Being disposed properly to acknowledge the care of a kind Providence, in carrying on the work of his farm, one day sat down to figure out the value of a recent shower, which had refreshed his crops. The leaves of his corn had begun to curl, the oats and wheat were growing prematurely yellow, a few more days of the scorching heat and drouth would have made his harvests a failure, but to his great relief a plenteous shower fell. The rain gauge showed half an inch of water. Mr. Thankful took out his pencil and, after careful mathematical calculations, arrived at this astounding conclusion: An unseen hand had conveyed from a remote distance, and deposited upon every acre of his little farm, more than fifty-six tons of water. He owns a hundred acres. There must therefore have been scattered upon the entire farm over 5,600 tons of rain, an amount so large that if he had been compelled to pay for its transportation it would have required more than all the income of his farm. [Illustration: MAKING WATER BOIL BY APPLYING COLD WATER.] SOUND. Our atmosphere is the medium of sound. Upon lofty mountains its vibrations become faint, while in a vacuum all sound ceases. The world of music, with which we are surrounded, were the air removed, would become forever silent. No song of birds, no murmur of the brook, no sighing of the trees, no thunder of the cataract, no grand diapason of the sea, no sweet voice of friendship, no thrilling words of love could ever again fall upon human ear. Gather together in one heap of useless rubbish (for they will never more be needed), harp, lyre, flute, flageolet, violin and guitar, piano and organ. Even that harp of three thousand strings, which the divine hand has placed in the human ear, shall not again vibrate to the delicate touch of nature’s hand. ELECTRICITY AND METEORS. We will close our present article by mentioning two other interesting atmospheric phenomena. Dr. Franklin proved that lightning and electricity are identical. This wonderful agent manifests itself in a variety of ways. The zigzag track of light across the darkened sky, with its accompanying crash, is one of nature’s exhibitions of tremendous power. The irregularity of its path is due to the resistance of the air, compressed by the electric motion. The beautiful illumination called heat or sheet lightning, is caused by the reflection of the electric flash, at a great distance from the observer. A very curious form of electricity is that known as St. Elmo’s fire, which appears as a glowing ball, often poising itself on the spars of ships, to the great consternation of superstitious sailors. Judge Dana, in his admirable book, “Two Years Before the Mast,” more than once alludes to the sensation caused by these weird visitors, as they rounded stormy Cape Horn.