Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-06-11
IT REALLY RAlNep.
Cuba II . Country Where Water Comes
Down in Great shape.

Cuba IL . Country where Water Come
Down in Great shape.
1t was in Cuba, and was in a rail
way car journeying from Matanza'
to Havana. 1t was springtime, an6
the beginning of the rainy season
was at hand The people were look
ing forward to the first rain as-]
was going to say, as we do to the first
snow, but that does not parallel their
expectation, for they know that when
it once begins to rain there is an end
to their liberty.
The first intimation that / had of
the likelihood that something was
going to happen came from my see
ing a dense Jet black cloud over
against the southern horizon. All
! around me lay peaceful and pros
porous scene Beside the track were
some huthke negro cabins, with black
women seated in the doorways, and
funny little half naked piccaninnies
playing in the dirt.
But the black cloud grew bigger
and blacker. 1t was advancing to-
ward us with very great and evident
speed, and presently l saw that it
was all fretted with bolts of lightning
and toothed with white darts of fire
Never before or since did / see such
a dreadful display of the electrical
force. The bolts were 50 close to-
gether that it seemed as if they
must destroy every living thing in
the pathway of the cloud. When the
black and terrible mass in the sky
came still nearer it seemed TO longer
toothed or fringed, but it spat the
lightning with vicious force straight
down upon The forest beneath it.
Next came a sucking, roaring
sound of wind, the sky grew black,
and with the last glimmer of day
light, before it vanished into night,
l saw the giant palm trees throw up
their huge fanike arms like mortal
creatures that were hurt and panic
stricken. Then the storm burst over
the train, and through its din 1 heard
the crashing of the falling palm
branches that had been snapped off
and thrown to the earth.
In another minute the worst of the
darkness was over, and in the half
light that remained l saw such rain
as / never had dreamed could fall
from the sky. 1t did not appear to
fall in drops or in ''ropes," as 1 once
heard an Englishman say of severe
downpour of rain, but it descended
in vast, thick sheets, layer upon layer.
You could see one thickness tllmbling
after the other as so many great
plates of glass might be thrown
down. 1t grew lighter still, and I
saw that the beautiful palms were
wrecked and were still writhing in
their misery, tossing up their broad |
hands and thick arms, many of which |
were broken and disjointed, while
others had been snapped off.
At the foot of the palms there was
no longer any ground. The surface
of the earth had become a lake. The
water stood high in the doorways of
negro cabins. The litter of palm
hoated about on the rain
pelted water. I remember waiting
to see the train demolished by the
but it was not nor could I
see that the fiery bolt had harmed
around U.S. Another minute
passed-perhaps not more than five
had passed since the shower
began-and the daylight came back
grandly, disclosing the great flood
everywhere.
A Cuban, sitting on the other side
of the car from me, passed me his
cigarette box, and as he did so he
said in labored effort to be polite
n foreign tongue: II t'ink it will
'ain. Wat you tinke"-Julian Ralph
n st, Nicholas.