PARSON SURELY'S EXPERIMENT: A SKETCH FOR WEATHER GRUMBLERS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 827, 1 June 1855, Page 2 (Supplement)

PARSON SURELY'S EXPERIMENT : A SKETCH FOR WEATHER GRU MBLERS.

BY A. C. mmMCK. The small parish of Fallowdale has been for some time without n pastor. The members were all farmers, find they had not much money to bestow upon the support of a clergyman ; yet they were willing to p<iy for anything that could promise them any due return of good. In course of time it happened that ltev. Abraham Surely visited Fallowdale, and as a Sabbath passed during his sojourn, he held a meeting in the small church. The people were pleased with his preaching, and some of them proposed inviting him to remain with them and take charge of their spiritual welfare. Upon the merits of this proposition there was a long discussion. Panon Surely had signified his willingness to take a permanent residence at Fallowdale ; but the members of the parish could not bo readily agree to hire him. " I don't sec any use of hiring a parson," said Mr. Sharp, an old farmer of the place. "He can do us no good. — If we've got any money to spare, we'd better lay it up for something else. A pardon can't learn me anything." To this wa3 answered that stated religious meetings would be of great benefit to the younger people, and a source of real, social good to all. " I don't know 'bout that," said Sharp, after he had heard the argument against him. Sharp was one of the wealthiest men in the parish, and consequently one of the most influential. " I have heard tell," he continued, " of a parson that could pray for rain, find have it come at any time. Now, if we could hit upon such a parson as that, I would go in for hiring him." This opened a new idea to the unsophisticated minds of Fallowdale. The farmers often suffered from long droughts, and after arguing a while longer, they agiecd to hire Paison Surley, upon condition that he should give them rain whene\er ihi-y wished for it, and, on the other hand, that he would give them fair weather when required. Deacons Smith and Townsend, wcie deputies to make this arrangement known to the parson, and the people remained in the church while their messengers went upon their errand. When the deacons returned, parson Surely accompanied them. He smiled as he entered the church, and with a graceful bow he saluted the people there assembled. ' Well, my friends,' he said, as he ascended the platform in front of the desk, *-I have heard your request to me, and strange as it may appear, I have come to accept your proposal ; but I can do it only on ont condition ; and that is, that your request for change of weather must be unanimous. This aj>peared very reasonable, since every member of the parish had a deep interest in the farming business, and ere long it was arranged that Parson Surely should become pastor of Fallowdale, and that he should give the puople rain whenever they want it. When Mr. Surely returned to his lodgings, his wife was utterly astounded upon learning the nature of the contract her husband had entered into ; but the pastor only smiled and bade her wait for the result. "fcut you know you cannot make it rain," persisted Mrs. Surely; "and you know, too, that the farmers here will be wanting rain very often when there is none for them. You will bs disgraced."

"I will teach them a lesson," quietly returned the p,i-.toi. " Aye— that you can't be so good as your word ; and wlie*) you have taught it to them, they will turn you < ft." 11 We phall see," was Mr. Surely's leply, as he took up a book and commenced reading. This was a signal for the wife to Resist from further eon ■vernation on ,he subject, and she at once obeyed. Tnre fl-.w on, a-sd at length the hot days of midsummer m ere at hand. For three weeks it had not rained, and the young corn was beginning to curl vp beneath the effects of the drought. In this extremity the people bethought themselves of t e promise of ; their ]>»stor, and some of them hastened to his dwelling. '• Come," said Sh«.rp, whose hilly farm was suffering severely, "we want some rain. You remember your piomise." " Certainly," returned Mr. Surely. "If you will call a meeting of the members of the parish, I will be with you thi« evening." With this the applicants were perfec ly satisfied, and forthwith they hastened to call the flock together. " Now you'll see the hour of your disgrace," said Mrs. Surely, alter the visitors had gone. " Oh, I am* very sorry you ever undertook to decoive them so," " I did not deceive." " Yes, you surely did." " We shall see," responded the pastor. The hour for the meeting came, and Parson Surely met his people at the church ; they were all there — most oi them anxious, and the remainder curious. " Now my friends," baid the pastor, arising upon the platform, "I have come to hear your request. What is it?" 14 We want rain," bluntly spoke farmer Sharp ; " and you know you promised to give it to us." 44 Aye — rain, rain," repeated half a dozen voices. " Veiy well. Now when will you have it r" 44 This very night. Let it rain all night long," said Mr. Sharp, to which several others immediately assented. 44 No, no, not to-night," cried deacon Smith. 44 1 have six or 6even tons of well made hay in the field ; and I would not have it wet for anything." 41 So have I hay out," added Mr. Pock. "We won't have it rain to-night." 44 Then let it be to-morrow." 44 Ie will take me all day to-morrow to get my hay in," said Smith. Thus objections came up for the two succeeding days, and at length, by the way of compromise, Mr. Sharp proposed that they should have rain in just four days. 41 For," said he, 44 by that time all the hay that is now out can be got in, and we need not cut any." " Stop, stop," said Mrs. Sharp, pulling her worthy husband smartly by the sleeve, " that is the day wehave set to go to Snowhill, it musn't rain then." This was law for Mr. Sharp, so he proposed that the rain should come in one week, then resuming his seat. But this would not do. Many of the people would not put it off so long. 4< If we cannot have rain before then, vic'd better not have it at all," said they. I* short, the meeting resulted in just no conclusion at all, for the people found it utterly impossible to agree upon a time when it should rain. 44 Until you can make up your minds upon this point " Said the jjastor, as he was about leaving the church, "we mu*t all trast in the Lord." And after this the people foliowod him from the place. Both Deacon Smith and Mr. Peck got their hay safely m, but on the very day that Mi. Sharp and his wife were to huvc started for Snowhill, it began to rain in good earnest. Sharp lost h.s visit, but he met the disappointment with a good grace, for his cropsennk'd at the rain. Ere another month had rolled by, another meeting was called for a petition for rain, but this time the result was as before. Many of the people had their muck to dig, the rain would prevent them. Some wanted the rain immediately, some in one, some in two, and some in three days, while others wanted to put it off longer. So Mr. Surely had not yet occasion to call for rain. One year rolled by, and down to that time the people of Fallowdale "had never once been able to agree upon the exact kind of weather they would have, and the result was that they began to open their eyes to the fact that this world would be a strange place if the inhabitants could govern it. While they had been longing for a power they did not possess, they had not seen its absurdity, but now that they had, in good faith, attempted to apply that power under the belief that it was theirs, they saw clearly they were getting beyond their sphere. They «aw that Nature's laws were safer in tha handt of Nature's God than in thehands of Nature's children. On the last Sabbath of the first year of Mr. Surely's settlement at Fallowdale, he offered to break his connection with the parish, but the people would not listen to it. They had become attached to him and to the meetings, and they wished him to stay. 44 But I can no longer rest under our former contract in regaid to the weather," said the pastor. 14 Nor do we wish you to," returned Sharp. " Only preach to us and teach us and our children how to live, and help us to be social and happy." " And," added the pastor, while a tear of pride stood in his eyes, as he looked for an instant into the face of his own happy wife. " All things above our proper sphere we will leave with God, for He doeth all things well."