The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-16

feebleness. The cold of the house. too.
began TO strike chilly He was so ex-
hausted from hunger that if he did not
eat soon he would not have the
strength left to carry out his dread
purpose.
He sprang erect with hooking
laugh, picked up the candle and the
piece of rope. and climbed the stairs.
He 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 fancied
he could see her lying there still, with
smile on her wan face and unspoken
words of welcome on her lips.
A flood of tears came and he trem-
ble0 violently.
81 am coming to YOU. mother" he
murmured. You told me to trust in
God, but / think God has forgotten
me- / don't want to live. I want to
join you. and then. perhaps. God will
| remember me-"
He stopped and kissed the pillow
nesting his face against it, as he was
wont 10 fondle the dear face that rest
| ed there so many weary days. Then
he resolutely turned away. descendtd
four steps of the ladder-like stairs, and
| tied the clothesIine firmly 10 a hook
which had been driven into the ceiling
during the harness room period of the
room beneath. With equal elaboration
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 become in
sensible very quickly, while his feet
would bangle several inches above the
floor.
There was terrible GOODNESS. a set
tied fixity Of purpose far beyond his
years, in the manner of these final
preparations. At last they were com
pleted. He blew out the candle and
stood erect.
At that instant the room became alb
soIutely flooded with lightning. not in
a single vivid flash. but in a trembling.
continuous glare. that suggested the
effect of some luminous constellation.
fierce with electric energy. Before his
eyes was exhibited a startling piano.
rama OF the familiar objects OF his
lonely abode. The brightness. so sus-
tanned and tremulous staortled him
back from the very brink Of death.
II will wait" he said. when the
thunder comes. then ] will Jump"
Even as the thought turned in his
mind. ball of fire-so glowing so iri-
descent in it's flaming heat that II
dominated the electric waves futtering
in the oVerbunrdened air-darted past
the little window that looked out over
the tiny yard in the rear of the house
and crashed through the fiagstone with
the din of a ten-inch shell.
Philip elevated on the stairway
distinctly saw the molten splash which
accompanied its impact He saw
the heavy stones riven asunder as If
they were tissue paper. and. from the
hole caused by the thunderbolt. or me-
teor, came radiance that sent a
spreading shaft Of light upward like the
beam OF a searchlight. The warmth
too, of the object was almost overpow-
ering. Were not the surrounding walls
constructed of stone and brick there
must have been an immediate outbreak
of fire. AS it was. the glass in the
windows cracked, and the woodwork
began TO scorch. IN the same instant
dreadful roll of thunder swept over
the locality. and a deluge of rain. with
out any further warning. descended.
All this seemed TO the wondering bcy
to be very long time in passing. In
reality it occupied but a very few sec
onds. People in the distant street could
not distinguish the crash OF the fallen
meteor from the accompanying Thuu-
der. and the downpour Of rain came in
the very nick of time TO prevent The
wood in the house and the neighhoring
factories from DldZlnS IOTlH INTO Il us
astrOus fire
The torrent of water caused a dense
volume of steam TO generate in TN.
back yard. and this helped To minimize
the strange light shooting up from the
cavity There was mad Kissing and
cracking as the rain poured over the
meteor and gradually dulled Its bright
ness. Pandemonium ragged in that Gu
riously secluded nook.
Amazed and cowed--not by the nat
ural phenomenon he had witnessed, but
by the Interpretation he placed on it
the boy unfastened the rope from his
neck
Very well, mother" he whispered.
aloud. "If IT is your wish ] will live
I suppose that God speaks in this
way"
ITO he continued