AT WALTON HALL. 



25 



and poor, has permission to fish at Walton Hall, 

 from the first of April till the first of October. 

 Having reached home, I saw that the thunder 

 storm was just going to burst over us ; the rain 

 having begun to fall. Seven of the fishermen 

 had collected under the poplar tree; and on 

 seeing them there, I ran out of the house, and 

 warned them of their danger, and desired them 

 to repair, without loss of time, to the saddle- 

 room, where they would get shelter from the 

 impending storm ; forbidding them, at the same 

 time, to stay for a moment under any of the 

 large trees on their way thither, as the con- 

 sequences might be fatal to them. Scarcely 

 had they reached the saddle-room when the 

 lightning struck the poplar tree, and sent 

 fragments of it in all directions. It may well 

 be supposed that we were not long in thanking 

 God Almighty, on bended knee, for the escape 

 from death of those who had intended to 

 remain under the shelter of the poplar tree, 

 until the storm should have passed over. 



My father brought it, a plantling, in his 

 pocket from a gentleman's house near Don- 

 caster, and planted it where it now stands, 

 the year in which he came of age. It has 



