Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-05-18

tree looking up at me, anu gave noA
a wave of my hand. Then I set to
steady work, and kept at it so close
that I didn't notice the big clouds
coming up in the west, nor that
storm was at hand.
1t kept getting darker and darker
overhead, and Mary tried to call my
attention to the sky, but her voice
was little weak, and I was too busy
to think of anything but my work, and
how hot it was. just had the rod in
place and was ready to begin putting
the conductor in it's place, and grad.
ually go down, when there was roll
of thunder, fash of lightning and a
splash of rain. You can bet l noticed
that! I did not want to be any hun.
dred feet in the air when thunder
storm was ION, especially when my
only companion up there was light
ming rod, with its business end up and
no conducting rod to the ground.
Where would I be if that rod was
struck? Iyelled and yelled for the
workmen to come and loosen my rope
and let me down, but the thunder was
making too much noise, and as il
turned out, they had gone away. 10
save time, I adjusted myself in the
sling seat on the rope, so as to be
ready for them when they returned.
Meanwhile, my wife ran to fetch them,
but they were not to be found.
Mary came back, shaking her head
and wringing her hands. We two
were there alone. The storm was just
breaking, and tried to make her I'M
derstand that she should go under
cover, and I'd stick it out, up where ]
was, as best I could But no-there
Mary stood, looking up at me.
It's a peculiar thing about high
chimpeys that when a thunderstorm
is on, they seem to become charged
with the extra electricity of the air.
This chimney was just bristling with
it, and I could feel it. I wasn't afraid
of anything, except that the new rod
would get its baptism of fre-and il
that did happen, 1 judged that my
business as a climber would be at al
end.
The rain came heavy, with light.
ming flashes that seemed to set the
earth on fire, and crash after crash OF
thunder. I looked up at the point OF
the rod just few feet above my head,
and saw little sparks leaping from it.
All at once I felt a tug at the rope
that was holding me up. Down /
looked, and saw Mary at work at the
rope, which the workmen had tied
four or five times around a pole.
They had made double knot in il,
and left long end dragging. Well,
my wife Mary isn't so very big, but
she's plucky. Seeing my danger, she
just united that double knot, and be-
fore it had a chance to slip by my
weight at the other end, she took the
dragging end, and ran with it and got
it once around another pole at little
distance, and then began to pay out.
The tug 1 felt was myself beginning
to slide down the side of the chimney.
The rope, being around two poles,
couldn't pay out fast, and Mary was
strong enough to hold it to a slow
speed. But I was hundred feet up,
and thsre wasn't but twenty or twenty
five feet of the rope about both posts.
weighed one hundred and sixty
pounds and Mary one hundred and
twenty pounds. Wouldn't the rope,
after it got free of the second post, sag
down under my weight so quick that
she couldn't hold back, and I'd land
in a heap at the bottom?
Mary didn't think Of that when she
united the knots, but she saw it after
started down, and there was no back
ing out. I set my feet as best l could
against the wet sides of the chimney,
and she held on at the other end.
Well, sir, that rope unwinds from one
post and then from the other, and
Mary's there in the rain holding all
her weight down, her heels stuck into
;he ground, which was soft and muddy
hen. She let me come easy until i
within fifteen feet of the bottom! Then
she had to let it go. She just fell on
ler face, and I came down like shot!
But 1 landed on my feet, with little
ar, and not hurt. [ was over by her
side in an instant, and there in the
ain, both of US mud, we just fell into
each others arms and laughed and
,ried.
We were a pretty-looking sight when
We came home, but beyond Mary's
hands being badly blistered, neither
If us was the worse for it, and L went
pack the next day, and put the con-
luctor in its place, and said some hard
;hings to the workmep who had for
gotten me. Mary has never watched
ne do another job, and that's the only
one on which was ever nervous, as
you might say.
AS sfor Mary, if she had had the
choice, the story would not have been
old.-Youth's Companion.
Lead Pipes For Water.