rm onnGON' sunday jouiwax; Portland, sunday . morning. November ti, jmjj.;
'"1 1 1 '. ....l-.--fl 11 11 " ! zi zzzzsasaBt" ''"' " u . ' u,
7.
f '
A UVVDIM SHOWXB.
A TRIP Willi A PHOJtSS!0;JAL IttlfJ-HAIIDl
,. ::::i'Vvi,; By tho REV; CHARLES M. SHELDON;
A
LL aboard I " " ,.' V
AU right, here!" ; , ' ' .
The brakeraan at the, rear raised hit hand,
the conductor swung hlmielf onthe brakeman
followed, and I had a glimpse of a row of en
rious faces on the platform of the station looking into
the Open door of the car In which I was seated as I .
drew' past them. But I was too much interested in my
surroundings to, pay much attention to outside matters.
I had been attached to the United States Signal Ser vice
in one of the Western States, and obtaining leave',
of absence log two weeks, I had also, by dint of careful
and influential correspondence with the division super
intendent of X. R. R., obtained permission to make a "
trip over the road with the professional rain-maker em-"
ployed by the company.' , ' v'v:' v?-;':
Tbe car in which X was seated was (divided Into twe
compartments, ' One of them was fitted up with sleeping
and dining arrangements;' the other contained the' Me
chanical and electrical appliances ' used by -the rain
maker. It was in the professional end of the car that l
I was seated, watching tle rain-maker as he busied him
self with certain pieces of apparatus that looked as myi-' -terious
to me as if they had been the stock In trade of a
necrpmancer. ,'r'if; y:" ;
Presently he finished his task and came and sat down
beside me. The car was arranged with narrow doors
in the sides. We sat looking out on the prairie as we ;
eped ""dustily along, and the rain-maker answered my
j questions with goodrnatured amusement at some of .
them. 'i'w .'. -: ;
"How; does the railroad" company regard this depart
? Inent? as an dvertisement or a necessity?" . ..
, "Why, it is a regular part of the service this summer. r
There are three cars fitted up like this one, and they
cost the, company -four hundred dollars a week when
: i 'everything is going." , 1
! "And do you regard it as a regular profession, or "n.
- I saw the rain-maker color up. 'a little and hastily"
i 'changed my question. "Of course I mean, do you re-
gard.it as really settled that ram can be compelled by
, Brtificial means, or is the whole thing still in a stage of
" 'experiment ? " - . . ' '"
'N i " You will have t4 iudre of that bv the resulU of thu
trip. " There is no doubt in my own mind of certain
dcientific well-established natural phenomena." '
I looked curiously around the car again. . :
"Will yon explain the meaning of some'-of these ar-
tugciucint - ...u.' . .. ...i--. .'
" Certainly. You jw,i!l , understand them better when
ilre begin the actual work. . This box Tunning the entire
jlength of the car overheat contains eight' hundred al
; , Ions of , water. Thes pipes, here,' running, down thej
f 'tides of the ear, connect with a rtibbef hose, which in
turn connects with a hole that will be 'dug under the
. jetr in the ground where we are side-tracked at our des- -
tination. : ;;-..' ,V;: '-;
;.. j ' "Under this broad shelf you see these boxes. I can
' "toot tell you what is in them, as that is part fif my secret.
iHowever, by chemical combinations certain "gases are "
forced from these boxes through" th water and from .
f these pipes, here,-i-he put his .hand on them as he -'poke
"the gases escape freely into the air."
I " You t have a large 34-ceIl battery there, too. Of
. what use is that?" ' .: -A
j " That also is a part 'of my secret Rain-making is
largely an .electrical as well as chemical matter." . ,
; ! IThe whole anair was mysterious to me, and the "pro
fessors explanations only added, to
To tell the tryth, I had no faith in the power of the
rain-maker's combination of chemicals and electricity to
produce"! drop of moisture. I had read of his claims to.
' do so, and had seen the circulars of advertisements sent
, out by; the road, but I watited to see for myself; and as
the time drew near when it seemed possible to judge for
myself, my interest in the trip grew with every dusty'
mile covered by the trairl . ): "
,'It was nearly dark; when 'we drew up at the town
where we were to be side-tracked and left to make the
trial. It was a railroad town, with a group of shops and
three or four smelters. We were backed upon the sid
ling, uhcoupled from the train, which went on, and at
oice the tab-maker .made his preparations for letting
thegases out into the air.t -.v.-. y;;; ;: ,v'
- fare, and supplying a colored servant who cooked and
' jdjd the work. '. -V s
.V V I hall never forget the next twenty-four hours spent
in that strange rain-maker's-car. The experiences of
such a trip could probably be. duplicated in.no other
country, in the world than the United States.
- The prairie was illuminated by the 'moonlight, which
, made every dusty blade of grass and every curled rosin
. weed look drier and deader than they looked by day.
- There had been no rain in the neighborhood for three
weeks. ' Unless rain came inside of forty-eight hours the
entire corn crop of the country would be ruined by the
hot winds which bad already begun to blow. .
We opened the side doors of the car, for the circula
tion of , air. v The ' rain-maker, went about among his
. bottles and pipes and arranged them for the night, so
' that fresh material could be on hand. Then he came
and sat down by me again.
"How long will it take before signs of rain appear?"
"It depends on many things wind, velocity, humid
ity,, electric disturbance and miny other circumstances."
"What is your opinion, about success this time?"
"I think we shall get a storm within twenty-four
hours." -',;-.'''.;' - '
I did not say anything. To get a little exercise I
stepped out of the car and strolled up the main track
T- t '
1
Our car was surrounded by a perfect mob' of men and
' boys all day. Some of them made threats against the
company's property; but we thought nothing of them.
There was a feeling of excitement on all sides. '
, ' Just as the sun went down at the close of one of the
strangest, driest, hottest days I ever knew, a bank of
' . cloud appeared just above the southwestern horizon.
The rain-maker had seen it, but I pointed to it and
asked him about it He replied in a' doubtful tone, and
at that moment I was amazed to see, coming afound the
curve beyond the station, a long freight-train.
A tremendous crowd began to stream down to the
tracks. In a few minutes it seemed as if every. Inhabi
tant of the town was surging about that freight. It had
managed in some way to get over the road from the sta
. tion below. In 'a very few minutes the mob had un
coupled the engine, after backing the cars upon the
.siding next to our car. We felt the jar of the cars as
they stopped, and we were then pushed slowly up the
siding until we were at its extreme end, where we were
stopped. It was the evident intention of the strikers to
prevent the train from going any farther.
Two hours went by. Meanwhile we had felt obliged
to close the doors of our car to shut out the mob; and
in the close, hot little room we proceeded to spend the
night as comfortably as we could.
I had made my arrangements to sleep, and had, in
fact, in, spite of the excitement of the evening, supposed
that all was going to settle down again, when a shout
outside brought me up standing, , and the rain-maker .
and I pushed open one of the side doors a little way to
look out '
A mass of men could be seen gathered about one of
the smelters, which was situated a quarter of a mile up
the track 'and close beside it And as we looked up
there, the foremost of them grew more distinct. A pale
light glowed over them. It grew brighter, redder. The
rails of the track not covered by the mob glistened in
it; and soon a stream of flame burst out of a window
and ran up one of the gables.
The "strikers had fiVed the smelter! As we watched
them and heard their shouts, we grew serious. A large
group of men could be seen running down the track to
ward us. They stopped on the other side of the switch
from the siding, and the light of the burning smelter
we could see them tearing up the rails.
? , Their numbers were increased every moment and $ie
siding on which the freight-cars stood was soon sur
rounded by hundreds of excited men.
The rain-maker, closed the door and locked it He
, then secured the other door in the same way., A small
. lamp had" been burning on a shelf. He blew it out and
' whispered to me: "It's our best chance of escaping no
tlcet The men are excited ; they have been drinking,
and -there is no telling what they may do, now their
blood is up,' - !
So there seemed nothing better to do than to sit down
and let events take their course. Ten minutes went by.
We felt the noise and cenfusion outside increasing.
Suddenly a strange crash was heard. It sounded dnie
by, but what it was we could not gueis. It was fol
lowed by another and another, each nearer fhan the first,
and accompanied with great yells and cries
" What can they be doing? " I could not help asking.
At that instant, before my companion could answer,
a peal of thunder rolled over the prairie and above the
shouts of the mob, The rain-maker smiled at me, a
much as to say, " I told you so " ; and what he would
have said I do not know, for the next moment we felt
the car sway violently up and down, as if caught on the
. the swell of art earthquake. ' vf''' f
K The heavy trucks went up on one side, and then came
down with a jar that smashed nearly every bottle on
the rain-maker's shelves'. There was an awful yell from
the mob, and again the car rose on one side, as if bein;
lifted by giant hands
"Great heavensP cried the rain-maker. "They are
trying to tip the car over 1 " ;' . v
It was true. The mob had resorted to this method
of destroying railroad property, and the crashes we had
heard had been made by the overturning of cars. Ours,'
being like the rest on the outside, may not have been
distinguished by the men. ' J
At any rate, we were in the fury of the crowd. VWe
tried in vain to unlqck the doors and get out ' ; We
screamed and pounded on the doors. But the car rose,
swayed on the trucks skkeningly for one second,, and
then over it went, with us inside! ; 1 -
The crash that followed so stunned me that for . at
while I did not realize what had happened. : j v V
My first return of clear ideas came on finding that J
was drenched with water, and dripping as if in a river.
I thought at first of the" rain-maker, curiously wonder
ing if he thought this was the scientific way of produc
ing moisture. The tank in the top of the car had
broken open, and the water had splashed out alt over us.
The side of the car had split in such a way that I
was able to crawl up from where I lay and get my head
and shoulders out By this'. time some of the more sober,
men in the crowd realized the situation. I was half
, kindly, half roughly dragged out from the broken car,,
bruised and bleeding, but with no bones broken. Next
I saw the rain-maker standing near the track, his face
cut with broken glass, and one arm broken. The col-'
ored cook was nearly killed by fright, but he escaped
with severe bruises. ' -' " v
I spent the rest of the night in the home of a private
citizen who kindly cared for the professor and myself.
The strike continued a week longer, and we were un-,
able to get away even if we had felt well enough.
I should say, to make, the story complete, that on that
memorable evening, about midnight, a tremendous thunder-storm
burst over the town, and drenched the coun
try for miles around. My friend the rain-maker claims
that storm as the result of his scientific efforts. I have 1
my doubts as to the origin of the rain; but it will prob- j
ably be a Jong time before I take another trip with I
professional rain-maker. -
7
7,
1 . :. "
S -flip Sy
"1
ii'f
. HI ;:-'V:4. :ir -
"'' ,-.'.. '
' .Vi-. .,- .. t ' , ' -. t
- r -. , ,
. ' yf 'if - s
) v 4
mm
Sa!!C:m c&a W4MeK;Bf vm cam
'x 1 ' z 1. j . u ia'...?al m
aP ... ir M , 'M.;M V
III iiVrpAM
I ha' II il'.
Hnrry it, hurry it, baker's man;
Bring it to us as quick as you can
I hope it has raisins by way of surprise,
And little black currants that look just
like eyes.
Here it comes, here it comes, baby mine.
Never was cake that was half so fine ;
Brown as a berry, and hot from the pan
Thank you, oh thank you, you, good
baker's man!
T r ti V" -ViTWlft 1 till
i
J
:. I
r
.i jr .1.
At y.J '
v
STXIKXaS OVISTUXK THE SAIN-MAKIK'S CAX.
However, ht continued :
"When the entire apparatus is in operation some ftf-
teen, hundred feet of gas escape into the air every houV. .
.jWhen released is warm, and being jmuch lighter than
. the air, ascends rapidly, I have a wly of measuring the.
altitude, and know that in some cases the gas has' risen
nearly eight thousand feet r
"A good deal depends on the velocity of the wind,',
the general condition of humidity, etc. I do not say
that I can always produce rain 'at the point of opera ,
tion, because the wind has so much to do with it and
my experiments may result in rain at a distance." " ,
"But still yon believe that by jour arrangements'
f.ere ilh the gases, and so on, you can in a dry time
produce rain that would not otherw ise have fallen in
the wre, of nature?" ' V
- - The rtm-traVef locied at me quuticalT, but did not
answer, except to refer me to the coming experirrts
to hick I bejsn to look forward- ith a curiosrty I bad
net felt for years. ,
A cremd of curious men and boj s had gathered,
knowing that the rain-nuker-was coming. A commit-
the mystery. tee of citizens from the town wai on hand. The commit-
was surprised to find a large
to the little station. I
gathering of men there, , ,
"What's going on?
"Haven't yon heard? The big strike is on, and all
trains on the line have stopped running."
It was trye. The greatest railroad strike ever known
had begun, and there we were, stranded in that railroad
town full of desperate men, and no telling when we
could pull out
I went back to the car and told7the rain-maker. He
was an old railroad man, and did not seem impressed
with the news at all. He said be guessed we would get
away mben we got ready.
I slept very little that night I. was conscious of
strange noises and a feeling that something unusual was .
going on in the town and around the shop near by.
la the morning we looked out cpon the same dasty,
bleak, hot prairie. The aim 'rce hot and. burning. .
There waa not a dood to be seen anywhere, -As the
day wore on, mi of the grest strike came over the
wires. Not a train went thrwueh the town. The ra3-
e eestj uraiLu:g grod bJJ cf reel men la pt sp wect out on the strle at nowa,
cfrmctrr.jrrrrCMirrrrcorr4rr. f
tee had secured the services of the " professor " by mak
ing certain terms with the road. - Some of them came
into the car and. stared at the sight of the bonks, bat
: tery, pipes, shelves, tanks, and so forth, which made such
4 curious display." A great many questions were asked,
to which the rain-maker gave short and onsatis factory
replies. - t ' ,
By this time it was dark, and the apparatus, was in
shape. The battery was turned on, and in a few mo
ments I was informed that the gases were being bber
ated. There was little none in connection with the
work, and the whole thing was very undemonstrative
. - " We -might as ; well eat our svjpet cow," said my
companion. ,
"Don't yoo hart to watch emthieg?"
"No; it g Hself," be answered.. That's the
beauty of it," ' (
So we rnt ioto the other rd ef the ear and bad a
ietrty tcrper.
wyrw. - .y.
Ws" - tv CXl-ftStll. 9 1 f M I fwlk III
!vaj 1 . mJ' " Hickory, dickory, dock. NK - Wf , -
ifciv' The mouse ran up the (flock, - y
fTT-, The clock struck one r 1 "I'll
I The mouse ran down- "
' MW - Hickory, dickory, dock." ' It ' ;
' A ' inckory, dickory. aocli r f Irff I
' S A SJin Again he tried the dock, , JJ I iKk i
I vyjrrii This tirae don't frown ' R ft I $ I
J The-r foe ran down! l SI I 5i
V4;frJ Hkkoty, dickory, dock. j V lf
v - " " - -i ' l:ds
' ' ' .