The Book of the Damned

Monthly Weather Review, July, 1894: That, from the Weather Bureau, of Portland, Oregon, a tornado, of June 3, 1894, was reported. Fragments of ice fell from the sky. They averaged three to four inches square, and about an inch thick. In length and breadth they had the smooth surfaces required by our acceptance: and, according to the writer in the Review, "gave the impression of a vast field of ice suspended in the atmosphere, and suddenly broken into fragments about the size of the palm of the hand." This datum, profoundly of what we used to call the "damned," or before we could no longer accept judgment, or cut and dried condemnation by infants, turtles, and lambs, was copied--but without comment--in the Scientific American, 71-371. Our theology is something like this: Of course we ought to be damned--but we revolt against adjudication by infants, turtles, and lambs.