94 



NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 



Lightning 

 and clouds 

 at night. 



Rain- 

 Jring*. 



illuminate them. Then they have a pale- 

 bluish coloring, the light-and-shade upon them 

 is clear-cut, and the feeling of massive form is 

 convincingly brought home to us. The great, 

 dark clouds lying underneath seem but the flat 

 pedestals of the white peaks and spurs that far 

 up the zenith seem to tower and rock slowly 

 like icebergs on a stormy sea. At other times 

 the clouds seem softer and roll upward in bil- 

 lows and wreaths great vapory masses of blue- 

 white that boil and seethe with the force of the 

 winds. And how the currents of lightning 

 pass through these heavy clouds without pro- 

 ducing the slightest disturbing effect upon 

 them ! If lightning were shaped like the 

 classic bolt of Zeus, or zig-zagged and raw- 

 edged, as popularly depicted, it might disrupt 

 even cloud forms ; but instead of that it runs 

 in streams and rivulets, and when seen in pho- 

 tograph it often looks like an outlined map of 

 the Nile, with its many mouths leading to the 

 Mediterranean. 



Another accompaniment of the thunder- 

 shower is the fringe of rain that may be seen 

 trailing from the clouds as the shower passes to 

 one side of us. This fringe waves slightly with 

 the wind, and when seen at a distance looks as 



