Evening star., 1938-10-23
Storms Draw
Attention Of
Children
Youngsters Write
Impressions of =
Elements.

boys and girls.
That, at any rate, is the conclusion
to be drawn from the Junior Page
editors mail, surprising amount Of
which recently has been running to
descriptions of storms. In one week.
for instance, six children wrote in
to tell of storms which they had
experienced
David Kirjassoff. IL, Of 1874 Somer-
set place NV. Paul Junior High
School student sent a letter that
started out to describe his first cir
Gus" but wound up as an account
of a storm.
my first circus. in 1886, made such
lasting impression on me that am
writing about it, David began 1T
was not the acrobats or the perform
ing animals that impressed me most.
but an act Of Mother Nature which
was not on the program.
Il was with my mother, father and
Older brother 1t was a very hot day,
and we were eating ice cream and
having drinks when the big acts
started.
I'm about the middle of the perform
ance. thunder and lightning began
Rain came down In torrents; a wind
stronger that I ever remember came
up. The tent ripped; the poles swung
into the crowd and killed a child.
My father advised us to stay in
our seats. because the crowd rushing
to the exits might trample us. But
we got drenched sitting there, so we
went down to the ground and stood
in one place higher than the others.
so We would not have to stand in
water.
Finally, fireman told us it would
be much safer outside, so We went
out under a flap. We could still hear
the band playing to cheer up the
crowd
When we were in our car and
starting for home, We saw the ele-
plants out in the street. They had
been taken out so they would not
start stampede.
We later heard that lightning had
struck the horse tent, We we're thank
ful that we were not injured"
Janice Koenig, IL. of 1888 North
Danville street, Arlington. Va, Gar
den School pupil. wrote:
This all happened while I was
visiting my grandmother on her farm
this summer.
One night when we went to bed
the sky was clear and everything was
calm and peaceful. 1t was o'clock
in the morning when We heard ter
rible wind coming up, and we were
very frightened Our car had been
parked at the side of the house We
looked out the window. and when
the lightning flashed We saw that
a big tree had been blown down
and it looked as If it had been blown
on the car.
Fortunately. the storm lasted only
II minutes When We awoke in the
morning we found the roof of the
barn and the silo blown to bits and
there were about Is large trees blown
over by the roots. We were very
glad when We found that the car
was only slightly damaged; the tree
had dropped beside it,
An awful storm" was the subject
of letter from Jack Worthington. 10,
of 308 Braddock road, Alexandria, Va.
Jack, a student at George Washington
High School, reported:
One day several years ago an
awful storm started. The house we
lived in was really two bungalows
joined by short hall. We were
standing in the hall My brother
was with me. My mother told us to
go into the next room-which proved
lucky for us.
Just as we walked into the next
room there was loud crack, blind
ing flash of light and a smell of
smoke. Lightning had hit the radio
aerial just outside the window.
Il don't know what caused the smell
Of smoke. but I was scared so that
for the next few minutes l could hardly
move. If we hal stayed in that hall
another five seconds I don't know
what would have happened"
X X X X
jeanette Daeman, 10, of 1880 Wash
ington boulevard, Arlington, told of
storm that came suddenly while
she and her parents were fishing in
the Patuxent River.
All of a sudden, windstorm came
up and it started to rain," jeanette
related. The waves were very high.
Then daddy lost control of the row.
boat, and we had hard time getting
to shore. We landed about two blocks
from where we rented the boat. We
were all wet, and the boat had a
good deal of water in it. 1 am sure
thankful that we were saved"
X i \ X
Dorothy Niessen, one OF the most
regular of all Junior Page corre-
spondents. also had something to say
about storm. Dorothy. who is IA
and lives at 5214 North Eleventh
street, Arlington, wrote:
"One evening my brothers and sis
ters and I were catching lightning