Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1859-12-09
nc Streak 81 Iishtnine.

/ tne Doetor, mus fSrHentIY appealed to
laid down his hand at euchre, pushed hi:
spectacles upto his forehead, gave his hall
empty tumbler an Intense look, and graft.
ned our curiosity rs to the origin Of the
of lghtning?"
ou must know; my dear young friends
that St. Louis. was. not always as big d
place as it now is, and Accommodations fol
man and beast were not so good fifteen OF
twenty years ago as they are now.
About those days the. tavern at which
stopped; and it was the principle one in
the town, contained one roonI like the
cabin OF steamboat, which served in the
various capacities of u bar-room, II hall OF
justice, a common council room, q theatcr
and, when the town was full, for sleeping
apartment for such of the surplus popuIa-
ton as were not lucky enough to get ac-
commodations in ii more limited space.
wei, business once carried me there in
| midsummer, and ,as the town was thronged.
WAS put with thirty or forty others, in tho
great accommodation room, and consigned
for the night to my pallet of straw. came
IN late that night, for l had met some ac-
qualntances, and we had made rather fast
Tune Oft, so that found all the mattresses
| occupied, save the one reserved for nc,
d..
lord had given me 81 small piece of candle,
about an inch long, to light me TO he'd. and
rs he was too sleepy or too lazy to get me
a candlestick, took the tallow i'll my hand
and marched up to my dormitory. 1t was
te"rtully hot night, and the temperature.
OF course, not much lessened by the heat
rndinting' from the carcasscs of thirty or
forty sleeping men.
~ soon found my bed, and forthwith
proceeded to 'tunshuck." Sticking the
candle on the edge of my chair, carefully
laid my clothes on the back of it, so ms to
guard as far rs possible against all proba-
blity of their contact with the tallow.
and was proceeding to blow out nv light,
when in my anxiety to save my clothes, the
only suit had dwith nc, the thought occur
rcd that had better remove the candle
altogether. After glance around the
room, | found this to be q matter of some
difficulty. I saw that every chair was
occupied. was afraid to set it on the
floor, and the fire place was too far off to
justify even the rcmotest hope of my ever
rcSaIning my couch, once away from it in
the dark. While 1 was in this ouandary
S.Gra 10 "sreePugs u Gr,;irrrrra ia =
rate, about ten feet off. From the excess
sive heat that prevailed, he had thrown
Oft every necessary article of clothiug. He
was breathing at the same time as hard,
and snoring us loud, as if he were determ-
ined to extract every possible particle of
enjoyment from these musical accomplish
mcnts.
Quietly advancing towards my snoriog
neighhor, soon found firm and perma-
nent lodgmcnt for my piece of candle, now
considerably reduced, upon very promi-
nent and very exposed portion of my filt
friend, and he was so profoundly asleep
thot had no difficulty in fixing fixed
basis for my burning tallow As soon rs !
had, by actual experiment, satisfied myself
that my illuminAtor would, in its upheav-
ings, turn neither to the right nor the left,
but would burn steadily where had set it,
! stole back to my bed as quietly as possi-
Bile, and soon tried to get up small gamut
of extra noise with my nose and throat,
but it was no go. Every incipient effort
| ut snorc was sure to terminate in litter.
and so just lay still, and watched the
course of events.
l never saw piece of candle take so
much time to burn half an inch. thought
it had the lives of nine cats. but burn on
it did, and still snored on my fat neighbor.
The light gradually approached the period
of its eXtinguishment; l confess that ii
was the most exciting moment of my life,
At last, to my incxpressiblc delight. / saw
the sleeper give twitch, and then for Al
moment all was still; then followed spas
modic action q little more violent; calm
of an instant succeeded, when the candle
performed circuit in the air, expiring as
it reached the floor, and the fat man, wide
awake and perfectly erect, was heard to
cxelaim Boys, did you see that strcak %
hghtnittg2 Anybody dend2 Pm hit; don't
you smell scorchcd meatm