The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-07-01
Nervous Dread Of Lightning.

Twenty wears ago the writer remem-
bcrs turning with a smile To others who
shrank and cried at the peaIs Of a terri
bic storm in a country house. The
glare of bolt coming down the center
of the rOomscaught the eye at that very
instant; the next there was an eNplO-
sion tuat shook the house, and insensi-
bility 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 lightning since. To
give any idea of the terror felt on Il
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 are women alone subject to this
nervousness. 1 knew a School SUperin-
tendent and canal contractor, Il man
over fifty, with a large family, who
would hide i'm a closet in storm, and
had been known to rush from his bed
with fright at lightning. Many will re-
member the Professor of BOwdUm Col
Iege who always reiterated to the cellar
IN a thunderstorm. although his house
WAS bristlinE with lightning-rodS. The
strongest man | ever knew, who could
throw another man across the street,
and work a hand-presS in a printing
office as if he were a part of the ma
chine, was discharged as a reporter be-
cause his desk was vacant every time
there was a thunderstorm. The mother
of Washin glon was afraid of lightning,
ard never failed to retreat to her room
nj the first lash of a storm, where she
stayed till the last fash died away.
The physical effects of this fear are
most depressing. One woman knows
when a storm is coming hours
before by prostration of strength and
spirits, accompanied with symptoms
like cholera One of the most dauntlesS
yOuug women ! know was sick in bed
for hours after the great storm at Spring
field, Mass, last year. She had received
3 shock of lightning years before and
never fails to be i'll iii thunderstorm
since.
Reason and study of the laws of
lightning have done much to lessen the
fear of il. 1t is true we live between
two magazines of electricity-onein the
earth and the other in the air-and
cloud charged with electricity passing
over a point or body in n negative con-
dition will discharge its surplus by the
very quickest and most congenial medi-
um, which it finds in the human body,
a tree or house indiilerently. But it is
also true that. provide the lightning
with a convenient aud easy conductor
in the shape of stout iron rod higher
than any point of a house and reaching
well into the ground, where electricity
NAV scatter harmlessly into the damp
earth, it will prefer that conducting rod
20 any thing in its vicinity, and people
who stay indoors in well-protected
house are safer from lightning than any
bomb-proof from bursting shells. Ev-
cry accident from this cause l ever knew
Of came from careless exposure in stu
atiuns known to be unsafe. The first
] noticed after my own accident was
that of a msSionary's daughter who
was killed while passing an open win
dow, Just as wOman-waS on Long
Island last summer, while sitting ar,her
sewing-machine. A young man in Nal
den, ! think. was killed while sitting on
a porch with his chsir tipped back and
his head against the knob OF a door
bell, making. an, excellent connection
with the bell-wire. Many men have
been struck while riding into a barn on
s load of hay. MANY will remember
che frirhtful calamity al Scranton. Pa.
where a party of ASomen ont picking
berries on one Of the tiglf nils, crowded
into deserted log hu. IN sudden storm.
and seven were Ei4ted by one bolt.
Steep hills with migsral veins cropping
out are not places Tor persons ta-IFe on
who wish to escape lightning, and un-
protected houses there are doublv dan
ger0US. -r". - @
Il Is never too soon to go in the house
VII n a storm is. rising. When the
clouds are fully charged with electricity
they are most dangerous and the fluid
obeyS a subtle attraction which acts at
great distances and i'm all directions. 4
woman told ne of q bolt which came
down her mothers chimney from a ris-
mo cloud when the sun was shining
overhead. n, P. Willis writes OF
young girl who was killed while pass
ing under a telegraph wire, on the
brow of a hill, while she was hurrying
home before a storm. The sad acct
dent at Morrisania, when two children
were killed, should warn every mother
that il is not safe to let her children
stay out of doors till the last minute be-
fore the storm falls. People should
net be fool-hardy about sitting on
porches or by open windows, whether
the storm is hard or not Mild showers
-fanr ca,r.,- q sinrrle charcra which falls