A DROP OF WATER by Chas. S. Whiting

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 12, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 11.

A DROP OF WATER.

By Chas. S. Whiting

The water which is now in the ocean and in the river has been many times in the sky. The history of a single drop taken out of a glass of water is really a romantic one. No traveler has ever accomplished such distances in his life. That particle may have reflected the palm trees of coral islands, and has caught the sun ray in the arch that spans a cloud clearing away from the valleys of Cumberland or California. It may have been carried by the Gulf Stream from the shores of Florida and Cuba, to be turned into a crystal of ice beside the precipices of Spitsbergen. It may have hovered over the streets of London, and have formed a part of murky fog, and have glistened on the young grass blade of April in Irish fields. It has been lifted up to heaven and sailed in great wool-pack clouds across the sky, forming part of a cloud mountain echoing with thunder. It has hung in a fleecy vail many miles above the earth at the close of long seasons of still weather. It has descended many times over in showers to refresh the earth, and has sparkled and bubbled in mossy fountains in every country in Europe. And it has returned to its native skies, having accomplished its purpose, to be stored once again with electricity to give it new life-producing qualities and equip it as heaven's messenger to earth once more.—Chas. S. Whiting.