Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-07-13
PRAYING For RAIN
Wa shinetou County Press

Archbishop Glennon of st Louis. on
June %. directed all priests in his iur-
isdict:on to pray for rain The droutil
in Missouri IS the worst since 1864
Next dav. Governor Hadley said he
might issue g orocla nation 70 like eff
feet, in TWO days, in res ponse to the
many letters he had received begging
him TO do 50.
Well. do YOU know heavy rain fell
in Monroe county. No. on the 24th :?
The Baptist church folk in Paris Mo.
on that day. prayed for rain. and an
inch fell during service. Jupiter Pluv-
Jus seemed to be Johnny on the Spot
1t was the spryest answer ever known
IN those bourbon parts
In my student days at Oberlin. was
witness to like natural, or supernat-
ural. feat. The drouth in Ohio had
been fearful. Pastures burned up
streams Went dry and crops up the
spout. and stock suffered and had to
/ he killed or exi!ed Farmers owning
woodland. daily cut Eastwood trees.
that cows. horses and sheep might
; browse the leaves. President Finney
Of the college was importuned to pray
for rain. He had been bred lawyer
and was rather skittish on the pro-
position. not having the faith in de-
scending miraculous water that the
Prophet. who drowned out the gentle
men representing Baal had. But Mr.
Ftnnev kept putting It off and off. But
one Sunday morning he fairly s,nelled
rain in the air Clouds appeared in the
south. and grew denser and denser:
thunder muttered and kept growing
more and more articulate with a SPLEEN
did basso accent. Then. AS he peekad
out OF the window. ne got busy on the
job. His eloquent prayer was fervent
enough to bring rain, If not hail and
snow. Even the church got dark. the
winds arose and waltzed thru Tappan
square: dust like Sahara sands danced
| in gigantic columns and balanced their
partners at furious rate. and rain came
down like the waters at Lahore ac-
cording to the poem. FtZ! Bang. F'zz
ftz ftz. Boom. Crash, All the celes-
tial cvmbals and drums going it. Rain
in 1eluges. Noah never saw such rain.
Before service was over folks looked
az # they wanted him to pray for UNI
brellas. goloshes. storm coats. boats.
He had overdone it. apparently but
the shreWd man would not begin until
he saw the coming event was a lead
pipe cinch This youthful sinner was
never more amused in his life. before
or since. Holy men should not pray
| too alfred hard
Is rain g natural thing? It seems to
De due TO atmos pheric conditions, for
it rains without PRAYER. just falling on
the just and the unjust on the sea as
well as on the land. Or is it caused
by special agency called Providence?
I don't pretend to say. But Smelfun-
gus. ever since wonderful Prof Tyn-
dali. of London. challenged the Arch
bishop OF Canterbury-was it he?-to
a ties, Of a prayer guage by a rain
| guage. says he doesn't believe rain
ever came in answer to prayer and
that the evidence Of such an alleged
! fact would not be received by any
court in Christendom.
| Ny undogmatic guess is. that it al
ways rains when 1t gets ready, and
! rot moment before 1t is ready. And
| then it can't help it, and nobody can
! help it. or check it. or in any way in
/ iiueIce *.
Anyway, all are thankful for a good
| ra in. let 1t come how II may. II Provi-
dence brings all the rain. He must be
| so busy in the British Isles and in the
tropics that one would reverently think
He couldn't find time to do anything
/ else He is rather shy Of raining in
the eastern side Of the Rocky and Cas-
cade ranges. How do the Supernatur-
alists account for that? The rain
scientists can tell you mighty quick
why not.