The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1912-01-25
THE STORM.
rro,o ,he washinpton star

an, SdlI GEORGE -. f1oshiIS, a CiNh CHS
neer Of Chicago, who spent a number O
years In Australia experimenting tn
building of steel bridges for antipodeai
railroads.
II DIDN'T have the fear Of lightning 4
any exaggerated form, and did not oftel
allow II to be known that / held such
fear at all. But the flashes OF prankisl
lightning and peals Of thunder quickly FOL
owing that denoted the near presence c
the electrical disturbance wrought upoi
my nerves and often put me out Of form
| for a day or so after. Ia this @ o
lightning is a thing hat Is inherited / cal
well believe from my own case, as well a.
from the verifying statements or man!
other persons with whom l have con
versed IN the subject and compared notes
To put. 1t N the plainest terms as to ny
own case, my mother was severely
stunned by a stroke of lightning severa
months before 1 came into the world, ant
from my earliest childhood lightning was
the chief of all my breads. l fought thu
feeling as / anne to manhood, and arrived
at the point where j could contain my
self and not exhibit my fear OF the fashe:
when in n mixed ompany but until the
thing 1 am going to tell you about oc'
Cured I had never been able to master the
strongest kline of an inclination. when ar
electrical storm began, to get to the cover
Of the darkest kline of a room. 80 that the
flashes would be shut out from my vision,
n to STUFF my ears with cotton In order
that I might not have to hear the ensuing
peals Of thunder.
1T came up to San Francisco in the fall
Of 1892. from Melbourne, Australia, on the
steamer Warimoo. Among the passengers
was a brilliant French woman. who looked
to be about IS years of age. with a pallid
skin, a mop Of bronze hair, a sinuous, al
most girlish figure, and an amazing now
of clever and witty conversation that kept
all Of those fortunate enough to come into
contact with her on the steamer in a state
Of constant enthusiasm over her.
w touched at Apia, Samoa. to coal and
to take on some additional cargo, and a
few hours after we left Apia I noticed.
when 1 went upon the bridge for 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. 1 had known this skipper for a
long time. having made several voyages
with him, so that I felt privileged to ask
him what seemed to be the trouble.
WELL he replied, after some hesita-
ton, you needn't say anything about II
below. but l hin we're going to run into
a typhoon presently, and. as you know,
there are moro entertaining things than
typhoons in these waters
II knew 1t full wei, having been through
one typhoon, and having prayed at that
time that I'd never have to go through an
other one.
II went below, not particularly caring
to be on the bridge when the typhoon
came along, and found a knot of the pas
sengers around the French woman In the
music room listening to her splendid piano
playing. There was no need for my say
ing anything about the shippers typhoon
prediction, though, ever had L been dis
posed to mention 1t, / hard hardly settled
myself In a seat to listen TO the French
woman music before the sun was sud
denly obscured, though there had seemed
scarcely a cloud in the sky only a few
minutes before, and the heavy boom of the
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-most OF
them regarded 1t as probably q mere
coming from, and the major
ity Of the woman, when they saw the roll
ing black clouds coming out Of the west
and r.ven every minute by flashes Of zen
ith-high forked lightning, ran to their cab
ms TO screen themselves as much as pos
sible from the approaching tumult OF
sound.
mot so the French woman, however.
She raced up the ladder for the bridge and
burst upon he's skipper in the wheelhouse.
"'Oh, Monsieur lie Capitaine," she ex-
claimed enthusiastically, we are to hal
&c gr-r-ande soonder storm, not"'
Worse than that, madam-far worse,
frankly replied the skipper. We're going
to have a jolly fine typhoon. and l wish
we were well out Of it,"
"~'Typhoen! 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 hat / longed for re ty-
phoon, and now l hat one-glorious!'
The skipper gazed at the French wom-
an in a puzzled sort of way. BY this time
the lightning was literally reLding the
skies Immediately above the ship, and the
booms of thunder were all but continuous
and tremendously terrifying.
Madam said he skipper, you are
unstrung. Your nerves are going back
upon you. j 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
The -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 a typhoon In the south
seas could be like, and now that her op-
portunity to see one had come along she
begged to be allowed to remain on the
bridge.
Now, 1 ought to say that I 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
/ don't hesitate to add that her exclama-
tons of passionate admiration over the
terribly beautiful pictures the fanciful
lightning was painting in the black sky
shamed me. i didn't think Of averting
my eyes from the spectacle when 1 saw
that she was straining her gaze to catch
every arabesque picture limned by the
lightning 1t was up to me to profit by
her example and forget once n forever
the fear of lightning that had followed me
through life.
Five minutes later the typhoon struck
the ship broadside from the west, and the
Warimoo reeled and staggered under the
shock. Then the skipper got her nose
around to the terrific seas that seemed
to pile up all in a minute, and the French
woman stood TRANSPORTED with delight
over the spectacle. The skipper begged
her to go below, n then all but ordered
her to seek her cabin, but she implored
him to be allowed to remain on the bridge
with him.
but, madam said the skipper to her,
wen be swept fore and aft by green seas
presently, n some of the combers will
be bridge-high. All of the matches are
being battered down, and you'd better be
getting below before you are shut out
sGs.gln 81 -