A drop of rain is a very little thing, but here is a calculation of a rainfall:
The rain fell in buckets, the thunder racketed terribly, and the lightning drew zigzag lines of bright gold upon the violet sky.
“So you, too, don’t know what an inch of rain is exactly,” said the weather clerk, as he looked at his rain-measuring instrument. “Very few people do, it seems. I’ll explain it to you.
“An acre is 6,272,640 square inches. An inch of water on an acre is therefore 6,272,640 cubic inches. That amount, at 227 cubic inches to the gallon, equals 22,000 gallons, or 220,000 pounds, or 100 tons.
“An inch of rain is, in other words, rain falling at the rate of 100 tons to the acre.”
(52)
AGGRESSION
Many fail through over-caution. A course duly weighed, venture all.
In a more recent number of Robert L. Taylor’s magazine, a leading article speaks of Admiral Farragut, at Mobile. The Brooklyn hesitated to go forward. “What’s the matter?” asked the Admiral. “Torpedoes,” replied the captain. “D——n the torpedoes,—full speed against the enemy!” He meant no profanity, but it was a time for action of the most pronounced sort. The best protection against the enemy’s fire is a well-directed fire from our own guns.
General Grant in the civil war of 1861–65 said, “The best defense of Washington is an army before Richmond.” These epigrammatic maxims are the best accepted fighting rules known to warfare to this day.