The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-10
A CURIOUS CANDLESTICK.
Novel and Dangerous Use of a Barrel
of GunpOwder.
From Notes and queries.

FROM Notes ana queries.
Historical students, when called upon to
criticlse relations of events, especially
those that seem in themselves unlikely
that are recorded to have happened in the
lives of persons whose careers are sepa-
rated by a long period of time, when the
said events have a very striking similarity
between them, are wont to regard the
first narrative as the prototype and the
latter as a case of transferrence. Some
times this may be the correct view to
take, but it is commonly a dangerous
proceeding to insist upon. An example
has occurred to me recently which illus
trates 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 nam
ed Marshall. He was a general dealer,
supplying nearly all the wants of his
neighbors. Above this mans shop and
adjoining outhouses was a long chamber,
open to the roof, in which. he kept such
stores as he had not room for in his some
what small shop. Among other things this
room contained a mangle, which was at
the service of such women of the town"
as made him small payment. One win
ter evening several women were engaged
in mangling, when one of them knocked
down their solitary candlestick, and, be-
ing probably of earthenWare, 1t was
broken. Work for the night was nearly
over and it did not seem worth while to
fetch another so one of the women took
the still burning candle-happuy it was
not a very short one-and stuck it into
some black, dusty-looking stuff which she
had noticed in barrel standing near.
Soon, however, one of these good
danes had occasion TO descend
into the shop, and, encountering
Marshall there, naturally began to apollo
giZe for the candlestick having suffered.
We may conceive what was the shopkeep~
ers horror when ne heard what was the
substitute that had been found, for he
knew at once that the candle was standing
in a cask of gunpowder. He rushed up
stairs, and was just in time He made "a
cup with his two hands," as he said 80
that no sparks could get to the powder"
and drew the candle calmly out without ut
tering a sound. His words afterWard when
all danger was over, were, have been told
of kind not uncommonly heard on board
of keels and coal barges on our rivers, but
such as are discourse ed elsewhere.
Marshall told me of this very soon after
it occurred. The date / am unable to fix
but am sure that it was before the year
1854. In that year THE Dispositions from
the Castle of =
in the Seventeenth century"
were published by the Surtees society," In
a note in this work by its editor the late
Canon Raine, the following passage occurs.
The parallelism between the two narra-
lives as to the way the candle was remov-
ed from danger is very striking:
Newcastle had a very narrow escape
about 1851. An apprentice, going up with
a candle into loft which contained many
barrels of gunpowder and much combusti-
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 fed. A la
borer ran into the loft and, joining both
his hands together, drew the candle softly
up between his middlemost fingers, so that
If any snuff had dropped it must have fall
len into the hollow Of the mans hand"
-s--e-s-
The experiments upon materials at low
temperatures which have been made pos
sibe by the advent OF liquid air develop
some unexpected results, says the Ameri-
can Machinist. A ball Of India rubber
cooled to the temperature of the air be-
comes brittle, and IL dropped on the floor
flies into thousand (more or less) pieces.
while a ball of lead win rebound, having
acquired a remarkable increase Of elias
ITCHY Lead also makes a very respecta-
Il 400