The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-03-04
A Startling Exhibition.

I
mates of new years eve, says th
New York World. 1t was like al
evening in sheol. Mr.. Hammer ha,
heen associated With Ellison, tn,
great electrician, for long time
and has become so stepped in cleo
tricity that it fairly oozes out at hi,
finger tips. He carries lightning
about in his pockets as carelesslY
as boy would carry a toad. Hi.
pretty little home at No. % Row
land street is built up Leyden lars
and batteries and queer elsctrica
inventions. You can't walk across
the threshold without ringing bells
OF sounding burglar alarms. OF
ligh ting the gas, or doing some
odd thing that you never dreamed
of d ing.
On Thursday evening" Mr.. Ham
mer had sill the hidden wires about
his house connected so as to give
his twenty guests a lively time. AS
far as outward appearance went the
parlors and dining room looked
like any other well-furnished apart
ments. But hidden beneath the
carpets and in the walls and ceilings
were strange systems of wires and
buttons. You enter the gate and
the house appears dark, but as your
foot touches the lower stoop three
electric lights blaze out and the
number of the house appears in
bright relief. The next step sets a
bell to jingling, and the third
throws open the door and lights
the gas in the hall by electricity.
transmitted by the pressure of the
foot. Inside the ball there is an
oddlookiDg foot-rest attached to
the hat rack, and by pressing a but
ton a pair of brushes come out and
shine your shoes. Up stairs, where
you remove your wraps, there is a
bedroom that would be worth
fortune to lazy man. By touching
your head 20 the pillow the gas, IF
teen feet away, is extinguished, and
by pressing knob at the foot of
he bed it is lit again. Outside the
door a clock work attachment
sounds drum at the proper wax
ing time, and if the occupant does
not get up after fifteen minutes
grace, the bed rises on it's hind legs
and dumps the sleeper out on the
floor.
In the parlors, the guests who
had come early stood about
in little groups. Nobody sat down,
although ottomans and sofas and
chairs were scattered through the
rooms. Every newcomer was cor
daily greeted and a chair pushed
toward him. If he sat down. as he
usually did, the chair either doub-
led up on him, or started for the
door with him, or disappeared. or
complely exploded. If he sat on a
sofa he set a banjo to playing on
the opposite wall, and a drum to
beating; or if he took another seat
the movement put out the lights
and introduced queer phosphores-
cent figures. No man knew when
he was safe, although there we're
a few apparently safe seats. In
one of these Humorist Brown was
telling very funny story. He had |
left electricity far behind, and Just
as he reached the climax a pretty, |
funnel-shaped japanese affair, like
a Ounce cap. that ornamented the
ceiling overhead, dropped quietly |
down and covered him up. silently |
distinguishing the story of the sto-
ry-teller.
Somebody proposed music, and |
half of selection went very nicely |
on the piano. But just as every one
became interested something SEEM
ed to give way, and instead of |
strings, the keys beat upon a hor-
rible jangle Of gongs and drums and |
bells and every kind of noise pro
ducing implement. But the worst
came in the dining-room. About IL |
O'CLOCK the twenty guests sat down
to a table loaded with the usual
delicaeies. A large figure of Jupi- !
ter presided. At signal the great |
god began to talk Photographed
ly and made a welcome address.
He wore electric lights for shirt
studs, a bibulous red light for
nose, and his green eyes had the
snap of lightning in them, while
blue bolts blazed from his pocket. |
The table seemed bewitched.
Touch knife or fork and it put |
out the lights and introduced queer
sights. Put your spoon into dish !
of cream and it dared up in great |
columns of green or red flames
many feet high, like fountain of
fire. Reach for an innocent look
ing sandwich and it rang a bell in
side, where the meat ought to be. |
Try to pick up an orange and a |
drum beat inside. Help yourself to
pudding, and the dish and all 81
lently slid into the great unknown.
Ask for Malaga grapes and find |
that an electric light flashed from
each one as you pulled the stem. |
Pour glass of lemonade and it |
was iDcandescent and full of fire as |
1T touched your lips. And yet ev
erything was good to eat and the
coffee was cooked by electricity.
And when the little clock tinkled |
out II, ushering in the new year,
and the chimes from the distant |
churches came softly into the room,
paDdemonium seemed to have |
changed places with the modest |
dining-roem. Two big cannons
unexpectedly went off with a sud
denness that rolled every man back |
from the table, the lights disap-
peared, gongs under each chair beat
8 tattoo and two bricks dropped of
the chimney. For a few minutes
every malignant noise ever invent
ed was piled on top of one another,
and then silence and the lights
came back, and supper was resum-
ed as calmly as if such'a thing as a
scare had never been known.
After supper electric fireworks
and photograph experiments and a
luminous chamber of horrors sent