Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1910-01-18
THE SMELL OF THE RAIN.
All Nature Senses II and Echoes tn,
Welcome.


Welcome.
Sweeter than any perfume ever
distilled by the chemist, sweS.er
than roses or cape jessamines or
the scent of ripe grape, sweeter
than new mown hay or baby's
breath. sweeter than fresh linen
and milady's washed hair, is the
smell of the rain.
1t is R,e breath TO the nostrils,
cxhilnration 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 we're painting are re-
vived, and the very leaves of the
trees absorb it as inceEse and are
lifted up. Hungry, fretful, parched
and complaining, man opens his
mouth and gulps it down like a
gormand.
The fading and willing cotton
blossom welcomes it as message
Of new life, and the naked of all
the world rejoice in the hope of re-
nlcnished wardrobes. The growl-
ing. groveling beasts of the stock
cNchange. intent upon the dust and
drought and want of grim prospect,
sniff it and are abashed and tame.
Miasmas of privation and distress
fade away from it as the fogs be-
fore the sunshine. and mellow
wholcsomeness possesses the fields
ana permeates the habitations of
men.
The grass of the plains, brown
and withered and dry as stubble,
senses it a. 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 unforgctting provi-
dence.
The very sparrows Of the ground
twittcr their delight, the songsters
Of the forest acclaim it with 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
honeycomb flies straight to the clo-
yer field
1t springs up like a newborn
presence; it comes down like a ben
ediction. An'unseen censer is swung
in the air; silent baptism is cele-
brated: the prayer that was uttered
haltingly and half faithlessly is an
swered. and resurrection is re-
allied. What skeptical, impatient
and unworthy creatures are we;
what malcontents and murmurers
And how shortsighted is our view
of creation and reproduction and
the eternal scheme of life! Six thou
sand 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 re-
actions, the energies and the rest
ings 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 cons of the up
ward and advancing march A lit
tie trial, a little hardship and we
are undone, though the storehouse
is full and the fat years are GER
tain to return, 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 for
get.-Fort Worth Record.