Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-11-26
A streak of lightning.


st. Louis was not always as big place
as it now is, and accommodations for man
and beast were not so good fifteen years ago
/ as they are now.
About those days the tavern at which I
stopped, and it was the principal one in the
town, contained one room, like the cabin of
steamboat, which served in the various
capacities of ballroom, a hall of Justice. a.
common council room, theater, and, wien
the town was full, for sleeping apartment
for such of the surplus population as were
not lucky enough to get accommodation in
more limited space.
"Well, business once carried me there In
midsummer, and, as the town was throng.
ed, was put with thirty others, in the
greet accommodation room, and consigned
for the night to my pallet of straw. l came
in late that night, for l had met some &C.
qnaintances, and we had made rather fast
time of it, so that found all the mattresses
occupied, save the one reserved for me, and
each occupant fast asleep The landlord
had given me small piece of candle, about
an inch long, to light me to bed, and as he
was too sleepy or too lazy to get candle
stick, took the tallow in my hand and
marched up to my dormitory. It was o
fearfully hot night, and the temperature, of
course, not much lessened by the heat radi.
ating from the carcasses of thirty or forty
sleeping men.
IL soon found my bed, and forthwith pro.
ceeded to unshuck' Sticking my candle
on the edge of my chair, l carefully laid NV
clothes on the back of it, so as to guard as
far as possible against all probability Of their
contact with the talow, and was proceed
ing to blow out my light, when in my arix-
ety to save my clothes, the only snit had
with me, the thought occurred that / had
better remove the candle altogether. After
glance around the room, found this 10
be matter of some difficulty. / saw that
every chair was occupied. was afraid to
set it on the floor, and the fireplace was too
far oil to justify even remotest hope Of nay
ever reganing my couch, once away from
it in the dark. While l was in this quand-
cry my eye fell upon the form of a large fat
man, who was sleeping at a tremendous rate
about ten feet of. From the excessive heat
that prevailed, he had thrown off every un-
necessary article of clothing. He was
breathing at the same time as hard, and
snoring as loud, as if he we're determined to
extract every possible particle of enjoyment
from those musical accompaniments.
"Quietly advancing towards my snoring
neighbor, | soon found a firm aud perma-
nent lodgment for my piece of candle, now
considerably reduced, upon a very promi-
nent and very exposed portion of my fat
friend, and he was so profoundly asleep that
had no difficulty in fixing a fixed basis
for my burning tallow. AS soon as had,
by actual experiment satisfied myself that
my illuminatOF would, in its upheaVings,
turn neither to the right nor to the left, but
would burn steadily where had set it. /
stole back TO my bed rs quietly as possible,
and soon tried to get up small gamut OF
extra noises with nY nose and throat, but
it was no 60. Every incipiant effort at q
snore was sure to terminate in litter, and
so l just lay still, and watched the course
of events
IL never saw piece Of candle take 90
much time to burn half au inoh. l thought
il had the lives OF nine cats, bat burn on
it did, aud still snored on my fat neigh
Dor. The light gradually approached the
period Of its extiHgnishment; confess that
IL was the most exciting moment Of my life.
At last, TO my inexpressibIe delight, saw
the sleeper give lwilch. aud then for
moment all was still then followed spas
modic action little more violent; calm
OF an instant succeeded, when the candle
performed circuit in the air, expiring as
i. reached the door, and the fat man, wids
awake and perfectly erect, was heard TO az
claim: Boys, did you see has streak Of
tghtning? Any body deadf I'm hitj don't
you smell seOrehed meutT' s--Ex.