DeSoto times., 1890-04-17

anu tne wind and rain had nearly ceased
when set my feet on solid earth again.
ana found we were unhurt
But such a scene as looked upon I
nope never to see again! And dreaded
70 look about me for fear of worse
.nihgs' Evidently the house had been
lifted bodily from its foundations and
dashed down, and every thing that had
not been carried away by the wind Law
ABOUT the yard; many of the great tim,
| pers were found rods away driven into
the earth, as if they had been but tent
pegs.
Soon heard my wife's voice calling.
and was a happy man when found
her and two OF our little ones, terribly
wet and frightened, but unhurt
But where was the baby?
Il called the names of the other chill
dren, as we ran frantically here and
there to find some trace of them. Nell
lie, the eldest, came running from the
orchard with the baby in her arms. She
said she had picked him up from the
wet ground where he was lying, and he
mad not even cried. She had found her.
self there, but that was all she knew
about it; indeed, none of us could give
an account of our wanderings after we
left the cellar door.
Soon we heard the boys voices, and
found that they were in the cellar; the
cyclone in lifting the body of the house
had taken up a part of the foundation
(which was of largo stones laid in
cement), and then dropped it. The
floor came down little askew, and
stove, organ, and heavy desk had
slidden off into the cellar.
'ln some way or other the boys
reached the cellar, too, probably before
the floor fell, for the flooring made
protection over their heads. They came
out safe and sound, though it was diff
cult to set them free.
st seems that my wife had found her.
self on the ground, and by the flashes
of lightning had seen Charlie standing
not far from her. AS the wind was
blowing gale, she called to him to lie
down fiat on the ground; but the next
time tbs lightning came she could not
see him, and supposed the wind must
have swept him off his feet into the
well. Providentially, l was there to
rescue him.
"Well, we found ourselves all safe
and unhurt-except a few slight bruises
not worth mentioning, after what we
had been through-and you can under
stand that we were not only very
happy family, but that we were very
thankful family, too.
g "Our home was scattered along on the
prairie for mile or more; there wasn't
enough left of it to make a large hem
house. The barn was gone, also; but,
to our surprise, there stood the thirty
head of cattle tied to the stanchions
(only one of them SO injured that it had
to be killed., and my two horses were
unharmed.
"The big wagon was in the yard and
had in some way escaped destruction,
so we hitched up the horses and started
to find shelter.
'Our clothing was rather the worse
for wear, but we did not stop to think
about trifes. We could see tho terrible
work of the cyclone as we rode along;
trees twisted off Or torn up by the roots,
and buildings demolished. The rain
had come down in such torrents that
next day the trees and fences looked as
if there had been high tide, the leaves
and straw which clung to them foot or
more above the ground showing at what
height the water had stood.
''You remember how much damage
the cyclone did in Grinnell, and if you
could have seen the sight we looked
upon as we rode into the city, you would
realize as never before what an appalling
thing cyclone is.
1--WE were we'll taken care of, and
after awhile I even ventured to build
again; but my garden was gone, my
orchard was ruined, and there was con-
slant dread whenever there was cloud
in the sky and at length my wife and
we couldn't bear to stay any
longer We came East again, and here
we mean to remain.
'Such having been our experience, no
one can blame us for not wishing to re-
peat it. Certainly we could not hope to
be as fortunate another time. M.
Louise Ford, in st. Nicholas.