Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-04-26
INA TEXAS STORM HOUSE.
SCENES an A NERVOUS TOWN IN THE
TORNADO SEASON.
From the New York sun.

town for the first time can tell very
easily whether a tornado has passed
through it or near 1t. If he sees in about
every second back yard a little mound
of earth with slanting cellar door
opening into ii and piece of stove
pipe sticking out at the top, he may rest
assured that the dread storm has been
uncomfortable near the place, and that
the citizens have been preparing places
of refuge in case of future visits. a tor
nado not only unsettles material things
for the time being in the town that it
visits, but it also unsettles the nerves of
the citizens for all time to come. If the
catechism taught that hell is "A place
where tornadoes come every night, the
Sunday schools in dozen Texas towns
that might be named would be filled to
overlooking. The State has Il much
worse reputation in this respect than 1t
deserves, owing to its great area. All
the storms, electric, atmospheric, pOliti-
cal. or moral, which occur within 800
miles east of FL Paso or 900 miles south
of TeXline, are coupled with the one
name Texas, but had they occurred in
the same scope of territory anywhere else
in the Union, the opprobrium would have
been divided among perhaps half Il
dozen different States.
The storm house is great propagation
of democratic principles. There is moth
ing that breaks down difference of social
rank quicker than dark, threatening
cloud in the tornado season. | shall
never forget seeing that illustrated one
spring afternoon with a lot of school
children in small Texas town that had
suffered from a tornado year or two
previous. School had just been dis
missed and the children were going IN
swarms toward their homes. A dark
cloud was coming up, thunder was NUT
tering and rolling and lightning was
flashing in a way to make even man
who had never had his nerves unsettled
on the subject Just trihe uncomfortable.
Suddenly big drops of rain, mingled
with hailstOnes, began to fall, and the
wind began to come in big, ftful gusts.
In any other town it would have been
considered merely a sharp furry with
nothing particularly alarming about it,
but here it was fraught with sugges-
tons of unlimited possibilities of evil.
three hundred school children, ranging
in age from five years up to twenty,
made a headlong break for the neighbor-
ing storm houses.
gates, over fences, or under them, ac-
cording to The size of the child-into the
first back yard they came to. ana then
down into the open storm house. 1t
made no difference whether the child
knew the owner of the property OF not,
and as for asking permission to enter,
that was not to he thought Of. Within
two minutes of the first break not Il
child was in sight. They had disap-
peaTed as completely as II the earth had
swallowed them up-and so it had. The
length of time they remained in their
hiding places depended TO slight extent
upon the pleasantness of their surround
ngs, and to much larger extent upon
the degree to which their nerves had
previously been unsettled on the lorna
do question. After about fifteen minutes
they began to poke their heads out in
the pouring rain; then the holder started
for their homes, looking like half
drowned rats that the rain had driven
out of their holes. The more timid
children remained under the ground for
several hours. Nothing happened but a
much-needed rain, and If nothing worse
occurs in the town in the next forty
years the citizens will probably regain
some of their lost confidence in the
climate.
\ great artist in search of a brand
new subject that would afford an oppor-
tunity to show his skill in delineating
facial expression, with thoroughly
picturesque background of Rembrandt
effects of lights and shadows, should
NOihN W AN-Noo anu lhihb NllC SNCnC III q
crowded storm house some night in the
tornado season. The first time | wit
messed such scene was one night when
| was sleeping at the house of a friend
in one of the "nervous" Texas towns.
The night was cloudy at bedtime, but
slept soundly until was awakened by
my friend knocking heavily at my door.
SECT up-quick. - he shouted. There S
a big storm coming. I'll take my wife
over to the storm house and be back for
you in minute.r
CHANGING hurriedly out of the window,
| noticed that the darkest, most ominous
kind of cloud had Overspread the whole
sky, and that great sheets of lightning
were making things as clear as day
every minute or so. There was con-