The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-08-15
AS TO THE
WEATHER KICKER.
The Public Cannot bs Satisfied
With the Weather as 1t Comes

| Ine PUBIC cannot D9 SaC1SHeu
With the Weather as 1t Comes
Tho Atlanta Consultation says that
weather kicking is Il confirmed habit
with the public. No matter what the
somebody always has kick coming.
Rain or shine, hot or cold, it is impos-
slblc to please them all.
One might think that perhaps half
the public, at least, could be accommo,
dated with satisfactory weather, but
here again Is fallacy. The holder of
such a theory, similar to Lincoln's that
"you can fool all the people some of
the time, and some of the people all of
the time, but you can't fool all the
people all of the time," has failed to
take into consideration that curious
characteristic Of human nature that it
never appreciates what it actually has.
AS Becky Sharp says, "we never get
what we want, or want what we get"
This is trucr of the weather than of
any other .hing-being also a sad COM
mentary on the native discomfort of
man and his utter lack of philosophy
in accepting with notice neither pro
nor con the absolute incvitablc-of
which tho weather is Il typical illustra.
ton.
The weather has been from time inn
memorial regarded as an appropriate
topic of casual conversation. Only III
recent years has there come a hetcro-
doX hint against this time wo orn insti-
tuition. Until the present revolution
ary and iconoclastic tunes no one would
have ventured the irrcvcrent sugges-
ton that the condition of the elements
is rca ly not an inspiring topic for con-
vcrsatlOnal intercourse. 1t is one Of
those stolid, irrcparable, unarguablc
subjects that do not stimulate scintil-
lating secrctions Of gray matter. The
passing of the weather as Il convcrsa-
tional campingground is about to take
place.
In honolulu, which has Il "monot0-
nous" climate, and where no one would
think Of referring to the state Of the
temperature any more than of remark
ing that there was air to breathe or
any other sclf-cvidcnt fact, they say
that this is one of the most striking
things 70 travellers about the natives.
Imagine whole population with not a
single weather kicker in it ! Think of
being transported to a place where
there was never an allusion to the sun
or the clements, to heat or cold or
wind or calm.
| What a Cultailmcnt Of conversations
al possibilities People would actually
be forced back on zeal live ideas as
matter for talk. There would seem
something lacking if one inhabited a
community where he was never greeted
with "Good morning, a fine day to day,
isn't it? ?" or "Hello, old chap, bcastly
hot weather, don't you think so ?" or
"Wcll, my boy, is it not hot enough
for you ?' ETC., al iniinitum and ad
nauscum.
Think of the revolution in modern
conversation if the subject of weather
were entirely tabooed. AS great a
change would be wrought in the pre-
liminarics Of friendly intercourse rs
was effected in motive power by The
introduction Of steam and electricity.
Higher mathematics docs not supply
any means sufficient to measure the
number Of wasted words that have
started eternal vibrations Of sound
waves, and all on account of this one
unnecessary subject. 1t is responsible
for endless "idle words," as the Scrip
urcs call them.
If some miraculous day should
come--and its dawn is even now faint
ly breaking when people realized all
Of sudden that they have been sim
| ply wasting time and breath in talking
about the weather, what wonder
would take place. They will feel so
cheap TO think of tho serious way in
which mankind for ages past has har-
angued continually and habitually, in
season and out of season, on tins one
public topic. And then it will be drop
pcd-and when the weather is once
finally dropped from polite convcrsa-
ton it will be the "droppcdest" sub
ject that can be imagined. Nothing
will ever revive it again. And new
conversational era will be ushercd in.