Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-08-27
A,Storm In the Country.

A storm in the country. writes Bill
Arp in the Atlanta Consultation, is
worth something to see. We can look
out and afar off and see it coming. and
we can see the lightning flash and zig
gag and corruscate. and have no fear
it is grand, but not fearful-not alarm
ing. The trees are all around us, and
have never been struck. They are our
lightning-rods. our insulators. Light
ming will strike one lonely tree, but it
rarely strikes in n grove or forest. 1t
has struck twice in our cotton field and
killed the cotton, but these trees all
around us scatter it and keep it from
concentrating. Neighbor Freeman says
that lightning has a liking for wagon
with one steer, for he passed one on
the road day before yesterday while
there was storm on hand and the
lightning struck the little one-steer
wagon and tore it all to pieces, and
the steer Just went on with nothing but
one shaft hitched to him. There was
no driver, for the steer had just been
turned loose to go home by himself
Cobe says he never did understand
this thunder and lightning business,
nohow, "for," says he, ''some folks
say that its the lightnin' that strikes,
and some say it's the thunder, but he
has noticed one thing, and chat is
whenever anything is struck they come
right smack together and it looks like
it takes 'em both to do the work."
We have had good deal of country
life of late, and l have no idea of
changing base. l had rather live poor
in the country than rich in town. We
have been harvesting wheat and oats
and rye. We went to see mill-pond
drawn of, and had big time wading
in and grabbing the big fish under the
moss and in the hollow stumps, and
trying to hold the slickery eels. / go
with the children after mulberries
and dewberries and huckleberries. I've
hived six swarms of bees and got stung
only twice. The children have pulled
out the peacocks' tails for fly-brushes.
The peacock is dude. fused to think
the peahen ought to have the fine
clothes, but don't now, for it would
most kill her to give them up. The
beautiful feathers were intended for
the use of man, and it is all right to
strip the vain bird Of his ornaments
and let him feel like common stock.
There is right good fishing in our big
spring branch, and every spring some
nice trout run up the creek and feed on
minnows. We have been watching
them and trying to catch them, but
they wouldn't notice our earth-worm
bait, and so the other day l set out a
minnow and got over the fence and
watched the pole, and sure enough a
big fat fellow grabbed it and hung
himself, and was cavorting and splash
ing around, and had to 60 over six
plank fence, and couldn't do it in the
old time way, and just fell over on my
hands and feet and galloped' on all
fours to the pole just in time to pull
him out and save him, for he fell. off
the hook on the grass and had like to
have tiirted back in the water. Mrs.
Arp had fish for supper that evening.
She is fond of fish, aristocratic fish,
and when we get trout it is always
for her. They say that fish is BRAIN
food, and gives folks sense, and reck-
on the finer the fish the finer the brain,
and that is the reason folks who feed
on trout have so much judgment.
Then. again, trout are game fish, and
that is the reason why folks who eat
them are so game. wish had some
trout. May be wouldn't be as meek
and humble as lam.