BAIN AND SNOW 



97 



from the thunder-storm. It begins with no 

 such frowning front, but has infinitely more en- 

 durance because it is not localized. The clouds 

 are spread over a large area of sky and they 

 gather themselves together slowly at first. 

 When condensation sets in and rain begins 

 to fall it is slight, almost like a Scotch mist. 

 But it soon gains in power, the wind rises, and 

 the small rain-drops begin to drive toward the 

 earth with great swiftness and force. The 

 heavy drops of the thunder-shower, falling 

 a long distance from high clouds, and falling 

 straight, seem to have much less striking power 

 than the smaller drops driven diagonally by the 

 wind. Nor is the wave of a rain-fringe from a 

 thunder-shower anything like so violent as the 

 sheet of driving rain in the three days' storm. 

 The latter shakes banner-like in the wind as 

 though it were a veritable sheet held down from 

 above, or it rolls in swift-moving undulations 

 across the sky like the wavy light-flashes of the 

 aurora. 



But there is little in the long storm to be ad- 

 mired or enjoyed unless we ourselves happen to 

 be in a tempestuous mood. The domed sky 

 is shut out, the clouds make a flat, lead-colored 

 roof overhead, or else they form in gray billows 



