands Of
his master.
Mercury told the people that Jove
had concluded to resign his govern
ment of the weather and give it up to
them, and that he had commanded the
| clouds and rain, the thunder and light
ming, the sun and wind, the heat and
cold to obey the inhabitants of the viii
lage. This announcement delighted
the villagers, and they assembled in the
market-place with shouts of Joy tell
ing Mercury to return with their thanks
to Jove, which he promised TO do. But,
said he, remember that by Jove's de-
cree it is necessary for you to be united
in what you do. The sun will not rise
while any one opposes it, neither will
it rain till every one is ready; in fact,
the business of making the weather
must stop until all are agreed about it.
1t was evening when Mercury went
away, and the next morning most of
the people rose, but the sun did not.
And what confusion was everywhere
the farmers wished to work m the
fields, the maids to milk the cows, the
fishermen to 90 to their nets, but it was
dark. There were some lazy people in
the village, however; for whom the sun
had always risen too early, and they
could not get these, people out of bed
and agree to have the sun rise until
about twelve o'clock, so half the day
was lost. But this was only the
beginning of trouble, for when
: the sun was up they took hours to
: agree as to when il should set 1t was
so with every thing else. Months
passed before they could all agree to
have high wind. and so disease came
. among them and many of the villagers
' died. They positively refused to have
2 rain until it was too late to save the
} crops, the cattle died, and the people
S came near starving. 1t was so with
hot weather; most of the people liked
t it cool, and so they had no hot weather.
v things did not grow, and that was
e another reason why they had famine.
a After trying for year to make theiI
1 own weather, and finding that more
n than half the inhabitants of the village
!. had died, and the rest were very mis-
cradle, these sad ones who were left
n sent for the messenger of Jove. Mer
7 curry cSme flying down, and the forlorr
e people gathered in the market-plact
> sent this message back to Jove: Tel
e him, said they, that now we know
It Jove is wiser than we are, and that ht
l. ruled over the weather in mercy and
d not in judgment Tell him we wist
Al things 20 be Just as they were before
for we are sure that it is best for mai
that there should be a guiding pOwe
e above him, whose ways are above on
q ways, and whose thoughts are highe
le than our thought ~, y, Observer