The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-08-21
WHO KNOWS eEsT9


The Evils which Would Result Were the
Government of the Weather Given Up
to Man.
The other day there was little
girl with very long face in nursery
| visit sometimes, and when heard
what was the matter, 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 mo-
ment fastened to explain, and assure
the little one that we were poor judges
weather, and tina. the .'too bad for us
was the very best for nature and some
other people who wanted rain. And
then this story came to mind, which
was well received by my little friend,
and tells its own lesson of content
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 al
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 of
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 ont 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 messenger called
Mercury, a 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 vii
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 in the
fields. the maids to milk the cows, the
fishermen to go 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 it 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
rain until it was too late to save the
crops, the cattle died, and the people
came near starving 1t was SO with
hot weather; most of the people liked
it cool, and so they had no hot weather;
things did not grow, and that was
another reason why they had famine.
After trying for year to make their
own weather, and finding that more
than half the inhabitants of the village
had died, and the rest were very mis-
cradle, these sad ones who were left
sent for the messenger of Jove. Mer-
curry came flying down, and the forlorn
people gathered in the market-place
sent this message back to Jove: "Te1I
him, said they, ''that now we know
Jove is wiser than we are, and that he
ruled over the weather in mercy and
not in judgment. Tell him we wish
things to be just as they were before,
for we are sure that it is best for man
that there should be guiding power
above him, whose ways are above our
ways, and whose thoughts are higher
than our thoughts. IN Y. Observer,
~c