Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-06-23
NO 147.
Miseellaneous.
FEAR OF LIGHTNING.

Twenty wears ago the writer remembers
turning with smile TO others who shrank
and cried at the peals of y 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 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 light
ming since. To give any idea Of the ter
ror felt on nervous organization by the
sheck would. involve extravaganza Of
terms.
| But unfortunately. so far as being an
exception, there are too many who suffer
the same embarrasSments with me. Nor
are women alone subject to this nervous
ness. | knew a school superintendent
and canal contractor. man over fittv,
| with a large family, who would hide in a
closet in storm and had been known 10
rush from his bed with fright at lightning.
Many will remember the Professor of
Bowdoin college, who always retreated
to the cellar in thunder storm, although
his house was bristling with lightning
rods. The strongest man ! ever knew.
who could throw another man across the
street. and work hand press in a print
ing Office as If he were part of the ma
chine, was discharged as n reporter be-
cause his desk was vacant every time
there was a thunder storm. The mother
of Washington was afraid OF lightning.
and never failed TO retreat to her room nj
the first flash of storm, where she stayed
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
iauntless young women know was sick
in bed for 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 thunder storm
since.
Reason and study of the laws of light
ming have done much to lessen the fears
of it. II is true we live between two
magazines of clectricity-one in the earth
and the other in the air-and a cloud
charged with electricity passing over
point or body in negative condition will
discharge its surplus by the very quickest
and most congenial medium. which il finds
in the human body, tree or house indif-
fcrently. But it is also true that, provide
the lightning with convenient and easy
conductor, in the shape Of 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 in its vicinity, and people
who stay indoors in n well-protccted
house are safer from lightning than any
bomb-proof from bursting shells.
Every accident from this cause ever
knew of came from careless exposure in
situations known TO be unsafe The first
noticed after my own accident was tha
of missionary's daughter. who was
killed while passing an open window.
Just as u woman was on Long Island last
summer while sitting at her sewing una
chine A young man in Maiden, think.
was killed while sitting on porch with
his chair tipped back and his head against
| the knob Of door-bell, making an eX-
cellent connection with the bell wire.
Many men have been struck while riding
remember the frightful calamity at Scran-
ton, Penn, where party of women, out
picking berries on one of the high hills,
| tTOWutu litO IL utStIttu 10y Uub- III ~ euu-
den storm. and seven were killed by one
bolt Steep hills with mineral veins crop
ping out are not places for persons TO live
on who wish to escape lightning, and un-
protected houses there are doubly dan
gerOus.
1t is never too soon to go in the house
when storm is rising. When the clouds
are fully charged with electricity they are
most dangerous, and the fluid obeys u
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 a rising cloud
while the sun was shining overhead. N.
P. Willis writes of young girl who was
killed while passing under a telegraph
wire on the brow Of hill, while she was
hui rying home before a storm. The sad
accident at Morrisania. where two chill
dren were killed, should warn every
mother 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 a
| single charge which falls with deadly ef-
feet II may or may not be fatal to stay
out; it is safe to be in the house, with the
windows and doors closed. The dry air
| in house is a reader conductor than the
damp air outside, and any draught Of air
invites it. A 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 slaves in summer, and
avoid heating the chimneys Of the houses.
People are very ignorant or reckless about
lightning. l have seen girl of eighteen
crying with fear Of lightning, and running
leycry other moment to the window to see
II the storm were not abating, unconscious
that she was putting herself in danger. II
every one would hurry to shelter as soon
"a storm-cloud was coming. and If they
would shut the doors and windows, and
keep away from them afterward, and from
wires, stove-pipes. mantels, chimmsys.
heaters and mirrors, with their silvered
books. which carry electricity. and keep
away from lightning rods and their vicin-
ity, and from metal water-spouts, with
good rods on their houses, they might dis
miss the fear Of lightning from their mind.