A man once had a large field of wheat. He had toiled hard to clear the
land, plow the soil, and sow the seed. The crop grew beautifully and
was his joy by day and by night. But when it was just ready to head
out it suddenly stopped growing for want of moisture. It looked as if
all his hard work would be in vain. The poor farmer thought of his
wife and children, who were likely to starve in the coming winter. He
shed many tears, but they could not moisten one little stalk.
Suddenly he said, "I will water it myself." The field was a mile
square, and it needed an inch of water over it all. He quickly figured
out that there were 27,878,400 square feet in a square mile. On every
twelve square feet a cubic foot of water was needed. A cubic foot of
water weighs sixty-two and a third pounds. Hence it would require
74,754 tons of water. To draw this amount 74,754 teams, each drawing a
ton, would be required. But they would tramp the wheat all down.
Besides, the nearest water in sufficient quantity was the ocean, one
thousand miles away over the mountains. It would take three months to
make the journey. And, worse than all else, the water of the ocean is
so salt that it would ruin the crop.
[Illustration: Breaking Waves.]
Alas! there were three impossibilities--so many teams, so many
miles, so long time--and two ruins if he could overcome the
impossibilities--trampling down the wheat and bringing so much salt.
Alas, alas! what could he do but see the poor wheat die of thirst and
his poor wife and children die of hunger?
Suddenly he determined to ask the sun to help him. And the sun said he
would. That was a very little thing for such a great body to do. So
he heated the air over the ocean till it became so thirsty that it
drank plenty of water, choosing only the sweet fresh water and leaving
all the salt in the ocean. Then the warm air rose, because the heat
had expanded it and made it lighter, and the other air rushed down the
mountains all over that side of the continent to take its place. Then
the warm air went landward in an upper current and carried its load of
water in great piles and mountains of clouds; it lifted them over the
great ranges of mountains and rained down its thousands of tons of
sweet water a thousand miles from the sea, so gently that not a stalk
of wheat was trampled down, nor was a single root made acrid by any
taste of brine.
Besides the precious drink the sun brought the most delicate food for
the wheat. There was carbonic acid, that makes soda water so
delicious, besides oxygen, that is so stimulating, nitrogen, ammonia,
and half a dozen other things that are so nutritious to growing plants.
Thus the wheat grew up in beauty, headed out abundantly, and matured
perfectly. Then the farmer stopped weeping for laughter, and in his
joy he remembered to thank, not the sun, nor the wind, but the great
One who made them both.