Hmon$ tbe Cloufcs. 91 



scenery. The soft cumulus clouds which had been 

 hardly more than shreds and patches all the morning 

 massed and moulded themselves into great bastions 

 and bulwarks of brassy-white, deepening into a 

 copper-colour as the hours went by. Such a sign is 

 seldom unfulfilled, and it was no surprise to hear be- 

 fore long the boom and rumble of distant thunder. 

 The squall gathered squarely in the west and ad- 

 vanced directly over our territory. It was one of 

 those sharp, decided, business-like squalls, which 

 drops a few bolts from its advancing edge, and one 

 or two in retreat, and then is gone ; like the light- 

 batteries in the rear-guard of a retreating army, whose 

 vigorous fire holds the enemy in check and gives 

 time for their own swift withdrawal. 



Of course the sunset of such a day was full of 

 quiet beauty. There were no such gorgeous hues, 

 such lavishnessofcolour,crimsons, purples, and golds, 

 as herald the approaching gale. But the west glowed 

 with warm colour which tinted the few gathered 

 clouds and rimmed them with gold ; and the glory 

 lingered, and slowly faded, long after the evening 

 star had flamed out, and the moon had risen in 

 the east. Who could look upon those mild hues 

 and note the languid shifting of the scant clouds with- 

 out a rising sense of security for the night, for the mor- 

 row, ay, and for all nights and morrows ? For there 

 is no feeling of permanence about a storm ; but good 

 weather rouses a responsive conviction in the soul 

 that it represents something normal in the creation, 



