THE WEATHER. 229 



bench before it; their only son, twentythree years of 

 age, was standing at the window, when it lightened much, 

 and the first clap of thunder followed. This was so vio- 

 lent that the back door of the kitchen, which opened to 

 the north, quivered. The farmer called to his son, and 

 desired him not to stand so near the window, lest the 

 lightning: should hurt his eyes ; on which the young man 

 removed from the window, backwards, into the corner of 

 the room, and sat down. The lightning came from the 

 west-north-west, and falling on the stack of the kitchen 

 chimney, which was about four feel square, and as much 

 in height, of hewn stone, carried it clear off from the 

 house, and threw it into a pool of water twenty feet dis- 

 tant. In the chamber over the kitchen, directly beneath 

 the top of the chimney, there was a little closet boarded 

 in ; all the boards were broken to pieces, the timbers of 

 the roof were shattered, as also the bedstead in the 

 chamber. Of the chamber partition, two planks were 

 forced, a large clothes-press thrown down, and the south 

 windows of the chamber floor (excepting the casement) 

 all broken and blown out. From the top of the chimney 

 and chamber floor, it descended into the kitchen below, 

 where the family was. The farmer saw no lightning 1 , 

 nor heard any thunder, after the first clap before men- 

 tioned ; but was struck senseless by the first flashj and 

 thrown into the middle of the kitchen, and continued 

 senseless for a quarter of an hour. As soon as he came 

 to himself, he asked who struck him ; but had not the 

 use of his arms, and felt an aching pain, shooting, as be 

 described it, into his bones.' 



A still more striking proof, or rather illustration, of this 

 principle, is furnished by the following case, which 

 occurred in Beverly a few years since, and which is 

 inserted here from the manuscript of an eye-witness. 



Thunder Storm at Beverly, Mass, 



' As I was going to the school-room, which was to 

 be the scene of my afternoon's labors, I observed a 

 large black cloud rising in the west and covering 

 the whole side of the heavens with its black shade. 

 The school hour arrived just as it began to rain, 



