Sharp County record., 1880-10-21
MRS. McWILLIAMS AND THE LIGHT.
MING.

the most distressing lnllrmlleS human
| being can be afflicted with. Ii is mostly
confined to women; but now and then
you find it in little dog and sometimes
in man. 1t is particularly distress
ing infrmity, for the reason that it takes
the sand out of person to an extent
which no other fear can and it can't be
reasoned with and neither can it be
shamed out of person. A woman who
could face the evil one himself-or a
mouse-losSes her grip and goes all to
pieces in front of flash of lightning.
Her fright is something pitiful to see.
Well, as was telling you, | woke up,
with that smothered and unbeatable
cry of Mortimer! Mortimern wailing
in my ears, and as soon as l could
scrape my faculties together l reached
over in the dark and then said:
"Evangeline, is that you calling?
What is the matter? Where are you?n
"Shut up in the boot-closet. You
ought to be ashamed to lie there and
sleep so, and such an awful storm 60
ing on"
"Why, how can one be ashamed when
he is asleep? 1t is unreasonable; a man
can't be ashamed when he is asleep,
Evangeline."
"Younever try, Mortimer-you know
very we'll you never try"
| caught the sound of muffled sobS.
That sound smote dead the sharp
speech that was on my lips, and 1
changed it to:
"rm sorry, dear-rm truly sorry.
1 never meant to act so. Come back
and
"MORrMERr'
"Heavens! what is the matter, my
love?"
"Do you mean to say you are in that
bed yet?"
"Why, of course"
"Come out Of it instantly. l should
think you would take some little care of
your life, for nay sake and the chill
dren's, if you will not for your own"
"But my love-
"Don't talk to me, Mortimer. You
bn0W there is no place so dangerous as
bed, in such thunderstorm as this
all the books say that; yet there you
would lie, and deliberately throw away
your life for goodness knows what,
unless for the sake of arguing and argu-
guing, and"
But, confound it, Evangeline, I'm
not in bed non. Pm
TSentence interrupted by a sudden
glare of lightning, followed by ter
rifed little scream from Mrs. McWill-
Jams and tremendous blast of thun-
der.
There! You see the result. O,
Mortimer, how can you be so prohigate
as to swear at such time as this?n
81 didn't swear And that wasn't a
result of it, any way. 1t would have
come, just the same, if [ hadn't said
word; and you know very well, Evan
geline-at least you ought to know
that when the atmosphere is charged
with electricity"
80, yes, now argue it, and argue it,
and argue it'll don't see how you can
act so, when you hnOU there is not
Lightning rod on the place and your poor
wife and children are absolutely at the
mercy of Providence. What are you
doing?-lighting a match at such a time
as this! Are you stark mad?n
Hang it, woman, where's the harm?
The place is as dark as the inside of an
infdel and"
"Put it out! put it out instantly! Are
Lot nod +n Cn1Iitinn oll , Va,
bnOW there is nothing attracts lightning
like a light. TFzt!-crasH 5oomE
bo}oom-boOo,-boom1 O, just hear it!
Now you see what you've donen'
"No, | don't see what I've done. A
match may attract lightning, for all |
know, but it don't cause lightning-Tll
90 odds on that. And it didn't attract
it worth a cent this time; for if that shot
was leveled at my watch, it was blessed
poor craftsmanship about an average
of none out of a possible million, [
should say. Why, at Dollymount, such
craftsmanship as that
"For shame, Mortimer! Here we are
standing right in the very presence of
death and yet in so solemn a moment
you are capable Of using such language
as that. If you have no desire to
Mortimerr'
"Well?n
"Did you say your prayers tonight"
"I-I-meant to, but got to trying
to cipher out how much twelve times
thirteen is, and ="
TFzt!-bOOm-berrOom-bOOm! bumble-
umble bang-SMASH!]
go, we are lost, beyond all help!
How could you neglect such a thing at
such time as thiS!"'
"But it UaSnt such time as this.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky. How
could know there was going to be all
this rumpus and pow-wow about a lit"
tie slip like thatP And l don't think
it's Just fair for you to make so much
out of it, any way, seeing it happens so
seldom l haven't missed before since |
brought on that earthquake, four years
ago"
"MoRTIMER How you talk Have
you forgotten the yellow fever"
"My dear, you are always throwing
up the yellow fever to me, and think
it is perfectly unreasonable. You can't
even send telegraphic message as far
as Memphis without relays, so how is a
little devotional slip of mine going to
carry so far? I'll stand the earthquake,
because it was in the neighborhood but