The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-07-24
4Giscel1A
THE FEAR OIL LIGHTNING.
valuable Hints to Those Whose Fears Of Llgh
ming are Now UucOntrOlable'

papers July 14th), oftW9 pApil} ch9Ans
rem, killed while SlslS iaFatA
seat under tree, sIf
ming, will deepen vhR ss'
who suffer from fear hthihe: hg
mostagonizlns Of all seats Iq.that
of lightning ana a cohpto theHa whqse'
lives are really embilssted " thlsagsAS
would number scores ol tA4a psls, 2
great many Of them psISBas who know
no other fear. tN"
Twenty years ago the writer remem"
bers turning with a smile to others who
shrank and cried at the peals OF terri
BILE storm in country house. The glare
of bolt coming down in the centre of a
room caught the eye at that very instant;
the next was an explosion that shook
the house, and insensibility followed.
Two men in the same room were burned
by the bolt, though no lives were lost /;
but l have never been able to smile at
lightning again. To give any idea of
the terror left on nervous organization
by the shock wouldinvolve extravaganza
of terms.
But, unfortunately, so far from being
an exception, there are too many who
suffer the same harassments with me.
Nor are women alone subject to this ner-
yousness. knew a school superintend-
ent and canal contractor, a man over 80,
with large family, who would hide in a
closet during a storm, and had been
known to rush from his bed with fright
at lightning. Many will remember the
Professor at Bowdoin College, who al
ways retreated to the cellar in a thunder
storm, although his house was bristling
with lightning rods. The strongest man
l ever knew, who could throw another
across the street, and work a hand'press
in printing Office as If he were part of
the machine, was discharged as a repor-
ter because his desk was vacant every
time there was thunder storm. The
mother Of Washington was afraid of
lightning, and never failed to retreat to
her room at the first flash of storm and
remain there till the storm died away.
The physical effects of this storm are
most depressing One woman knows
when storm is coming, hours before,
by prostration of strength and spirits.
One Of the most dauntless young women
l know was sick in bed for hours after
the great storm at Springfield, Mass, last
month. She had received a shock Of
lightning years before, and never fails to
be ill in thunder storm since.
Reason and study of the laws of light
ming have done much to lessen the fear
of it. 1t is true we live between two
magazines Of eleGtricity-one in the air
and the other in the earth--and a cloud
charged with electricity passing over a
point or body IL negative condition
will discharge its surplus by the quickest
and most congenial medium which it
finds, in the human body, tree or house
indifferently. But it is also true that,
provide the lightning with convenient
and easy conductor, in the shape of a
stout iron rod higher than any point of
house, and reaching we'll irto the earth
where electricity may scatter harmlessly
in the damp ground, it will prefer that
conducting rod to anything in its vicin-
ity, and people who stay indoors In a
we'll protected house are safer from light
ming than any bomb.roof from bursting
shells. Every accident from this cause
l ever knew of came from careless ex.
posure in situations known to be unsafe.
The first noticed after my own accident
was that Of missionary's daughter kill
ed while passing an open window, Just
as q woman was on Long Island last
summer, while sitting at her sewing ma.
chine. A young man in Maiden, think,
was killed while sitting on a porch with
his head tipped back against the knob of
the door bell, making an excellent con-
nection with the bell wire. Many men
have been struck while riding into a
barn on load of hay. Many will re.
member the frightful calamity at Scran-
ton, Pa, where party of women, out
picking berries on one of the high hills,
crowded into deserted log hut in sud
den thunder storm, and seven were kill
ed by one bolt. Steep hills with min
eral veins cropping out are not places for
any one to live on who wishes to escape
lightning, and unprotected houses there
are doubly dangerous.
It is never too soon to 90 in the house
when a storm is rising. When the clouds
are fully charged with electricity they are
most dangerous, and this fluid obeys sub.
tie attractions, which acts at great dis
tanCes and in all directions. A woman
told me of bolt which came down her
mothers chimney from a rising cloud
when the sun was shining overhead. N.
P. Willis writes of young girl killed
while passing under telegraph wire on
the brow of bill, while she was hurry
ing home before storm. People should
not be foolhardy about sitting on porch
es or by open windows, whether the
storm is hard or not. Mild showers Of
ten carry single charge which falls with
deadly effect. 1t may or may not be fa-
tai to stay out; it is safe to be in the house
with the windows down and doors shut.
The dry air in house is reader con-
ductor of lightning than the damp air
outside, and any draught of air invites it.
a uOb uIO III u CnluuOy dbbAdVLo ~ bO W
speak, and it is prudent for those who
would be safe to use kerosene or gas
stoves in summer, and avoid heating the
chimDeys in summer. People are very
ignorant or reckless about lightning. l
have seen girl of IS crying with fear of
and running every other mo-
ment to the window to see whether the
storm was not absting, unconscious that
she was putting herself in danger. If
every One would hurry to shelter as soon
Is storm cloud was half way up the |
sky, when certain it was coming nearer,
II they would shut the doors and win.
dows, and keep away from them after.
ward, and from bell wires and stovepipes
chimney breasts, heaters and
with their silvered backs, which
carry electricity, and keep away from
lightning rods and their vicinity, and
from metal water spouts, with good rods
on their houses, they might dismiss the
fear Of lightning from their minds so far
as it is a thing of reason and not of i'm