108 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 
section of the mountains the sky released 112 inches of rain in 1899 
and 113 inches in 1902. But you are correct in judging that sun- 
shine is the predominant feature of the Colorado sky. Long cloudy 
spells are rare. Clouds cannot long survive; they must either be 
precipitated in moisture or be dissipated. At the same time it 1s 
to be noted that there is a marked tendency to the recurrence of 
given conditions for several days at a time. A start in snow or 
rain seems to develop a positive enthusiasm for moisture. As I 
write, this entire aerial region has resolved itself into a settled state 
of liquidation. At the present rate the atmospheric forces will 
sooa have paid all back claims due this portion of the earth. It is 
in the nature of a rather grim joke to thousands of invalids from 
various parts of the world who are trying to fathom the moral per- 
verseness of those who informed them that ‘‘ Colorado is a land of 
perpetual sunshine.” Years ago I was told ‘‘ There is no winter in 
Denver nor thereabouts,” and one day of the first January of my 
sojourn in that city the mercury registered 20° below zero at eight 
o’clock in the morning, at the suburban village of Arvada. It is 
comparatively easy to cherish a patient and charitable feeling 
towards an obstreporous opponent, but whe1 one is inveigled by 
treacherous promises of climatic salubrity into an atmosphere 
belonging to Manitoba, or to the Pacific Coast in the rainy season, 
man’s spirit becomes hard as he meditates upon suitable punish- 
ment for unconscionable prevaricators. This morning’s paper 
contains the following : 
First DENVER Man: ‘‘ Whom do you regard as the greatest 
humorist ?” x 
SECOND DENVER Man: “The man who first spoke of this 
as the arid region ” 
But this will soon be past, and Colorado’s characteristic sky of 
indescribable clearness and beauty will cheer the heart, brace the 
nerves and heal the lungs of many a poor invalid. 
In 1899 there were on an average 181 days, or 50 per cent. 
perfectly clear ; 122, or 33 per cent., only partly cloudy; while 62, 
or 17 per cent., were cloudy. The average number of rainy days 
was 65, the least number, 40; but the western slope of the moun- 
tains enjoyed 113 rainy days. At Denver the average sunshine for 
the year was 75 per cent. of the possible, or 6 per cent. more than 
~_ 
