Related commentaries – Warnings

The man who didn’t believe his barometer

The story is told of a man who lived on Long Island that purchased for himself a very fine barometer. When the instrument arrived at his home, he was extremely disappointed to find that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck, pointing to the sector marked ‘HURRICANE.’ After shaking the barometer several times, its new owner sat down and wrote a scorching letter to the store from which he had purchased the instrument. The following morning on the way to his office he mailed the letter. That evening he returned to Long Island to find not only the barometer missing, but his house also. The barometer’s warning had been right; there was a hurricane!” (P.R.V. Our Daily Bread, April 28).