Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1913-09-11
sossE HOME MADE REMARKS
ABOUT THE KANSAS wEArHEi

CA0A 49, &4A@NNNA1N
talks f1uently about the weather
weather prophets however, have
without exception. taken advantage
OF the bankrupt law and will prob
ably keep quiet until spring opens.
Some one has said that Kansas has
no climate-Just has samples OF
weather. After all the weather Is Q
subject Of profound interest and Of
grave Importance and It is not
strange that It IL much talked about,
BY 1t we mean the state of the at
mosphere with respect to cold, heat,
.dryness and moisture.
There are those who think that
the weather Just happens. Far from
1t. Nothing Just happens. The leaf
that goes hurrying down the street
before the wind is under law as fix
ed and inexorable as n of the
great planets that follow their APP
pointed orbits through the infinite
spaces. There can be no effect
without adequate cause is a second
maxim in philosophy. 1t could as
easily happen to rain bricks as 1t
could Just happen to rain soft wa
ter. The drouth being experienced
throughout the middle west did not
just happen. Then is it of Divine
Providence? In the last analysis
yes, as commonly understood; as a
punishment for sin, no.
All fundamental law is divine.
Gravitation, the law that attracts
one substance to another, is a law
of God. So is the law Of adhesion,
the mightiest force known to science.
The law governing the rainfall is
equally a divine law. We may call
these natural laws but the differ
is only in name. The law gov
the rainfall depends upon the
and dissolution of the
The invisible aqueous va
por in the atmosphere which forms
and is deposited in rain, is
derived from the evaporation of
water. The amount of vapor that
the air can contain depends upon
the airs temperature. The higher
the temperature the more the air
will hold. If the air is cooled by any
means, below a certain point, the
whole of the vapor car no longer
be held in suspension but a part OF
It condensed from the gaseous to
the liquid state, will float about in
the form of clouds. Cooled enough,
the particles of vapor contained in
the cloud will increase in number
and begin to descend by their own
weight the larger ones falling fas-
ter will unite with the smaller ones
they encounter in their descent and
thus drops of rain will be formed
Of a size depending on the thickness,
density and elevation of the clouds.
1 have stood in the cloud on the
and watched with intense
Interest the rain drops thus form.
The average rainfall in a year at
4 given place depends upon a var
Iety of circumstances, as latitude,
nearness to the sea, elevation, lay
the country, mountain ranges and
prevailing winds. Where there is
10 vegetation the earth becomes in
heated by the suns fierce
avs, the air coming in contact with
t becomes superheated and is able
O hold more moisture, so that the
all of rain is almost impossible.
,uch a condition prevails here now,
md some wise men think the de-
ired rain will not come until the
DOL air is pushed down from the
Iorth in the beginning of the fall
months. So then these laws govern
ng the rainfall being the laws OF
iod He causes the drouth as surely
s he causes the rain. Has God
edged himself about with laws
hat He cannot change? No. The
infinite could not make a law that
lie could not annul if He saw fit
o do So. If He could it would be
stupid act to make a lot of laws
hat would ever afterward hold him
bondage.
Is this drouth a special or arbi-
rary visitation Of Divtne Provi-
ence as a punishment for our sins?
do moi know; it has not been re-
ealed to my mind that it is; and
here could be no other means of
moving. f, 1 do not believe, how
yer, that it is. We are not sin
!ers above the average. About an
verage. Then the suffering by US,