92 IS IT GOING TO RAIN? 



lie is better for them in many ways, and perhaps not 

 quite so good in a few others : they make him juicy 

 and vascular, and may be a little opaque ; but we, in 

 this country, could well afford a few of his negative 

 qualities for the sake of his stomach and full-blooded- 

 ness. 



We have such faith in the virtue of the rain and 

 in the capacity of the clouds to harbor and transport 

 material good that we more than half believe the 

 stories of the strange and anomalous things that have 

 fallen in showers. There is no credible report that 

 it has ever yet rained pitchforks, but many other 

 curious things have fallen. Fish, flesh, and fowl, and 

 substances that were neither, have been picked up 

 by veracious people after a storm. Manna, blood, 

 and honey, frogs, newts, and fish-worms are among 

 the curious things the clouds are supposed to yield. 

 If the clouds scooped up their water as the flying ex- 

 press train does, these phenomena could be easier 

 explained. I myself have seen curious things. Rid- 

 ing along the road, one day, on the heels of a violent 

 summer tempest, I saw the ground swarming with 

 minute hopping creatures. I got out and captured 

 my hands full. They proved to be tree-toads, many 

 of them no larger than crickets, and none of them 

 larger than a bumble-bee. There seemed to be thou- 

 sands of them. The mark of the tree-toad was the 

 round, flattened ends of their toes. I took some of 

 them home, but they died the next day. Where did 

 they come from ? I imagined the violent wind swept 



