THUNDER AND THE LIGHTNING-ROD 175 



burn straw and paper torches in our rooms to pur- 

 ify the air; with its immense sheets of flame the 

 thunderbolt produces an analogous effect in the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere. Each of those lightning 

 flashes that make you start with fear is a pledge of 

 general salubrity; each of those claps of thunder 

 that freeze you with fear is a sign of the great work 

 of purification that is operating in favor of life. 

 And who does not know with what delight, after a 

 storm, the breast fills itself with pure air, when the 

 atmosphere, purified by the fires of the thunderbolt, 

 gives new life to all that breathe it ! Let us beware 

 then of a foolish terror when it thunders, but lift up 

 our thoughts to God, from whom the thunder and 

 the lightning have received their salutary mission. 



"The thunderbolt, like everything in this world, 

 plays a part in accord with the general well-being; 

 but, again, like everything else, it can, in fulfilling the 

 hidden purposes of an all-seeing Providence, cause 

 here and there a rare accident that makes us forget 

 tlir immense service it renders us. Let us always 

 remember that nothing happens without the permis- 

 sion of our heavenly Father. A reverent fear of 

 God ought to exclude all other fear. Let us, then, 

 calmly examine the danger that a thunderbolt ex- 

 poses us to. Let us remember above all that a thun- 

 <l'Tbolt by preference strikes the most prominent 

 points of ground, for it is there that the opposite 

 ricity, attracted by that of the storm-cloud, is 

 present in greatest abundance, ready to unite with 

 that which attracts it." 



"The two electricities seeking reunion do their 



