Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-07-18

L
was absurd to seek any degree of com
fort for the few minutes he had to
live. Better end il at once. Moreover,
the storm was sweeping up over the
East End with such marvellous speed
that the lightning now played through
the tiny room with dazzling briliancy,
and the wretched candle burned with
blue and ghostlike feebleness. The
cold of the house, too, began to strike
chilly. lie was so exhausted from
hunger that IL he did not eat soon he
would not have the strength left to
carry out his dread purpose.
He sprang erect with a hooking lit
! tie laugh, picked up the candle and the
piece of rope and climbed the stairs.
lie paused irresolutely at the top, but,
! yielding TO overwhelming desire, went
on and stood at the side of the bed on
which his mother had died. He fam
| cied he could see her lying there still,
| with smile on her wane face ana
unspoken words of welcome on her
lips.
A food Of tears came and he trem-
bled violently
Il am coming to you, mother" he
murmurcd. You told me to trust in
God, but think God has forgotten
me. don't want to live. want to
join you, and then perhaps God will
remember me-"
lie stopped and kissed the pillow,
| nesting his face against 1t, as he was
wont to fondle the dear face that rest
cd there so many weary days. Then
he resolutcly turned away. descended
four steps Of the laddcr-like stairs and
tied the clothcsiine firmly to Il hook
which had been driven into the ceiling
during the harness room period of the
room beneath. With equal delibera-
! ton he knotted the other end of the
cord round his neck. and he calculated
that by springing from the stairs he
would receive sufficient shock to be
come insensiblo very quickly, while his
| feet would dangle several inches above
the floor.
There was 4 terrible GOODNESS. set
! tied fiXity of purpose far beyond his
! years, in the manner of these final
| preparations. At last they We're COM
! plcted. He blew out the candle aud
stood erect.
At that instant the room became alb
solutely flooded with lightning. not in
n single vivid fash. but in trembling,
continuous glare that suggested the eff
! feet of some luminous constellation
fierce with electric energy. Before his
eyes was exhibited u startling pano-
rama of the familiar objects OF his
lonely abode. The brightness. so sus-
tanned and tromulous startled him
back from the very brink Of death.
81 will watt he said When the
/ thunder comes, then | will Jump"
Even as the thought formed in his
mind ball of fire so glowing. so
iridescent in its flaming heat that it
dominated the electric waves huttering
in the overburdened air darted past
the little window that looked out over
the tiny yard in the rear of the house
and crashed through the fagstones
with the din of a ten inch she'll.
| Philip, elevated on the stairway. dis
| tinctly saw the molten splash which
accompanied its impact He saw the
heavy stones riven 9Sund'r as il they
were tissue paper, and from the hole
caused by the thunderbolt or meteor
came a radiance that sent a spreading
shaft Of light upward like the beam Of
searchiight. The warmth, TOO, of the
object was almost overpowerr-. Were
not the surrounding walls constructed
of stone and brick there must have
been an immediate outbreak Of fire.
AS il was. the glass in the windows
cracked ard the woodwork began to
scorch. In the same instant a dreadful
roll of thunder swept over the ocality,
and n deluge OF rain. withoUt any fur
Their warning. descended.
| All this seemed to the wondering boy
| TO be Il very long time in passing In
reality it occupied hut n very few sec
onds. People in the distant street could
not distinguish the crash Of the fallen
meteor from the accompanying nun.
! dor, and the downpOur Of rain came in
! the very nick Of time to prevent the
wood In the house aud the noighboring
factories from blazing forth into dis.
astrous fire.
| The torrent of water caused dense
volume OF steam - generate in the
back yard and this helped to minimize
the strange light shooting NJ from the
cavity. There was mad kissing and
cracking as the rain poured over the
meteor and gradually dulicd its bright
ness. Pandemonium ragged in that Gu
riouSly secluded nook.
Amazed and cowed not by the nat
| ural phenomenon he Lad witnessed
! hut by the Interpretations he placed Oh
II, the boy unfaStcrcd the rope from
his neck.
VERY well, mother" lo whispered
aloud. IF It is Your wi n, I will live,
I suppose that God speaks in this
way"