Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-30
A PROPHET OF EVIL


did you ever have one OF these pessi-
MYSTIC prognosticators along with you on
an outing7" inquired the man with the
Russian samovar cigarette made In Eliza
beth. N. j. That's rather q heavy and in
volved way Of describing him-but 1 mean
the duck who never starts out on little
jaunt without doing all he knows how to
cast shadow of deep gloom and forebod-
ing over all of the normally cheerful people
in the crowd.
I'VE had one of 'em along with us last
Sunday We had arranged to go on
basket picnic out in the country somewhere
to gather laurel and inhale ozone and lark
around a few. and we arranged to meet on
Sunday morning at certain corner where
the cars converge, unless 1t was actuaHy
raining at the time Of the start. we agreed
to get together even II 1t looked ike ram
on the chance that the look like would be
only a bluff. There were ten OF us In the
arrangement. five young married couples.
IL you want to get the figures right, ana we
all looked forward to having bully Time
out in the woods
Probably you'll remember what mean
looking morning last Sunday morning vas.
There had been heavy thunder storm dur
ing the night, and the skies were Heavy
with gray. settled looking clouds when day
light arrived on Sunday morning But II
wasn't raining. even n 1t did look as II a
cloudburst was due shout any minute, and
so we all met at the corner agreed upon at
the hour set. with our baskets.
"All Of us. except one. tried our best to
make light Of the gloomy. lowering clouds,
and to make each other believe that when.
a little later on in the day. the sun got a
good, fair crack at the clouds, 1t would dis
sipate 'em in something less than no time
and wash the heavens clean. The one who
didn't agree with us-who positively ano
absolutely declined to share in our cheerful
peptic-looking man with the down-turned
mouth and those watery eyes OF utter as
belief
"'Don't you people delude yourselves he
said to us after we had got on our little
line Of cheerful predictions as to the prob
able early appearance of the sun, while we
stood waiting for the car. It's going to
rain like the dickens sooner or later today
and move that we pass the whole game
IN and postpone 1t until next Sunday.
IAN Of us cried down that proposition,
of course. including the gloomy little man
23O- pound wife. but he only shook MS heao
mournfully and told US that we were que
for the wetting of our lives II we didn.
turn back. Ali Of the men in the OUTFIT
tried to wink at him so that the women OF
the party wouldn't take alarm over his Oils,
NAL forecast and become unhappy with the
fear that their headgear and dresses
would be soaked, but the dreary little man
utterly refused to take any notice what
ever Of our winks and headshakes..
"'Oh, I'll go along, Of course, he said
although I'm not any more stuck on spoil
ing So straw lid that I only bought yes
terday than the next man-but II you peo-
pie are foolish enough to want to roll ana
slide around in the forest mud I'm JUST as
game as any of you. when 1t comes 10 tha.:
Mark my words, though it's going to peit
cats and dogs before the day is done. and
If 1t doesn't I'll let you call me Moody
naddy.'
And all during the trip he kept right on
dwelling and chawing on his predction un-
til all Of the other men in the crowd began
to show their soreness and all OF the Wo-
mems spirits began visibly to droop-wo-
men, I've observed. invariably take stocR
in the representations Of the gloomy man
of a party such as ours was. He kept
ducking his head out Of the car and looking
up at the clouds all the way out to the
point where we were to get on, each time
remarking that the rain was so strong
in the air that he could just smell II, unul
finally, losing patience. all Of the men. In
unison and spontaneously, yelled at him
'Ah, give US a rest!
Then he sulked on the party, declined to
answer his portly wife's questions when she
spoke to him. and made blfthering nui-
sance of himself generally, just because we
were trying to buoy ourselves up with the
belief and hope that we weren't In for q
drenching on the first outing in the country
that we q started on tIslS year. no TeiuSeu
to be comforted for fully two hours. but al
the end OF that time he had so far forget
the sitting down we had administered to
him to look up at the sky and again remark
that he'd bet a briar pipe that 1t was al
ready raining somewhere in Montgomery
county. We didn't want to offend him
again, SO we said nothing. although we
thought heap. When he made that last
gloomy prediction we had. after gathering
about a ton of laurel. spread the cloth and
Satf ia mt Mi orf1
beneath a huge oak. We had Just Topped
ourselves down at the spread. hungry after
our laurel-collecting exertions. and prepared
to just macerate the products OF the bas-
wind. and then the rain came down in tor
rents. l don't know how hard 1t rained at
the corresponding hour and moment In
Washington, but 1t was just a torrential
rainstorm out where we were. The spread
was all but ruined and water-logged before
we could gather 1t together and cover II
up, and the toys OF all Of us were soaked
there was no place to run to cover. and we
just had to stand for It, The ruin Of the
feed and our wet garments weren't so hard
to stand, but never longed SO hard to kick
a white man In my life az did to boot that
little two-legged clod OF gloom when he
saw the rain. His new hat and his new
warm weather suit were as limp and satu-
rated as those Of any of us inside of half a
minute, but do you know that he was
tickled almost to death. at that, because
his representation Of the morning, and ali
the way out, had been indicated? He
grinned over the rain from ear to ear. and
slapped his thigh over it, and preened and
primped himself over his ability as wealth
er forecaster. I never was forced to listen
to q bunch OF Z told you sos that got more
on my nerves than his did But the black
looks of all hands. as he continued to gloat
over the rain that he had warned us of, in
Guiding the wrathful gazes of his wife
didn't feaze him little bit-he had won
out. and he was wet and happy. There
won't be any able and infallible weather
prophet along with the next picnic crowd
OF which I'm member"
American Energy VS.. English.
From the London GlohA