St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-08-24

ize the defective and old-fashioned
rain.makers, and have your hired
man sitting in the barn half the time
lying about his rich father back in
Missouri! Come right to Schermer-
horn Montgomery, the terror OF the
farm hand, and get your rain while
you sleep, and keep your man hump
ing himself" This has naturally
appealed to the reason of the Kan
sas agriculturalist, and Montgom-
cry has done a rushing business.
1t appears further that Mr. Mont
gomery has claimed this summer to
exercise sort Of general supervision
over American Horse county, turn
ing on the rain when it was needed,
and shutting it off when he thought
it had rained enough. Incidentally,
he says he has been responsible for
the cool northwesterly winds which
have blown on the hot days, but he
points out that he never charges for
the wind. II throw in a wind with
each rain ordered" explained Mr..
Montgomery, the same way you
get baked potatoes when you order
a chop. Fogs, frosts, cloudy days,
and aurora borealis extra. Earth
quakes should be spoken for two
days in advance of the time needed"
One night about two weeks ago a
heavy rain fell in American Horse
county. 1t poured cats and dogs
from midnight till three O'Clock.
Then it cleared off, and an hour
later the wearied hired man with the
wealthy father in a neighboring
state heard his employer pounding
on the stove pipe as usual to attract
his attention to the fact that it was
time to get up. Two hours after
this Mr.. Montgomery started out
to collect one dollar from every
farmer in the county for the rain.
He met with considerable opposi-
ton. 81 low that want no arti-
fetal rain protested the first farm
er approached. The next one also
"reckoned it were material Ameri-
con Hoss county thunder storm"
The third likewise demanded proof
that the shower was a Montgomery
special. A public meeting was final
ly called at the Patch school house,
and Montgomery addressed it feel
ingly. Il produced that rain my
SELF" said he. ut came, like all of
my rains, in the night, when your
hired man can't be put to any prac-
teal use. saw the country needed
rain, and | went out last night while
you slept and made it. Consequently
today your fields rejoice and your
grateful cattle low their mellow
thanksgiving from pastures revivi-
fled and gladdened by my bene6cent
rains" A farmer named Jim Butler
arose and asked Montgomery if he
was absolutely certain that it was
his rain. Every drop of it," an
swered Montgomery. Then" re-
turned the guieless Butler, you are
responsible for the ten acres of my
corn which it washed away. l shall
sue you for damages" And the sa-
gacious agriculturalist mounted his
mule and rode to Hankinside, and
began suit for $500.
Although this occurred in some
what OBJ cure part of far-away Kan
sas, we do not feeled called upon to
offer any apology for the amount of
space we give it. The science of
rain-making is in its infancy. Nat
urally it is making it's start where
rain is most often needed, but if it
meets with any sort of encourage
ment from the public it will certain
ly spread, and artificial rain will be-
come the rule throughout the coun-
try. But such suits as that of the
unscientific Butler will be fatal to
the business. On the other hand, it
seems that it will be an impossible
ity to prevent them. After all, may
not the fault lie with the science
itself? Can these rain-makers stop
their rains? A rainmaker without his
umbrella, standing in the middle of
vast Kansas prairie watching his
rain pour down in torrents, and his
patrons crops ride gayly past on the
hurrying food and no way to stop
it, must be a melancholy spectacle
Probably Montgomery knew on
that unfortunate night that it was
raining too much, and that some
body's crops would suffer, but he
could not help it. No doubt he sat
there on the wet ground amid the
downpour and turned his rain-ma-
chine back wards, and abused the dav
he was born, but it was of mouse. 1t
has become more important to know
how to stop rain than how to pro-
duce it. BY the way what has be-
come of Dyrenforth, the official gov
eminent rain-maker? Perhaps he
could shed some light on the SUBJ
ject. Is it possible that Dyrenforth
has been overcome by thirst on some
TpyaS pra,ria x,,bara la h.. 49,.