The record-union., 1897-05-15
WHEN THE DROUGHT ENDED.

Ter part of August.
The peaks and slopes of the Montana
mountains CLEANED white in the sun
shine that baked and bEstered the rocks
and patches of earth, and the yellow
plains were parched and arid. Even
the usual means of irrigation seemed
TO have failed that season, for the very
rivers We're dried up in their sources
and the channels of the Jefferson, Mad
tson and Gallatin, with their tributary
streams, were narrowed into a mere
silver thread.
The ranchmen whose homes lay scat
tered throughout the erstWhlle ferule
valley were discouraged and SICK at
heart with the prospect that lay be-
fore them. Maybe it'll rain to-day"
the men would say upon rising each
morning Maybe it will" the women
sighed, and Maybe So" echoed the
children. But the rain came not. Morn
ing after morning they watched the
sun come up over the eastern ridges,
looking eagerly for the trace of tiny
rain cloud, but no veil of mist was there
to soften the burning heat of the red
orb. Throughout the day they watched
it, but at the meridian it glowed and
glistened even more fiercely, with never
a shadow to obscure its rays, and at
night time, when it sunk from view be-
hind the western peaks, there was no
.perceptible diminution of its intense
power.
The crops, the herds, the people, all
suffered from the unprecedented
drought. The owners of the large
ranches were in some wise prepared for
such an emergency, but the smaller
land owners not only had not counted
on it, but they would have been unable
to insure themselves against its dan
gers in any event, and their condition
was deplorable. Farmers, miners and
herdsmen are not, as a general thing,
addicted to prayer, but all other means
for relief having proved unayailing, it
was decided TO set apart day for the
converting of men and women for miles
around, that they might invoke a di-
vine blessing in the shape of the long
editor rain.
This plan was conceived by William
Richey and put into execution through
his agency Richey owned a small
tract of land in the center of the most
beautiful valley in the western part
of the State. He had been located
there three years, and through the in
domitable energy of himself and wife
their small house had been transformed
from the customary half finished.
cherries cottage into genuine, beau
tiful home. But that summer gloom
had enshrouded even their little para
disc. The roses Withered, the gera-
NUNS wiIted and the sunflowers died
on their stalks. The only flower left
blooming there was Richey's baby. A
fairer blossom never grew than he. All
up and down the valley people knew OF
him and loved him, although few had
ever seen him, SO great were the dis
tances. He was Richey's idol and il
was as much for his sake as anything
else that Richey had proposed the day
of prayer. Somehow, the father had
fancied that the little fellow was be-
ginning to droop and grow languid
during the torrid August days, and it
occurred to him that he could even pray
for the baby's sake
Wed pull up stakes and go away"
he said to his wife one morning, but
we've nothing to go with. Wen have
to weather it through Wen see what
prayer can do
His wife smiled. She had been try
ing that all along in secret, but she
cred together with common object in
view there are apt to be more effective
results than when a single heart pleads
alone, SO she babe him godspeed and
hurried him away to join his neighbors.
The little city lying twenty five miles
to the westward from Richey's home
had been selected as the place for the
great prayer meeting, it being the most
troll ftf,ff,
ey started early one cloudless August
morning. His wife stood in the doorway
with the baby in her arms and watched
him as he gradually dwindled into a
mere pigmy in the distance. Then,
when he increased his size by standing
up in the stirrups and waving her a
final good-by, she snatched the boys
broad. white hat from his head and
signaled back a fond adieu
Somehow there seemed to be a pecul-
lar heat emanating from the ball of fire
that day. Along toward noon the at
mosphere became so clarified that dis
lance was weH-nigh annihilated and
the mountains, twenty-five miles to the
east, doomed up large and distinct as
though they were just beyond the creek
on the other side the city and the sec
seemed startlingly near, While the road
that stretched like a sinuous ribbon
from the gate of the mountains to the
town was shortened into less than one
quarter its actual length.
A little past l O'Clock gentle breeze
blew down from the crest Of the mount
aims and famed the valley. Gradually
the wind Increased in force, and the
Chinook was on its way Mrs Richey.
who sat in the north door with her boy
in her lap, inhaled the fresh scents
with which it was laden and welcomed
ii as fervently as did the red men of
the old Chinook country. BY and by a
haze o'erspread the face OF the sun.
After that the clouds gathered quickly.
Great masses of dence blackness We're
piled higch, one above the other. OBJ
securing the sky and the mountains and
casting a lurid twilight over the valley.
The sheep were -bleating and the cattle
were lowing in the fields beyond the
barn, and Mrs. Richey hurried down to
the corral TO drive them into shelter be-
fore the storm should break The ami
mails knew and loved her voice and al
ways answered her call. but the we'll