Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-08-04
Summer Rain.

a"OAS e42Ao W AroA AAAt At1A
ing of the rain as it dashed against my
window. 1t was welcome sound after
the heat and dust Of the city. For weeks
We had had no rain; great clouds of dust
had choked us after the passing of everyteam
through our unwatered streets; and now
the needful rain was falling. Miniature
lakes and rivers had changed the topo-
yraphy of the street, through which stur-
dy little urchins in tall rubber boots are
wading, industriously and successfully
to get very wet.
1t is so reviving, this pleasant summer
rain; Gods own refreshing Already the
trees and flowers look brighter after their
baptismal showers. 1t is as refreshing as
kindness; and the musical murmur of the
rain drops are as pleasant as a kind word,
and as soothing as a friendly smile, which
are so easy to give and may make life more
worth the living to some world-weary one
All day long it has rained in fitful show
ers; now flood of waters as the tree tops
bend and sway in the wind, and now with
a gentle, somnolent pattering on the roof.
Such day as this brings vividly to mind
the careless days of my happy childhood,
when our dear mother would say, ''Chil-
dren, it is too wet for you to play out of
doors; yot may go into the garret to-day"
Such delightful, roomy old garret as it
was; filled with the accumulations of a
century; where so many. fond recOllections
clustered, and where were stored so many
remembrances of dear ones gone before,
whose graves in the valley could be plainly
seen from the eastern window. 1t was
hghted by a window on either side, over
the tiny panes of which the spiders had
woven their gossamer embroideries. In
the center was massive stone chimney,
in which a smoke house was built for the
curing of hams in the olden time. At one
end stood great ponderous loom, where
dozens of yarn and rag carpets h.d been
woven for the furnishing and identifying
of the large rooms below. This loom
served us the double purpose of church or
carriage, as the case might be. and we
would Chamber on the high wooden seat
and listen devoutly to u sermon delivered
by an invisible preacher. or travel over the
country with unheard-of velocity.
Grouped in one corner We're large spin
ming wheels, and smaller ones for fax,
swifts and reels, with all the parapherna-
liza of spinning. The air was redOleni
with that musty, herby odor, found no.
where else but in a country garrett Great
punches of catnip and sage, and mint.
with wormwood, and that panacea for eve.
ry ill-boneset-hunga among the rafters.
These were interspersed with bags of hops
which emitted pleasant, pungent odor;
punches of yellow seed corn, bags of dried
nj.
There were barrels of butternuts and wal
nuts, and popping corn, besides boxes of
chestnuts and hazelnuts, for our winters
Sielectation.
Bright brass warming pans leaned care
lessly and suggestively against the Chin
ney, near which stood the little red wood
en- cradle with a shed over the top, a fami-
ly heirloom, where all of us children had
been rocked in our babyhood. There was
a chest filled with our grandfathers ser
mons. yellow and discolored with age:
some of them are before me now as i
write. They Were beautifully written. i'm
fine upright hand, on coarse yellow pa
per, made in pamphlet form containing six
tiny sheets, two inches in width and three
inches in length. with many authorizations.
for paper was scarce and dear in those
early days. Small as they were, they con-
tanned the abstract of unusually long ser
mons, which had been repeated at an in
terval of years. the date of each repetition
being duly noted at the top. In this, his
first parish. where he had gone in and out
befora his people for more than fifty years
he might have found IL convenient to re
produce his old sermons. One of then
was delivered in seventeen hundred ant
ninety-two: then repeated in seventeen
hundred and ninety-nine; again in eigh
teen hundred and eight, and yet again il
eighteen hundred and sixteen
In close appropinqnity We're boxes o
books printed carly in the seventeenth
century, books with wooden covers an,
covers of feather. with quaint print ana
the -old-fashioned $, which would hav.
made any antiquarian wild with delight.
In an old hair chest were the remains o
my grandmother's wardrobe. Ny grand
mother was the bcte noir Of my childhood
She died long before 1 was born, and hal
been sleeping for years in the churchyarI
| in the valley. Her grave had a strang
fascination for me, for ON the weather
stained marble traced my name. the Civ
en- and the surname. which was her nam
also. 1t seemed - strange and eerie; an'
young as was / secretly rebelled: il wa
like standing beside my own grave, and
wondered why my parents had chosen t
! give bildt u me- TOT diNGE Wis
! iting that sunken grave il would fill IN,
mind and spoil my pleasure.
How oddly she mus: have looked dresss>
in those scantily gored, short waiste'
gowns. with an immense bonnet an he
head. seated on a pillow behind my grand
father as he went TO make "a parish call q
to perform a marriage ceremony. On on
occasion he received his nuptial fee in pei
nies, which being the larg. ones then
vogue, filled his saddle-bags to overfiowiu
and We're exceedingly burdensome.
Such n heterogeneous collection as thel
was in that garret; old chairs, dilapida:s
tables, quilting frames, candle molds M
long wooden candlesticks on tripods, ART
cles of household furniture, old hats al
bonnets, all found place here.
Nearly ninety years ago, when my fat
er was a small boy, an old cat, with a fl
family of kittens, occupied this garre
The mother cat. being great hunte
, brought in one day u little squirrel whi'
appeared to be nearly dead and laid it
my grandfather's feet, for which he grav
ly reprimanded her; soon the squirrel di
appeared, and was found. lively and fioT,
ishing, playing with the kittens. Tie C
had carried it to the garnet and had nurs'
, it back to life, giving it noglrishment wi
her own offspring. This is one of the
, gends of the garret, and although stran
5 is quite true; and may account for L
l boldness and friendiiness OF the maj
A squirrels who make their homes in t
t magnificent maple trees near the hou'
D Probably this tradition has been hand
, down through long generations of SOU
i rels, some of whom do not doubt are
r rect descendants of the squirrel of hist
n ry. Many delightful hours L have spe
: in the charming New England garnet rul
= maging through its curious stores
s The rain ceased and the clouds roll
e themselves together rs the sun was abo
e setting. The western sky was glorious
y its splendor. Every leaf and shrub gl
{ tered and scintillated with the diamol
drops, while over all We're the soft, ros
sunset colors. 1t was a vision of fai
4 land.
t This rainy day, I thought, is typical
!; our lives; for ''Into each life some ra
t must fall" The storms of adversely a
: sorrow that pass over us will, if right
received, cleanse and purify our moral T
: lures, thereby fitting MS for a glorious, !
e splendent sunset at the close of our cart
a ly day. RACHEL ROGERS.
Y wATERED.
. a;rI- A. .,,,,l~.ll.