AN Officer of the Government, with a great outfit1 of mule2-waggons

　　loaded with balloons, kites, dynamite3 bombs, and electrical

　　apparatus4, halted in the midst of a desert, where there had been no

　　rain for ten years, and set up a camp. After several months of

　　preparation and an expenditure5 of a million dollars all was in

　　readiness, and a series of tremendous explosions occurred on the

　　earth and in the sky. This was followed by a great down-pour of

　　rain, which washed the unfortunate Officer of the Government and

　　the outfit off the face of creation and affected6 the agricultural

　　heart with joy too deep for utterance7. A Newspaper Reporter who

　　had just arrived escaped by climbing a hill near by, and there he

　　found the Sole Survivor8 of the expedition - a mule-driver - down on

　　his knees behind a mesquite bush, praying with extreme fervour.

　　"Oh, you can't stop it that way," said the Reporter.

　　"My fellow-traveller to the bar of God," replied the Sole Survivor,

　　looking up over his shoulder, "your understanding is in darkness.

　　I am not stopping this great blessing9; under Providence10, I am

　　bringing it."

　　"That is a pretty good joke," said the Reporter, laughing as well

　　as he could in the strangling rain - "a mule driver's prayer

　　answered!"

　　"Child of levity11 and scoffing," replied the other; "you err12 again,

　　misled by these humble13 habiliments. I am the Rev14. Ezekiel Thrifft,

　　a minister of the gospel, now in the service of the great

　　manufacturing firm of Skinn & Sheer. They make balloons, kites,

　　dynamite bombs, and electrical apparatus."