The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-25
emote region around Manila by anna

There are three seasons in the true
tropics-the cold weather." the '.hot
weather and the rains The eli
mate of the first is like that of para
disc; that of the second like a very
different and antipodal territory
which shall be nameless in this polite
| article, and of the third-well if there
is q. climate that is a combination of a
steam bath, a warm populace and blue
mold, the rains" is like that.
In other words, from the middle OF
November till the middle of March
every day is like one of our most
beautiful June days, with sold morn
ing and evening thrown in, the Their
mometer marking Go degrees, perhaps
at noon, and 40 degrees or a trifie lower
even at night. That is the very per-
lection of weather; it is weather as
is weather" and no mistake.
HOT AND DRY.
From the middle of March till early
in June the heat grows gradually ter
rife till it gets to be unbearable. This
climax happens about the middle of
May; then you go on bearing it two or
three weeks longer. The heat flies
about in zigzags, the ground flies up
to meet it, and together they make
your head swim. Hot and dry, dry and
hot; no rain, and can't rain at that
time of year. 1t doesn't know how. In
the rainy season it only rains. There
are no poStponementS on account OF
the weather, because there is only one
kind of Weather-at a time. There are
no sudden changes, for the same rea-
son. There is comfort in these
thoughts. You put your umbrella
away in camphor in September, know
ing that you will not require it again
for aioI1f nj And Won
tin" your ribbons, silks and kid
gloves Theoretically in May, away from
mildew, knowing that you will not see
them again before October. There are
no barometrical surprises for the
dWeller in the tropics. There is no
starting on a picnic in the distant
woods, full of life and spirits, at 9
o'clock in the morning, in light mus
lin dress and straw hat decked with
roses, with a teeth-chattering return at
4:30 o'clock, the muslin soaked with
rain and frozen on you, rills of pink
from the saturated roses adjoining
your nose. You may come home in
Manila with your gay blue muslin
faded out white, but it has not been
rained or showed on, and your feet are
drier and hotter than when you set
forth on them. But then, you don't
go so much on picnics in the tropics.
100 many SNAKES
WHEN THE RAINS COME,
But the hot weather, being prepared
for it, can be got through somehow
Wet sail cloth on the top OF the
a servant with an umbrella
whenever you move, houses built 10
keep cool in, with high ceilings and
punhabs, and no movement required OF
you and no dressing for falls in the
and no burdening one
self with wraps for such drops-which
is one reason why we suffer so intense
ly here when we venture out of sight
of home-all these appliances and i'm
munities make it possible to gasp
the sitting hot weather. a
day or two of cremation, lot OF dark
clouds, and one day, oh, refreshing re-
"a few big, round, solemn
drops" are heard to slap the baked
earth smartly; then more and more,
hard shower, and the monsoon has
burst. The rains have come.
Hug well the first few hours of de-
Iicious relief, for there comes time
when an extra raindrop breaks the
cameIs back, and you are as over
borne with wet as you were with dry
ness. But at first! The dusty earth
relents and begins to allow the water
to soften its surface; the earth sends
up a grateful fragrance, which you
drink in with deep breaths; the shrubs
shine, oven their leaves and hold up
their heads to the welcome downpour.
How tired they get of their eXuber-
ance later, when, soaked and water
logged, they sometimes lie sprawling
and sullen over the turf, no one knows,
out just now they are greeting the pre-
server of their lives.
TOO MUCH OF a GOOD THING.
When your gates and fences sprout,
TWO months later, and you have to rush
to the looking glass every few hours to
De sure you have not grown a tender
shoot of green from your ear, yourself
when your boots mold over night,
and nothing that you touch is free from
trenches are eaten
through the hearts of your books, and
he covers are nibbled and 'chawed''
md otherwise defaced by white ants
hen you ask yourself how you ever
could have stood at a window drinking
n the scent which the earth eXuded and
throwing out your hands to catch what |
Austin DobSon calls ''spurtles of rain"
Oh, ''spurtles, indeed Waterfalls,
delugeA they soon enough
develop into.
1t does not rain every minute in the
aims, but it is likely at any minute to
10 SO. In this way, hoping yet fearing,
You snatch drives. And it sometimes |
aims at night and gives you a day fair
ind serene. If it rains all day, you
lave to take your drives, if you want |
my air, at night. But there is no dan
ger of your coachman's leaving or
giving warning if you feel like start
ng out for ten miles after dinner, !
which means II o'clock or so. Your
,oachman takes your order to get his
lOTSeS harneSSed at midnight with the
same equanimity with which he re-
elves similar behest at midday. And !
he doesn't like it at either time.
a WEALTH OF GREEN.
Yet the vegetation and the verdure
It this SEASONING words can describe
heir leafy glories. Trees growing to
each the sky, and throwing out arms /
below as well as above and on all sides. |
vies covering the trees, grass of the |
ichest emerald and thick as velvet, (
hrubS and ferns in absolute profusion, !
he difficulty bang to restrain them
rom growing, instead of coaXing them |
o grow, as one does here The beau
les of the tropics in the rains are be-
ond conception. Who minds a taran-
ula or two on the towel horse. or
piders weighing an ounce? Who OBJ
ectS 10 a slight daily coating of mildew,
T fungus growing out of the hat he
las not worn for week. if he can see
2mboos waving their delicate traceries +
Ike rare old lace against the sky. and
anyan trees dropping a hundred
boots into the ground, and all sorts of
nventions and miracles in green
roWthS?
Experience is the best Teacher. Use
oh Tn ict, !