THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 169 



horses sheltered in them. I consider that there is more 

 danger to buildings in the country from this source than 

 there is from fire. In the city it is different. The light 

 ning rod is a very cheap insurance company. It never 

 proves bankrupt and fails to pay. Dishonest clerks will 

 not run away with the capital. Scamps and scoundrels 

 can t steal the fluid, and fire the barn with it. It will fol 

 low the rod with a good deal more certainty than smoke 

 follows the chimney. 



The pecuniary advantage of this protection is clear 

 enough, and I guess Deacon Little will begin to see it 

 pretty soon. But this is only one item. You see, it is a 

 great satisfaction to know that your stock and your fam 

 ily, as well as your buildings, are all safe when a thunder 

 shower comes up. I am not more scary than most people, 

 but it is a mighty uncomfortable sensation, when the thun 

 der is crashing around your dwelling, to think that the 

 next bolt may find its way to the earth, through your 

 body, or through one of your family. As our bodies are 

 very good conductors, and we are not born with lightning 

 rods on us, I think we had better put them on our houses, 

 and then the lightning will go just where we send it. 



I always noticed, before I put up the rod, that Mrs. 

 Bunker took to the bed as regular as a thunder gust came 

 up in the summer. She has got considerable courage, but 

 she said &quot; no woman could be expected to stand light 

 ning.&quot; But since we have had the rod, she sits by the 

 window reading, with her spectacles on, just as calmly as 

 if the lightning never killed folks. I don t know how two 

 or three dollars a year could purchase so much comfort in 

 any other article. People s tastes differ, you see, about 

 comfort. Mine runs towards lightning rods. 

 Yours to command, 



TIMOTHY BUNKER, ESQ. 



HooJcertown, July 15th, 1861. 



