230 THE WEATHER. 



and by the time that the boys were engaged in their 

 work, the tempest came on with such violence as to put 

 a stop to almost every proceeding. The wind blew and 

 the rain poured down so as to make a complete turmoil 

 without, and the thunder, which seemed to hover directly 

 over our heads, and to be bursting all around us, render- 

 ed conversation almost perfectly inaudible. The light- 

 ning had not the appearance of a flash diffused through 

 the air, but it glittered on the seats with a brightness 

 which almost blinded me. and immediately upon it came 

 the peal, so loud and terrifying, that almost every face 

 in the room was distorted as if from a bodily pain. Du- 

 ring this time, at the intervals between the flashes, the 

 room was so completely darkened as to render it impossi- 

 ble to see to write even the large hand copies which were 

 before the scholars. I have heard loud thunder before, 

 but never seemed to be so completely in the midst of it. 

 It appeared to keep up its unceasing rattling all around 

 us, without intermission or abatement. 



'It began however soon to look less dark. the peals 

 followed each other less rapidly, and were more distant 

 from the flashes to which they belonged, and as they 

 passed off towards the east, they gradually changed their 

 sharp and broken rattling, for the prolonged rumbling 

 sound of distant thunder. The wind died away; the 

 rain only sprinkled upon the windows ; a broad bright 

 zone was rising in the west ; the sun soon broke forth in 

 it, and all was over. The cloud lay for some time in 

 the east, discharging its bolts into the water, and then 

 left us not a little relieved by its departure. 



* I was soon informed that the lightning 'had struck in 

 several places ; to one house particularly, it did much 

 injury, and destroyed one life. The next morning I 

 went to visit the house, and found it in the situation which 

 I will attempt to describe. 



' The lightning had first struck the chimney ; in the 

 garret there was hanging a saw from one of the rafters 

 at the distance of a few feet from the chimney; the saw 

 reached very near to the floor. Nearly under that part 

 of the floor over which the saw was suspended, there 

 W^s a closet. Now it happened that the mistress of the 



