Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-06-04
Belmont Chronicle.
ST. CLAIRSVILLE OHIO.
THURSDAY MORNING. June4, 1874,
HAIL STORM STORY!

From our Bridgeport correspondent
Speaking of hail reminds us ofan in
eident of a former hailstorm, hitherto
not published. There lived in our
quiet town an affectionate old couple,
ENJOYING not only each others society,
but enough of this worlds goods to ren-
der them every comfort. The family
consisted of the good old couple, pair
of geese and nineteen tender gosiings;
which, as is the wont of geese OF tender
years, were off on a foraging crusade.
A cloud not bigger than a mans
hand, showed itself in the western hor-
izon, and soon thickened into rising
threatening belt of darkness enshroud-
ing the heavens. Everything porten-
ded violent storm. The old couple
lovingly repaired to the door, only to
find the storm-cloud had burst on their
unpretentious happy home-blackness,
darkness, wind, rain, hail followed in
quick succession. The old patriarch,
with an eye to business, suggested to
his hand-maiden that he would watch
while she should go over into the cor
ner and pray thus fulfilling the scrip
lures, and may be the Good Baing
would save them. Away went the
devout old woman to her task, and
commenced an earnest, lively crusade,
the hail-stones mercilessly pelting their
house. AS the hail increased in size
ard violence, it had qn:ckening ef-
feet on the old mans faith, for he
would exclaiin, as he supnlicatingly
smacked his hands together, 'Hud
away, Biddy, hud away wild your
prayer, bliss We, darlintp and then
louder and still louder the hail rat
tied from the roof, now considera-
bly, the worse for wear; then the
spirit would again move the old
n,an devoted, who, in his extremity,
exclaims, 'Rud away, Biddy, wild your
prayers, hud away; I'll watch and you
pray, and may be the Good Baing wud
save us; hud away darlin' dear, wild
your prayer
Till now the old saints thoughts we're
alone occupied with his own and Bid
dy's safety. Suddenly, however, a
fearful thought went crashing through
his brain like twenty-pound hail
stone. Mother Goose and her inter-
esting family were out in all the storm,
end frantically he again calls out, 'Hud
away, Biddy, dear, wild yer prayer;
hud away, wild yees, and don't forget
the darlint gosiins, dear, don't forget
the darlint goslins; hud away, hud
away wild yees prayerT Biddy hav-
ing promised to love and obey, failed
not to perform her nuptial vows, and |
'hudded away the best licks; and at |
last, the budding and 'hail' ceased,
by mutual agreement, as
cause and effect, or that the 'hudding' |
ceased because the storm stopped, or !
the storm ceased because the budding
stopped, is 'one of those things no fel-
lah never will find OUT At anyrate,
hostilities ceased, and out sailed the
pair to look after the remnant
Df the household, the parent geese and
their progeny. We met the old pair
on their return. There was a funeral
air in their gait, and a deep sepulchral
ntonation of voice, kind of grave
yard twist to things generally about
he whole scene; they had been indeed
20 Golgotha, where rested in deaths
md the 'hail's' cold embrace their
loved and lost We heard the story
n full, and gravely ventured to ask in
1indliest sympathy:
"Well, what became of the goslings?'
Imagine our surprise at the answer we
got from the good old man: every
Id goslin -wus kilt" In tenderest
we inquired, "How
his could be, after their mutual per-
'ormance of duty so faithfully" We
we're shocked again to hear the old
;cripturian reply, 30 mon, Biddy's
prayer wasn't wurth d-np' 1t was
dearly case of "a devout astronomer
1lad.'
TIE Athens Georgian volunteers
his advice to our Southern friends:
we would respectfully suggest to all
ormer slaves-owners to preserve a cor
.ect list of their slaves, and have their
names recorded in the clerks office of