Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-09-11
THE SECRET OF SPOOK R00ST
why the Lightning Played Around Ger
tain Hill.


why the Lightning Played Around Ger
tain HILL
Uncle Frank is different from most
people; he never seems to get excited
about anything; just takes things easy.
Nothing scares me worse than a
! thunderstorm, especially when it holds
| off as long as it can, and keeps gath
: ering itself together, and getting an
grier and angrier, and then explodes in
every direction. While it holds of it
seems to be drawing up into the sky
| every particle of noise on earth, to
swell the racket that follows | think
| that is why the air is sometimes so still
and lifeless before storm.
| Another bad thing about thunder
F., storm is the feeling of helplessness a
person has. You have simply to wait
and take your chances. That is what
| makes it so dreadful; you can't do any
| thing.
1t was still and oppressive, as I have
described, one day last month, and the
clouds were strung across the sky, rae
| ing each in a different direction, when
We four youngsters came flying into
the house together. We had hardly,
got in when the storm burst, and tell
you it was lively one. Jim and
were pretty nervous. We tried to look
| uLconcerned, and we whistled a good
, deal to give Uncle Frank the impress
sion that We were, but he noticed it and
looked up from his paper after while
and said, as ne might say please pass
| the BUTTER"
Where are Mary and Anna?"
Jim had been talking to the girls
few minutes before, and he answered:
Gone up stairs to hide under mat
tress"
Mary and Anna had just returned
from visit TO Aunt Martha. and they
said afterwards that that was the way
she always did in a storm.
Uncle Frank said:
Boys, lightning always. follows the
| medium that attracts it most. A cur
rent Of damp air is one of the best pos
sible conductors of electricity. Beyond
this danger of draughts, there is very
little probability OF an ordinary build
ing's being struck by lightning. Now
L have been all over the house, and
know that every window is closed
tight. L know, therefore, that there is
not a draught of air in the building,
and l feel SAFE
Somehow we felt better after Uncle
Frank got through; there is that much
In knowing about things.
he went upstairs and got the girls
out from under the mattress, and
brought them down; a little nervous,
but satisfied. That's a way Uncle
Frank is; he explains things so that
you can understand them, and takes it
so easy that you feel sure, and are
glad to do as he says.
When the storm was over and the
lamp had been lighted. Uncle Frank
told US story that he said the storm
reminded him of.
"A good many years ago." he said,
having recovered from severe i'll
ness, l was advised by my physician
that all that | required to restore me
to health was plenty of fresh air and
| exercise. After considering the mat
| ter Tor few days l determined on a
! pedestrian tour as combining the doc
| tors prescription with my own fnclina-
ton. | had been engaged for several
| years in the lumber trade, and feeling
! an interest in the immense pine for
ests of our Central States, from which
| much of our lumber was obtained,
| packed an outfit of necessary articles.
| and started, intending to rough it as
much as my imperfect health would
| permit.
| The pure air of those stretches of
! wild pine forests, through which a
! traveller might wander for days before
stumbling upon a logging camp, or a
| settlement, proved just the stimulant
| that my rallying health required In
short time, finding myself as strong
| as ever, | struck into the forest alone,
| intending to make my way from camp
| to camp, and finally reach one of the
great lakes.
1T was when | had almost completed
| my journey that | was overtaken, one
evening, near the small town that was
my objective point, by severe thun-
derstorm. AS the town lay at too great
distance to be reached in the drench-
ing rain, l took refuge beneath the
lowest tree at hand, as the least prom
inent target for the lightning, and re-
signed myself to the prospect of a
| moist ard dangerous half hour.
The electric display of this storm
was remarkable, and, in my experience,
| unequaled. The batteries of the cloud,
| focused on one point, a small hill a
| quarter of a mile distant from where
| stood, and here the bolts zigzagged and
| leaped constantly Absorbed in the
spectacle, l was not aware that a GOV
cred wagon had stopped Oh the road
near me, until a hoarse shout brought
me back to realization Of the rain.
! Then, only too glad of the friendly lifs
climbed into the vehicle, and was
soon afterwards comfortably seated in
a cabin;sLeSore a big log fire. enjoying
| the hospitality of my new friend.
He was an old man, whose rough
hands and clothing showed his init
mate acquaintance with the pine forest
That hill where you saw the light
ming, he said, in answer to my ques-
ton, is called Spook Roost That is
the nearest folks could come TO the
name the Indians used to call it by.
People used to be mighty superstitious
about it, until Johnson's boys time.
Johnson was always ambitious for that
boy, probably because he was the only
one he had.
Everybody told him that he was
foolish to send the boy East to school.
when he might be turning his hand to
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