The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-12

The Swift SPECIFIC Co., Atlanta, ia.
SHOWS that are trickling through pine
cones. The people scented it from afar,
and standing in groups on the waste
hilltops. or knee deep in the red dust of
the villages, shifted at the air, even like
the cattle that herded about them, all
mad for water. BY the light of the
stars, till the moon was gone, all night
they watched the west for the coming of
that cloud, but when the sun came daz-
zling, the sign Of promise lay yet dim
and low above the distant foothills. They
took heart Of grace when they saw that
their cloud was not rooted and all day,
at intervals. they looked at it and
hoped.
The women prayed, and the men. un-
beaten yet, spoke words of cheer that
they scarcely believed. The rumble of
trains dashing along through tunnels of
dust into the new country was mistaken
for the peal of distant thunder. But the
night came down. hushed and cloudless,
while the watchers gathered again in
forlorn hope TO watch the western sky
and spread their dry nostrils TO the mes
sage Of the wind.
1t was not that these. people had never
known the hardships of the drouth. Some
were from Kansas, where the mid-sum-
mer wind whips like a desert simeon.
They had seen their wells go dry in
other states; they had watched the rivers
vanish beneath the hot beds of sand.
Some had even known the black, waxy
-ou Of ,,or+ba,-, 70 ha hal fo+
dreary stretches as hard and bare as the
asphaltum pavement Of city. But this
was their first year in the New Coun-
try which they had come hundreds OF
miles to possess. Others had found it a
paradise. Their all was in the seeds in
the ground. in the fences. shanties and
barns they had built. in the plows and
harrows which had hardened their hands
and worn their cattle. They had rislSed
everything upon a single cast If no rain
came they must face another year with
out a crop or water. They must lose the
hagnes which. for many, were a final, a
supreme effort to cheat misfortune. Just
give them a year or two for a start" "
Then they could face the dust, the desc
Iation. the destruction Of a drouth. But
in the first year it spelled ruin.
1t was about midnight in the first week
of March that the cloud. which had been
lowering for days above the western hori-
zon. loomed majestically into the quad
rant and spread it's wings. umbrous and
suIlen. across the sky. Uncertain spots
of phosphorescent radiance appeared at
intervals on it's dark bosom. quivering at
last into pale, formless flashes Of waver-
ing light. There was no sleep in the new
country that night The fate OF a prom
ised empire was fiuttering in the clouds.
The air was so still that the tread Of
cattle wandering on far-off hills could
be heard crunching the dry sod. The
voices of unseen people, musical with
hope. could be distinguished across the
pulseless distances. The first. hesitating
growl OF thunder was answered by a
cheer. now near and loud, now faint and
far. but given with that ecstasy which
the beleaguered remnant Of famished
garrison might show the first shot OF the
rescuing artillery.
The wind sprang cool and gentle from
the west and old men. young in the
dreams for their children. danced in the
dust with the sons Of their sons as the
first big rain drops fell Strong men
stood bareheaded and bowed with silent
gratitude as the shower increased to a
steady. driving. pelting rain Women
wept with delight or laughed, fearless Of
the nearing thunderboits. The patter Of
rain on their gaping fields became. 10
these people. a music that is not heard
in any Other part Of the world its clst-
ter against their warped shanties was
Ike the tattoo Of triumphant drums They
tore of their grimy garments and ran
abopt IN darkness. laving their hot. dirty
bodies in its cool waters. tapping it in
delight from the very hoof-prints of cat
tie. padding their fingers in the puddies
as lovers csress their sweethearts.
And why note This water falling like
mercy from the clouds gave ssCrameutal
meaning TO the dry word home; It
consummated the nuptiels OF the TOO lons
scoruful sky with the yearninE earth and
made pregnant the seed which lay wait
ing in the hot farrows Of four million
scres. II marked the first suspioious
epoch in the story Of a new and daunt-
less community and gave back theIr cour-
axe and their faith 70 S3ceo people who
had dared everything. risked everything
suffered everything that they might
transfigure A tracxless Indian hunting
ground into tropic garden.
am not sure. good. practical fact-iov-
ing reader. I an not sure how you viii
Ike that story Of a storm IN 0klshoms.
bat Of this am cerJain-it Is most truth
ful for ! was there when that benedlc-
ton fell 7 wrote Il il the back ONCE
Of a dry goods store, whose proprietor
had doubled his orders 10 al visiting
tra~eiiug salesnen OK ACCOUNT OF
THE STORM. That shower added three
mrnon dollars 70 last years cattle
crop" in Texas Oklahoma and Indian
territory. and g rounded cut eight years
Of prosperity for the boomers who set
ted oklahoma. wreste5 It from sandy
barrenness and made Of Il the most pho
nomsnaily hourishiax territory that ever
rarped for admis~ - the American
galaxy of states.