The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-07
THE CLOUDS
/ OVER KANSAS
There Are Sticky Green Ones and
Pinki.h Purple Ones and Gray Kes-
Shared Ones and All Do Stunts.

The man with the bulgy, black glazed
bag rusty -seamed black store clothes,
| strap-encircled black sombrero, unbiacked
top boots, knobby, freckled hands with
black nail-tipe, and solemn, sandy visage,
was leaning out OF a smoking room window
OF the Err station In Jersey City watching
the dust raising and paper scatterlng didoes
of an nconseeuent al squall from on the
Hudson. --N
|, Right cunnin' little zephyrs. hain't
they?" he remarked, somewhat ironically.
to the man who was smoking the inch
and-a-half clay pipe.
"The wind gifts hull lot mussy round
here 'casionally," was the reply OF that
Notwithstanding Individual. >
"Wind2r said the man with the bulgy,
black gla zed bag. &C, in wondering tone
as he moved away from the window and
sat alon gside the man with the inoh-and-R-
half clay pipe. wind? Neighb6r, len,ne
ask you sornethin': Up aroun' this-a-way
you sure don't call such caressin' little
breezes as these yere, such cute, coddltn
little oat'spaws-say, podner, you sure
don't call EN- wind up this-a-way, do your
Wouldn't care t. be foolin' round down
tn bay in leaky, lop-sided cataInaran
with this kind o caressin' breezes BLOWN, :
was the non committal reply OF the man
with the close-hauled pipe. - -
The man with the strap-encircled SOM
brero looked panied. (; .',
stranger" he inquired, did you ever
set foot In Kansas
"Not 'thout was waikiki in my Sleep
calmly replied the man with the sawed-of
smoke. But they tell me that she's hull
few out there ven 1t comes t wind" =
wind. stranger Wind" hoarseIy ex-
claimed the man with the store clothes,
through the meshes of the two ounces Of
fine cut which he proceeded to stuff into his
left cheek as a preliminary to extended
conversation. "Podner. there's enough
wind stored up In jes' the little QUITO
the-way corners Of Kansas to supply the
typhoon belt OF the South Seas fr a million
years! Lemme tell you something that
happened at sixteen minutes past 3 o'clock
on the aftnoon Of July the sixth last year
right near my town.
There's two rival railroads paralleling
each other and bout GA yards apart rum
ming through my town At sixteen minutes
past 3 O'Clock on the aft'noon of July the
9Th last year freight train, consistin', Of
forty-eight open work cars, engine and
caboose, and all O. the open work cars
loaded with sheep on their way to Kansas
City f'r shearin' and slaughtern', was
on the track OF the railroad to the east Of
my town while the engine was taking on
water. The train stood on a level stretch
O. ground bout half mile south O. the
town.
Long comes one O. them sickly-green
dipper- handled clouds and swoops broad
side upon that sheep-loaded freight train
before the engineer has time to pull open
the throttle and get out o the clouds path.
Wind? Well. what dye s'pose happened
'The wind out O. that sickly- green.
dipper- handled cloud jes' picked up that
train and carried it GA yards through the
air and deposited 1t jes' as slick as a elm
branch whistle on the track OF the rival
railroad over t the westward. The wheels
Of the engine, caboose and all O them
forty-eight sheep-loaded cars come down
on the track o. the rival railroad 8l4 yards
T. the westward, jes' as il they'd never been
runnin' on any other track since the begin
ming of railroadin west O. the Big Muddy,
and, what's more, the pistons OF the engine
never stopped workin' while the train was
in the air, 80 that when It lit on the track
o. the rival railroad the engine went right
on pullin'.
"The train was going along all right tow
ard Kansas City, on'y on the track O. the
wrong railroad, when that onnery green
cloud suddenly swooped again, this time
from straight ahead, and blamed II 1t
didn't push that train back seventy-two
miles and cross the Nebraska border,
spite of all the steam the engineer could
clap on to make a little Roadway again
the wind, or even Z hold his ground,
Made all sorts o. trouble, that stunt Of
the measly green cloud did. There want
no way that the engine and caboose and
forty-eg ht ep-loaded cars could he
got back { the track where they belonged
from the track OF the rival. parallen'
railroad, and the rival railroad was jes'
one engine, one oaboose and forty eight
decided that the wind was act OF Provi-
dence and COULDN'T be helped. nohow.
and that fndin' IS keepin' where the
wind is concerned in Kansas. ...
But the rival railroad that won out the
engine and caboose and all them cars had
carloads Of sheep for their wool The
sheep was delivered in Kansas City all right,
but there wa ant any more wool on airy last
one OF EN- than there is on gourd. The
VINO JeS keT-WnOOpeu through tleIu OPEN
work cars and blew the wool on of every last |
one of 'em as clean az II they'd been shaved |
three DAYS under the pelt by a barber.
"The green cloud that did all O. this mean
ness was on'y bout f1ve-eights Of a mile |
wide, and 1t never 80 much as teched the |
town where I live, jes' grain the outskirts. |
But, jes' { show you how powerful the wind |
was on the outskirts. my brother-in-law, !
Jeb Sneed. was cleanin' out his well-Jeb's |
we'll Is hundred and sixty-three foot |
deep from the surface t water-when the |
aidge OF that green %ind-cloud come along !
past the well. 60
aThe wind jes' sucked Jeb Sneed, my
brother-in- law, out O. that we'll O. his
that was a hundred and sixty-three foot
deep-same as II he'd been a tadpole in q
tube OF suction-cistern and a hired man
workin' tho pump handle. Jeb didn't
mind it none, though, for, besides pullin'
him out O. the we'll, the wind pulled all OF
the old lost buckets and grapplin' irons
and muck out O. the we'll and cleaned it out
better'n Jeb could ha' done the job by
workin' month.
There sure was a right tola' ble breeze
close Z the town where live at sixteen
minutes past 8 o'clock on the aft noon Of |
July the sixth, last year" go ''
Sounds like 1t might have been some
gusty.' encou raSingly commented the man
with the inch and-a-half clay pipe.
sRnt want nm tho man frnn Tsncoa