Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-07-07
Fear of Lightning.
TFrom the Hartford Times. |

[From the Hartford Times.J
Twenty years ago the writer remembers
turning with smile to others who sbrank
and cried at the peals of a terrible storm
In country house. The glare OF bolt
coming down the center of the room
caught the eye at that very instant; the
next there was an explosion that snouk
the house, and insenslbility followed
Two men In the same room were burned
by the bolt, though no lives were lost, but
| have never been able to smile at light
ming since. To give any idea of the ter.
ror felt on nervous organization by the
shock would involve extravaganza OF
terms.
But, unfortunately, so far from being
an exception, there are too many who
suffer the same harassments with me.
Nor ale women alone subject to this ner-
vousness. | knew school Superlntend-
emit and canal contractor, who would hide
in the closet in storm, and had been
known 10 rush from his bed with fright
at lightning. Many will remember the
Professor of Bowdoln College, who al
ways retreated TO the cellar IN a thunder
storm, although his house was brislung
with lightning rods. The strongest man
l ever knew, who could throw
another man across the street, and
work hand press in a printing
office as IT he we're part OF the
machine, was discharged as a report
er because his desk was vacant every time
there was a thunder storm. The mother
OF Washington was afraid of lightning,
and never tailed to retreat to her room ut
the first flash OF storm, where she stay.
ed till the last flash died away. The physi
Cal effects Of the fear is most depressing.
One woman knows when storm is COM
ing hours before by prostration of
strength and spirits, accompanied with
symptoms like cholera One OF the most
dauntless young women I know was sick
In bed Tor hours after the great storm at
Springfield, Mass, last year. She had re-
ceived shock of lightning years before,
and never fails to be i'll in a thunder
storm since.
ming have done much to lessen the fears
of it, 1t is true we live between two
magazines of elictricity-one in the earth
ana the other in the air-and a cloud
charged with electricity passing over a
point or body in negative condition will
discharge its surplus by the very quickest
and most congenial medium which 1T
finds in the human body, tree or house
inditterently. But it is also true that, pro-
vide 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 into the ground where
electricity may scatter harmlessly into the
damp earth, it will prefer that conducting
rod 10 anything in its vicinity, and people
who stay indoors in we'll protected
house are safer from lightning than any
bomb proof from bursting shells. Every
accident from this cause | ever knew of
came from careless exposures in situations
known to be unsafe. The first noticed
after my own accident was that of q mis-.
stonary's daughter, who was killed while
passing an open winduw, just as woman
was on Long Island last summer while
sitting at her sewing machine. A young
man Ill Maiden, | think, was killt while
sitting on a porch with his chair tipped
back and his head against the knob of 9
door bell, making an excellent connnec-
been struck while riding into barn on a
load of hay. Many will remember the
frightful Calamity at Scranton, Penn,
where a party of women, out picking
berries on che high hills, crowded into q
deserted log hut in a sudden storm, and
seven were killed by one bolt. Steep hills
with mineral veins cropping out are not
places for persons to live on who wish to
escape lightning, and Unprotected houses
there are doubly dangerous.
1t is never TOO soon to 60 IN the house
| when storm is rising. When the clouds
are fully charged with electricity they are
most dangerous, and the fluid obeys. O
subtitle attraction which acts at great dis
tances and in all directions. A woman
told me OF bolt which came down her
mothers chimney from rising cloud
when the sun Was shining overhead. N.
T. Willis writes OF young girl who was
Killed while passing under a telegraph
wire on the brow OF a hill, while she was
hurrying home before a storm. The sad
| accident at Morrisania, when two Chill
dren were killed, should warn every
mo her that it is not safe to let children
stay out OF doors till the last minute be-
fore the storm falls. People should not be
foolhardy about sitting on porches or by
open windows, whether the storm is hard
or not. Mild showers often carry single
charge which falls with deadly effect. It
may or may not be fatal to stay out; 1t
is safe to be in the house, with the win
doWs and doors closed. The dry air in q
house Is reader conductor than the
damp air outside, and any draught of air
invites IT. A hot fire in chimney at
tracts it, so to speak, and it is prudent for
those who would be sure OF safety to use
kerosene or gas stoves in summer, and
avoid heating the chimneys of the houses
People are very ignorant or reckless
about lightning. l have seen girl of g
crying with fear of lightning, and run
ming every other moment to the window
TO see If the storm was not abating.
unconscious that she was putting herself
in danger. If every one would hurry to
shelter as soon as storm. cloud was COM
Ing, and if they would shut the doors and
windows, and keep away from them
afterward, and from wires, stovepipes,
mantels, chimneys, heaters, and mirrors
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
thing OF reason, and not Impression.