The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-07-19
A CURIOUS CANDLESTlCK.
Novel Use That Was Made of an Open
Barrel of Gunpowder.

Historical students, when called upon to
c]riticise relations Of events, especially
those that seem i'm themselves unlikely,
that are recorded to have happened i'm the
lives Of persons whose careers are separat-
ed by a long period of time, when the said
events have a very striking similarity be.
tween them, are wont to regard the first
narrative rs the prototype and the latter
as "a case of transfCrence. Sometimes this
may be the correct view to take, but it is
commonly a dangerous proceeding to in
sist upon. An example has occurred to
me recently which illustrates this.
At East Butterwick, a village on the
banks OF the Trent, some eight miles
northwest of this place, there lived in the
middle of the century a shopkeeper named
Marshall. He was a general dealer, sup.
plying nearly all the wants of his neigh.
bors. Above this mans shop and adjoin.
ing o%uthouses was "A long chamber, open
to the roof, in which he kept such stores
as he had not room for in his somewhat
small shop. Among other things this
room contained a mangle, which wa at
the service of such of the women Of the
town as made him a small payment.
One winter evening several women were
engaged in mangling when one of them
knocked down their solitary candlestick
and, being probably of e~arthenware, it
was broken. Work for the night was near.
ly over. 1t did not seem worth while to
fetch another, SO one of the women tool
the still burning candle-happily 1t was
not a very short one-and stuck it into
some black, dusty looking stuff which she
had noticed in a barrel standing near.
Soon, however, one of these good DANES
had occasion to descend into the shop, and,
apppnntnri, MYr-h,l1 tb,rn ,,.t,rnlIv hn
gan to apologize for the candlestick hay
ing suffered.
We may conceive what was the shop
keepers horror when he heard what was
the substitute that had been found, for he
knew at once that the candle was stand
ing in a cask Of gunpowder. He rushed
up stairs and was just in time. He made
ga cup with his two hands, - AS he said,
$50 that nu sparks could get to the pow.
der, - and drew the candle calmly out
without tutoring a sound. His words aft.
yard when all danger was over were, ]
e been told, of "A kind not uncommonly
I'D on board of kocls and coal burges
our rivers, but such rs are discouraged
sewhere.
Marshall told me of this very soon after
+ occurred. The date | am unable to fix,
out am sure that it was before the year
1000. IN JIe year 1911 Inc DepOSlJlOnh
From the Castle of York = . In the Sew
enteenth Century" were published by the
Surtees society. In "A note in this work by
its editor, the late Canon Raine, the fol
lowing passage occurs. The parallelism
between the two narratives as to the way
the candle was removed from danger is
very striking:
Newcastle had a very narrow escape
about 1854. An apprcntiCe going up with
"a candle into a loft which contained many
barrels Of g%unpowder and much combustd'
BILE material thoughtlessly stuck the can
die into a barrel, of which the head had
been knocked off, to serve for a candle
stick. He saw the danger and fled. A
laborer ran into the loft, and, joining both
his hands together, drew the candle softly
VI between his middlemost fingers, SO
hat If any snuff had dropped it must have
fallen into the hollow of the mans hand A"
Notes and Queries.