The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-10-20
THE SMELL OF THE RAIN.
All Nature Senses 1t and Echoes Wei.
come With Outstretched Arms.

come WIN OuCStreUCHeu tafIhs.
Sweeter than any perfume ever dis
| titled by the chemist, sweeter than
roses or cape jessamines, or the scent
of a ripe grape, sweeter than new
mown hay or a baby's breath, sweeter
than fresh linen and milady's washed
hair, is the smell of the rain.
1t is the breath to the nostrils, ex-
hilaration to the lungs, elixir to the
| blood, and wine to the brain. The
! dusty earth inhales it and is pulsing
again with potential life; the flowers
that were painting are revived, and
the very leaves of the trees absorb
it as incense and are lifted up. Hun
CRY, fretful, parched and complain
ing, man opens his mouth and gulps
it down like a gormand.
The fading and whiting cotton bios
som welcomes it as a message Of new
life, and the naked Of all the world
rejoice in the hope of replenished
wardrobes. The growing, groveling
beasts of the stock exchange, intent
upon the dust and drought and want
of grim prospect, sniff it and are
abashed and tame. Miasmas Of pri-
walton and distress fade away from
it, as the fogs before the sunshine,
and mellow wholesomeness possesses
the fields and permeates the habita-
lions of men.
The grass of the plains, brown and
withered and dry as stubble, senses
it as the blind and deaf are aware
of the unseen and unheard approach
of friends, and it steals over the land
as the perfumed herald of an unfor-
getting Providence.
The very sparrows of the ground
twitter their delight, the songsters OF
the forest acclaim it with q more
liquid melody, and the mother bird
on her nest whispers rejoicings to the
brood beneath her wing. The bee
that hung despairingly to the honey
comb flies straight to the clover field.
It springs up like a new born pres
ence; it comes down like a benedic-
ton. An unseen censor is swung in
the air; a silent baptism is cele-
brated; the prayer that was uttered
haltingly and half-faithlessly is an
swered, and resurrection is realized.
What skeptical, impatient and I'M
worthy creatures we are; what NAL
contents and murmurers! And how
short-sighted is our view of creation
and reproduction and the eternal
scheme of life! Six thousand years
have taught US little, though we know
so much of the current day and hour.
A lifetime of bounty, centuries of
progress, and the recurring cycles
of a perpetual universe are vain to
impress our poor understanding with
the truth of the unfailing and the
everlasting. What know we of the
recessions and professions, the actions
and the reactions, the energies and
the restings of this old-young earth's
large life? How unmindful we are
of the deep, big truths which nature
has been exhibiting all these years
and generations and con Of the up
ward and advancing march! A little
trial, a little hardship. and we are
undone, though the ~storehouse is full
and the fat years are certain to re-
turn for the fruitful ground will not
belle itself.
But the smell Of the rain-one
Whit of it and all repinings are done,
and the way is shining again, and we
are after the butterflies as eager and
as needless as before.
Men are but children of a larger
growth, and their ears are dried and
their hurts are healed by little kisses
which they straightway forget.-Fort
Worth Record.