Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-01-25
NJOYED gHE STORM.

the electrical disturbance Nr0uSnt upon
my nerves asa cf.en put ne out of form
FOR Il day or 50 after. That this fear OF
lightning is a thing that is inherited can
wen believe from my own case. as we'll as
from the verifying statements of many
other persons with whom / have con-
Ncrsed on the subject and compared notes.
To put il N the plainest terms rs 10 my
own case, my mother was severely
stunned by Il stroke OF lightning several
months before | came INTO the world, ana
from my earliest childhood lightning WAS
the chief OF all my breads. \ fought the
feeling as l earnc to manhood, and arrived
at the point where L could contain my
self and NOT exhibit my fear of the iiashes
when in a mixed company. but until The
thing am going 20 tell YOU about oc-
| CURED | had never been able to master the
strongest kind of an inclination, when an
electrical storm began. 10 get to che cover
of the darkest kind of a room. so that the
flashes would be shut out from my vision.
and 10 stuff my ears with cotton in order
that | might not have to hear the ensuing
pcals of thunder.
~ came VI, To San Francisco N the fail
of 1892, from Melbourne. Australia, ON the
steamer Walimoo. Among the passengers
was a brilliant French woman, who looked
to be about - years Of age. with n palltd
skin. a mop of bronze hair, u sinuoUs. al
most girlish figure. and an amazing flow
of clever and witty conversation thai kept
all OF those fortunate enough to come into
contact WITH her on the steamer in 4 state
Of constant enthusiasm over her.
w touched at Ania. Samoa. 10 coal and
TO take on some additional cargo, ana Il
few hours after we left Apia 1 noticed,
when vert upon the bridge fov a chat
with the captain, that he looked preoccu-
pied and worried and that he kept his
gaze glued pretty steadily upon the bar
ometer. hac known this skipper for a
lA,y .t,,,. ,,x--,., ,,oJA ay.l-u ~ ..ra-
wlth him, SO that I felt privileged To ask
him VIVA seemed to bo the trouble.
Well he ceplied. after some hcs!ta-
tion. YOU needn't say anythiHG about II
below, bus 1 think we're going to llal into
a typhoon presently. and, as Nou know,
there are more entertaining things iE.an
tylshoons in these WATERS
u know il fun Wen, having been through
one tlplcon, and having prayed at mat
time mat Ia ncVer have to so through an
other one.
Il went below. not particularly caring
to be on the bridge when the typhoon
came aions. and found a knot OF the pas
sengers around the French woman in the
music room listening 20 her splendid piano
playing. There WAS no need for my say
ing anything about She skipperis typhoon
prediction, though, even had J been dis
posed 10 mention it. / hard hardly settled
| myself in a seat 30 listen TO the French
woman's music before the sun was sud-
denly obsoured, though there had seemed
scarcely a cloud in the sky only u few
minutes before, and the heavy boom of Inc
initial peal OF thunder brought all of the
folks in the music room, including the per-
former, TO their feet. They all ran on deck
to note which direction the storm-mcst of
them regarded il as probably a mere
storin-was coming from, and the major
ity of the woman, when they saw the roll
ing black clouds coming out of the west
n,%I ,a,-n,, a,.p ;,,,,y Ia, J. ~ ,A,
ith-high forNed lightning, ran to their cab
iis TO screen themselves as much as pos
sible from the approaching tumult of
sound.
Not so the French woman. however.
She raced up the ladder for The bridge and
burst upon the skipper in the wheelhonse.
oh. Monsieur IL Capitaine,' She ex-
claimed enthusiastically. we are to hat
&c gr-r-ande soonder storm, not?'
Worse than that, m~adan-far worse,
frankly replied the skipper. We're gong
10 have a jolly fine typaoon, and | wish
We We're we'll out oil it
'Typhoon, rapturously exclaimed the
French woman. ~clasping her hands to-
gether in what seemed "a veritable ecstacy
of delight. 'Gr-r-r-rande. Loafiy. Sub
lime! All my life haf 1 longed for re ~
phocn, and now I hat one-glorious.'
"1She skipper gazed at the French wom-
an in a puzzled sort of way. By this time
WV ne INN "oo ~ oii. lIlc
skies Immediately above the ship. and the
boonls of thunder were all but continuous
! and tremendously terrifying.
Madam said the skipper, you are
unstrung. Your nerves are going back
upon you. will have to ask you to go
below to your cabin. The typhoon will
break Immediately after this electrical
disturbance. and no part of the deck will
be any place for a woman when that hap
pens
Th -ench woman, with The greatest
and most convincing calmness, told the
skipper that he was wholly wrong about
her nerves-that she had never possessed
a feminine nerve in her life that she knew
of. and that she was really in earnest
about her mate love for storms. And
She added that she had been longing all
her life TO See what d typhoon In the south
seas could be like, and now that her OPP
| portunity to see one had come along she
begged to be allowed to remain on the
bridge.
Now. 1 ought to say that ] had follow
ed the French woman to the bridge. prob
ably with the idea of picking some talk
out Of the skipper as to how long he
thought the typhoon might endure. And
I don't hesitate TO add that her exclama-
tons of passionate admiration over the
terribly beautiful pictures the fancifuI
lightning was painting in the black sky
shamed me. ! didn't think Of averting
my eyes from the spectacle when / saw
that she was straining her gaze to catch
every arabesque picture linined by the
lightning. 1t was up to me to profit by
her example and forget once and forever
the fear OF lightning that had followed me
through life.
Five minutes later the typhOon struck