Willmar tribune., 1898-09-21
THE RAIN MAKING MAYOR.
A Southern City Magistrate Who
Used Snakes to Bring Refresh-
ing Showers.

They have mayor down in Macon,
Ca, who has not let the glamour of
achieved greatness dim the clearness
of vision with which in childhood's hap
py hour he saw and comprehended
the things occurring round about him
and forming part of his everyday life
and experience. When in his boyish
love of nature he held communion with
visible forms he interpreted the various
languages he spoke with an accuracy
and understanding that have stood him
in good stead now that he has become
the chief ruler of his native town. A
spell of dry weather in and around,
Macon, very similar from all accounts
to that which, up to few days ago, af-
ficted this section of the country, was
the cause of much distress among the
inhabitants of the community. Vege-
tation and garden sass,'' it seems,
were being burned up under the fierce
rays of southern sun, the parched
earth gasped for sustenance, and the
people of Macon were in despair.
What does the mayor of that city do
at this critical juncture of affairs? He
shows that true greatness knows no
limitations, and it adapts itself to cir
cumstances with an ease and facility
that belong only to the opera tions of a
mighty mind. Turning back the tab
let's OF a grandly retentive memory, the
magistrate of Macon recalled that
when barefoot lad, treading his native
heath, holding converse with nature in
the familiar style that belongs to your
true American boy, he had frequently
experimental with success in bringing
showers when he needed one to help
him on a little fishing trip or other en-
tcrprise dear to the childish heart. It
was before the days of professional
rainmaking, which at best has shown
itself poor substitute for old-fash-
Toned native methods. When this
youthful genius, wanted rain he would,
proceed to catch moccasin snake, or
a "coach-whip," or Chicken snake,' or
some other of the harmless species
with which the fields abound, turn it
up with the shiny side of it's ANATOMY
toward the glowing heavens, and in the
desired time would come the refreshing
showers sure enough. He remembered
that this scheme never failed, and he so
told his astonished fellow-citizens of
Macon when they called upon him to
explain the meaning of the following
singular advertisement in local paper
of that town:
Snakes Wanted-I will pay ST each
for one black snake, one chicken snake.
one coach-whip and one moccasin, dead
or alive, delivered to me at the City
Hall; will purchase from person first
applying. S. 3. Price, Mayor, city of
Macon"
This modest announcement brought
to the mayor of Macon an abundance Ct
snakes of the sort asked for-more, in
fact, than the sagacious magistrate
needed. They came by scores; some in
boxes, some tied On the ends of poles,
while some, it is chronicled, crawled UP
to the mayors Office on their, own ac-
count. The veracious and esteemed
Macon Telegraph tells us that the
mayor took enough snakes to decorate
every tree around the city hall, and
that almost before he had completed.
the task great banks Of clouds rolled
over the heavens, the mayor, whose
greatness even permitted him to wink
facetiously while this was going on,
triumphantly assuring his admiring
constituents that he knew he had q sure $
thing. .#: iSs= Il: ;5.s
5 The downpour Of rain that followed
this 1 j reptilian appeal to Jupiter Pluvius,
under n mlag agisterial auspices, fully jnsti-
fled the experiment, and doubtless as
ssnres sur the mayor anot her mination.
I "Refresh 4 hing showers Z the Telegraph
gleefully exclaims, were the cause of.
much = i JOY and gladness. All nature
took on q brighter. and happier look,
and everybody felt better. ~ Lansaster
ss(Pa.) Intelligencer.