St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-02
FREAKS OF THE LIGHTNING.
st Gives n Gorgeous Picture as il
Flashes into Night.


From a gentle snooze into which he had
fallen after going to bed at 2 o'clock the
other morning, a GLoBE man was awall-
ened by the general pulling down of win
dOws that open on the great central court
in the Ryan hotel. 1t was i'll anticipation
of a coming storm, the roaring of which
could be plainly heard, and the blueish-
white flashes of which were almost contin-
uous. A window in one of the upper
stories of the Ryan commands a full. broad
view of couple Of hundred others. nearly
all of which must have been raised full
height that night, for it was very
hot In the quiet blackness that
succeeded whole skyful of
the electric light, the reporter rose to lower
his own window. 1t was very dark in the
great court and from all sides could be
heard the rafting of the blinds and the fall
ing of the windows. Not a ray of light
could be seen save from the ground glass
below, where the gas was dimly burning in
the rotunda. A refreshing breeze sprung
up and came across the court, bringing on
ant to lean from the window and be famed
by it as it went by.
80
The blinds at the Ryan are inside the
window and must, of course. be opened be-
fore the window can be raised. The storm
was coming nearer and there seemed TO
have been a general awakeningof the many
guests whose rooms look upon the court.
In some of those rooms were fat, gray
headed men. In some were well-built. ro-
bust young men. In others were tender
dudes. Old ladies were there. whose
watchtul ear caught the earliest rumbling
of the storm. Demure matrons occu-
pied those rooms, and their thought
full minds awOke AT once to visions
Of carpets and curtains ruined by the rain.
And white-sOuled maidens, just budding
into womanhood. were there. and the ruth
less storm called them from romantic
dreams, pure as the loves of the angels. to
rise half-frightened at the lightning and bar
out the raindrops that would otherwise in
wade their sacred chambers. The Their
mOmeter had stood at eighty odd at bed
time, and i'll the sweltering heat, what need
Of the conventional robe de mutt? The
night was enough. At Just about the time
the windows were falling the fastest there
came a burst of light that filled the sky. 1t
shot from horizon to horizon and bounded
back again. The court of the Ryan hotel
was light as day. 1t came with no sign Of
warning and flashed into every room. 1t
was a spot of day thrust into the midst of
night and it caught night just as it
was. 1t was as when the string is pulled at
the dedication of a monument and in an in
slant what was shapless mass of draping
stands out against the sky. the shapely form
Of goddess fresh from the sculptor's
hand But the lightning is not quicker than
the sight, and shortest sensations are often
longest remembered. What wonder. then,
that the dreams of one who had been look
ing into the court when the glorifying fash
came were like walk through the halls of
some art gallery, from the walls of which
hung pictures of Venus leaping from the
sea foam. and in every corner of which
stood statues and statuetteS OF Powers Greek
slave. One may be shocked by lightning
and not seriously injured.