The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-07-23
LIGHTNING,
PEOPLE WIIoFEAE TIE ELECTRIC CUR
RENT-GI-A AEDTNG AGAINST
LIGHTNING STROKES.


LIGHTNING STROKES.
Nearly twenty years ago the writer /
remembers turning with a smile 10
others who shrank ana cried at the .
pedls of a terrible storm i'm q country 4
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 shook the house, ana .
inseusiOility followed. Two men IN tue .
same room were burned by the bolt, /.
though no lives were lost, but L have /
never been able to smile at lightning
since To give any idea of the terror
felt on a nervous organization by the
shock would involve extravaganza OF
terms.
But. unfortunately, 50 far from being
an exception. there are too many who
suffer the same harrasSmentS with ne.
Nor are women alone subject to this
nervousness. l knew a school superin-
terdent and canal contractor, a man
over fifty, with a large family, who
wOuld hide in closet in a storm. and
had been known to rush from his bed
with fright at lightning. Many will re
member the professor of BOWdOln col
lege, who always retreated 30 the cellar
in thunder storm, although his house
was bTistling with lightnmg-rOds. The
strongest man | ever knew, who could
throw another man across the street,
and work u hand-preSs in printing of-
flee as if he were part OF the machine,
was discharged as reporter becauSelhlS
desk was vacant every time there was a
thunderstorm. The mother OF Wash
ingtOn was afraid Of lightning. and new
er failed to retreat to her room at the
first flash of Il storm where she stayed
IL d. I
cal effects of this Gear was most depreSS-
ing. One woman knows when storm
is coming hours before by prostratlon
of strength and spirits, accompanied
with symptoms like cholera. One OF
the most dauntless young women l know
was sick in bed for hours after the storm
ut Springfield, Mass, last year. She
had received q shock of lightning years
before and never fails to be i'll in thun-
der-StUrm ever since.
Reason and study of the laws Of light
ming have done much to lessen the fears
of il. 1t is true we live between two
magazines OF electricity-One IN the
earth and the other in the aIr-anu a
cloud charged with electricity passing
overa Il point or body in the negative con-
ditiou will discharge its surplus by the
very quickest and most cOngenlal me-
dium, which it finds in the human body
u tree OF house iudifferently. But 1t IS
also true that, provide the lightning
with "a convenient and easy conductor,
i'll the shape of a stout iron rod higher
than any point of a house and reaching
well into the ground, where electricity
may scatter harmleSsly into the damp
earth, it will prefer that conducting rod
to anything i'm its vicinity, and people
who stay indoors in Il well-prOtected
60. 1rrItf nj
bomb-proof from bursting shells. Every
accident from this cause | ever knew Of
came from careless exposure i'll situa-
tiOnS known to be unsafe. The first /
noticed after my own accident was that
of a missiOuarv's daughter, who was
killed while passing an open window,
Just as 2 woman was On Long Island
last summer while sitting at her sewing
machine y young man in Maiden, |
think, was killed willie sitting on porch
with his clair tipped back and his head
against the knob of a d0Or-bel!, making
;u excellent connection with the bell
wire. Many men have been struck
while riding into barn Oi load of hay.
Many will remember the frightful calam-
ity at Scranton. Penn, where Il party
of women. out picking berries on one of
the high hills, cfOwded into a deserted
log hut in a sudden storm, and seven
were killed 10y one bolt steep Lills
with mineral veins cropping out are not
places for persons to live OH who wish
to escape lightning, and unprotected
houses there are doubly dangerous.
1t is never too soon to 20 in the house
when a storm is rising. When the
clouds are fully charged with electricity
they are most dangerous, and the fluid
Obeys q subtitle attraction which acts at
great distances and in all directions. y
woman told me of a bolt which came
down her mothers cAimuey from a Tis-
ing cloud when the sun WAS shining
overhead. \. Z. Willis writes sCf d
Young girl who was killed while passing
under Il telegraph wire on the brow of
hill. while she was hUTrying home be
fore a storm. The sad accident at Nor
TisaHia when two children were killed,
should warn every mother that IL is not
safe To let children stay out of door till
the last minute before the storm falls.
People should not be fOOlhardy about
sitting on pUTches OF by open windows,
whether the storm is mild or not Mild
showers often carry a single charE which
falls with deadly effect. 1t may or
may not he fatal to stay out it is safe
TO be I'm the house with the windows
and doors closed. The dry air in the
house is u TeadieT conductor than the
Camp an Cutsiut- ana any uIGu-I MT OF an
invites it. y hot fire in a 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 chimney of the
houses. People are very ignorant OF
reckless about lightning. / have seen d
girl of eighteen CRYING with fear Of light.
ming, and running every other moment
TO the window TO see if the storm was
not abatiHg, unconscious that she was
putting herself in danger. If every one
would hurry to sheltcras suonas Il storm
cloud was coming. and if they would
shut the doors and windows. and keeT
away from them afterward. and from
wires, stOvepipes. manteis, chmneys
heaters and mirrors, with their silvered
backs, which carry electricity. and keer
away from lightning rods and tEeiI
vicinity, and from metal waterSpouts,
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 Hartford
Times.