Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-10-19
A&(istellaucQl}s,
A Strenk of lightning.
Sister Springs, ). c.

The Doctor thus fcrrently appealed to laid
down his hand at euchre, pushed his specta-
cles up to his forehead, gave lis half empty
tumbler an intense lolk, and grathed our curt
o,ity as to tie origin Of the rant phrase, "loys,
did YOU see that streak Of lightning 2"
"You must know, my dear young frieni,
that St. Louis was not always as big place
! as it now is, and accommodations for man
and beast were not fifteen or twenty years
ago as they are now.
"About those days the tavern at which |
stopped, and it was the principal one IN tue
town, contained one long room, like the cabin
of a steamboat, which served in the various
capacities of ball room, a hall Of Justice, q
common council room, q theatre, and, when
the town was full, for sleeping apartment
for such of the surplus population as were not
lucky enough to get accommodations more
limited space.
"NYell, business once carried me there in
midsummer. AS, the town was thronged, was
put with thirty or forty Others i'll tue great
accommodation room, and consigned ior the
night to my pallet OF straw. l came III late
that night, for had met some acquaintance,
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 ;sIcap. The landlord had given mo q
small piece of candle, about an inch long, to
light me to bed, and as he Was too sleepy or
too lazy to get caud!estick, | took tie tallow
in my hand and marched up to my dormlto-
ry. 1t was frarfully hot night, and the
temperature, of course, not much lessened by
the beat radating from the carcasses of thirty
or forty sleeping men,
81 soon found my bed and l forthwith
proceeded to ''unshuck." Sticking my candle
on the edge Of my chair, carefully laid my
clothes on the lack of it, SO "s to guard as
far as possible against all probability OF their
contact with the tallow, and was proceeding
to blow out my light, when i'll my anxiety to
save my clothes; the only suit had with me,
the thought occurred that had better remove
the candle altogether. Aftera glance around
the room, found this to be matter OF some
difficulty. saw that every :hair was occu-
pied. was afraid to set.it OIL the tioor and
the fire place was too far oil to justify even
the remotest hope Of my ever reeainn= my
couch, once away from it in the dark. While
I was in this quandary my eye fell upon the
form Of large man. who was sleeping at
tremendous rate, about ten feet Oft. From
the excessive heat that prevailed, he bad
thrown off every unnecessary article OF CLOTH
ing. He was breathing at the same time as
hard and snoring as loud as If he were deter
mined to extract every possible particle OF
enjoyment from those musical accompanl-
Inents.
"Quttly advancing towards my snoring
neighbor, soon found firm and permanent
lodgment fer my piece OF candle, now con-
considerably reduced, upon very prominent
and very exposed portion Of my fat friend,
and he was so profoundly asleep that had
no difficulty in finding fixed basis for my
burning tliow. As soon as | had, by actual
experiment, satisfied myself that nay "illu-
minator" would, in its upheavings turn neither
to the right nor the left, but would burn
steadily where had set it stole back 70