"
Mother smiled with satisfaction, for she saw that he still stood just
where she did, only his horizon had widened.
"Well," said his father, contentedly, "I read much in the papers and
magazines of theories and isms of which I never heard when I was young,
but eighty years of experience have convinced me that the Lord reigns."
They all laughed at this customary settlement of knotty problems, on the
part of the old gentleman, and Burt, rising from the table, looked out,
with the remark that the prospects were that "the Lord would rain heavily
that afternoon." The oldest and most infallible weather-prophet in the
region--Storm King--was certainly giving portentous indications of a
storm of no ordinary dimensions. The vapor was pouring over its summit in
Niagara-like volume, and the wind, no longer rushing with its recent
boisterous roar, was moaning and sighing as if nature was in pain and
trouble. The barometer, which had been low for two days, sank lower; the
temperature rose as the gale veered to the eastward. This fact, and the
moisture laden atmosphere, indicated that it came from the Gulf Stream
region of the Atlantic. The rain, which began with a fine drizzle,
increased fast, and soon fell in blinding sheets. The day grew dusky
early, and the twilight was brief and obscure; then followed a long night
of Egyptian darkness, through which the storm rushed, warred, and
splashed with increasing vehemence.
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