Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-03-20

weather is death dealer; the thing that.
finally kills. gives the finishing stroke to
It is wonder when we think of it in
this light, that we do not actually 90 Graz.
ed, terrorized by the thought of possible
weather changes. Thus father died that
rainy spell; thus the fond child died, that
first snow which brought the Group: thus
brother died that hot day when the air
was still and sitting: rheumatism. neural
gla, the pain of an old wound. headache
and backache-they all are vessels of the
weather. We know not at what instant
our comfort may be changed to agony bv
this nameless tyrant who swings his wand
over us.
The weather is the front tooth of gnaw-
ing Time himself. BY it ne digs down
marble palaces. The waste of wealth is
by no other means so prodigal as by the
weather. From hot to cold, from dry to
wet, will destroy anything; literally, moth
ing is weather-proof, The weather sub
verts more promising plans of commercial
skill than anything else. The damage by
change, the hlndrance, the enforced read
justment of plans on account of this tickle
thing, exceed all other causes put together.
The loss is incalculable 1t ALWAYS has
been so. 1t always must be So For
nothing can be done to effect cure of this
woe. so far as we can be judged from ex-
perlence. Various attempts have been
made to compute the loss.to the insurance
companies OF single great storm The
figures are startling. So terrible des-
tructlve agency, If appearing from any
other quarter but the sky. would command
the leagued invention of the world. the
armed force of all civilized governments.
the prolonged sessions of all congresses.
parllaments, and cabinets: but
against the weather nothing is at
tempted, because nothing can avail. The
world must provide wealth enough to en-
dure the loss by weather without serious
Gripping of the conditions of human ex-
istence, So much for winds to scatter. so
much for sunbeam to wither so much for
frosts to blast; and then something to
spare with which to 60 on. That great
bandit, the weather. must be fed till he
chokes and moves off.
What a world of nervous misery is caus-
ed to brides, to children who have arrang-
ed party, to eXpectant excursionists, and
the great hosts of the otherwise happy,
who find storm raging on the day set
apart for some pleasure. The depression
OF spirits, to which moody and highly SEN
sltlve people are subject, no one can esti-
mate. The poet cannot sing ON dull days
the literary man cannot compose, the
preacher plots stupid sermon, the must
clan wanders about his room with hands
In pocket. Suicides occur in bad weather.
Crowded in bar-rooms workingmen drink
and quarrel. The thermometer of human
happiness sinks. And still nothing can
be done to effect the cause in the least.
But let me pause, for very shame. There
are remedies and compensations, after all.
Life is sweet; even if the sky were always
in cloud. we would rather live than die.
The weather was here when we came
What right have we to complain of con-
ditions of existence that we found here on
our arrival? What we endure all the race
before us has gotten along with; are we
less heroic than our ancestors? The ex-
press trains rarely stop for weather; in
parlor chairs we sweep along where our
brave fathers walked in the mud: The
elements provoke us to energy. There is
that makes men heroic The tropic smile
enervates. As a matter of fact. the
health of the people living in regions
where changes of weather are
frequent is better than in re-
gions of pacific evenness. The health of
the world is in the hands of those nations
on whose shores the wreck of stormy skies
has done it's worst.
Truth is, the cheerful heart is always
cheerful. Illness that the weather produc-
es is, as rule, well started and under way,
though not known to Us, when the storm
has not even yet come. Our careless liv-
ing, our designations, make US easy pray
to that which ought to roll harnlessly over
our heads if we had lived temporarily. Our
artificial life makes us tender Look at
the ruddy face of the man who is ''out in
all weather - What strength he has!
The bride should be so joyous as not to
notice the weather. A child should be
trained to laugh at the weather, or to sub
NIT to it as school-teacher which shows
him in a very harmless way that he can
not always expect to have his own way in
this world. A boy who snarls over the
weather needs shaking. Heaven help
the little craven! Does he expect to get
through this world with no worse woes
than rainy Saturday? The poet who
cannot rhine ON rainy days had better
take off his coat and work in a sheltered
machine shop. All the pretty, delicate
company who are so highly sensitive that
they whine and NOPE, and make everybody
else unhappy. because of storm. need a
little of the real roughness and hardship
of life to tone them up.
The busy world pays little attention to
the weather. The best way is not to no
tice it. Dress for it. Then disregard it
otherwise. Don't talk about it. The
social plague who is always asking you if
''this is hot enough for you, - or chow you
like this, is to be ruled out. Old meteo-
Biological talks Iof the coolest December
day in twenty years, - the worst January
in ten years these are simply abomin-
able. Who cares? What good? The
thing that cannot be cured it is best not to
notice Good breeding counts weather
talk in bad form. If it rains, everybody
knows it. If it is cold, no one needs to be
informed. Such remarks show poverty
of thought; it is because one cannot think
of anything else to say that such vaporings
are let off in unwilling ears. When things
go we'll with us, / notice, it is always
good weather whatever is in the sky. Bad
luck bad deeds, make storms in sunshine.
The Royal Signature.
New York Sun.
'The Queens signature to state docu
ments, said he, sis still model of firm
ness and legibility, no sign of Her