THE BLESSED EAINFALL. 59 



ent the scene before me from two weeks ago ! 

 Then, all was dry, dusty, brown, parched, life- 

 less in appearance. Since then the blessed rain, 

 in plenteous abundance, has fallen. How joy- 

 fully the plants and animals must have wel- 

 comed its appearance. What utterances of 

 thankfulness these old woods must have heard 

 when the drops began to patter, patter in their 

 midst. 'Twas the elixir of life to many lowly 

 forms. 'Twas more potent to them than any 

 medicine of man e'er was to suffering human. 

 It brought new vigor of action to bird and mam- 

 mal, to reptile and mollusk, to crustacean and 

 insect. 



The brown and sere soon gave place to vivid 

 green. The purple cyme of ironweed opened in 

 full splendor to receive the beneficent downfall. 

 Wild sunflowers and golden-rods, early fall 

 asters and eupatoriums stunted in growth of 

 stem and bud sprang upward in a trice and 

 soon all nature was being decorated with their 

 blossoms. Where, a fortnight ago, beneath log, 

 chip and stone naught but bare, parched earth 

 met the eye of the searcher, now scores of living 



