Protection from Light [pp. 265-266]

1872.] ~~OT~CHO~ F~Off II~ffTWI~~, 265
miles from any railway. They live at Peregrinestow, and came in with the Conquest.
Mr. Peregrine is a widower; that might be
an objection to your young friend, and hardly
proper; but then there is one comfort, Mr.
Peregrine is a lunatic, and is constantly
guarded by his keeper. Do you think that
would suit you?"
"I am afraid not," said Amicia; "I
should not like to send my friend into a lunatic's house, fearing that he might cut her
throat."
"Oh, dear, no!" said Mrs. Grimalkin;
"there's no fear of that. Mr. Peregrine is
too great a gentleman to raise his hand
against a lady. I should think your friend
need be under no alarm as to Mr. Peregrine."
"The Peregrines will not do any more
than the Mumbles," said Amicia. "I am so
sorry to have taken up so much of your valuable time, dear Mrs. Grimalkin, and all to no
purpose."
"Don't mention it," said Mrs. Grimalkin.
"I am only too ready to help my friends when
I can; but then," she added, as she reflected
on Harry Fortescue and Amfcia's scruples"but then they must not be too particular."
So Amicia went away as she came, resolved to get Edith out of town, but feeling
it was not so easy to find her a situation as
she had expected.
"There's no help for it," said Amicia, as
she stepped into her carriage, "I must try
dear Lady Charity."
"Drive to Lady Charity's," she said; and
she soon alighted at her door.
"Glad to see you again, Amicia dear,"
said Lady Charity. "I suppose you have
come to settle something about Ascot."
"No, I have not," said Amicia, in a very
excited way. "I have come to make a confession. There's a young person I wish to
get out of town."
"And that young person's name," said
Lady Charity, "is
"Edith Price!" And, as she said this,
she threw her arms round Lady Charity's
neck, and burst into tears.
"Why, what is the matter, Amicia darling?" said Lady Charity, taking her by
both her hands. "What's Edith Price to
you?"
"A great deal more than the whole world
just now, except Harry Fortes cue. Edith
Price stands between me and him, and I want
to get her a situation as governess, and to
send her out of town at once."
"But does she want to be a governess?"
said Lady Charity. "If she does not, it's no
use trying to get her to go."
"That's my only chance," said Amicia;
"she does want to be a governess; and, if I
can send her off at once, before harm comes,
I shall be so happy."
"Is she thoroughly respectable?"
"Entirely so, on my honor," said Amicia,
warmly
"I would rather have it on her honor than
on yours," said Lady Charity; "but I dare
say it alt comes to the same thing. Amicia,
I think I can find you a situation for her."
"Oh, thank you so much," said Amicia;
"but it must be in the country, and it must
be good enough to tempt her out of town."
"It is a good situation," said Lady Charity,
"and it is out of town-down in Norfolk
near King's L~~n."
"So much the better," said Amicia. "Are
they friends of yours?"
"Old friends," said Lady Charity. "They
are my cousins, the Blicklings. There are
two little girls, and Mrs. Blickling will give a
hundred pounds a year; but then she must
have a ladylike person, with a thorough
knowledge of French and music."
"I am sure," said Amicia, "I can't say
whether Miss Price knows music and French
thoroughly. I do not even know if she is
ladylike or a lady. In fact, I know nothing
about her, except that she has an attraction
for Harry Fortes cue."
"I don't think you even know as much as
that," said Lady Charity. "You're afraid
Amicia, that's all. There's only one thing to
be done. You or I must see Miss Price, and
then we shall he able to say whether we can
offer her the situation. All I can say is that,
if she answers the requirements of Mrs.
Blickling, she can have the situation."
"Well," said Amicia, "which of us shall
see her-you or I?
"I think you had better not see her," said
Lady ChaAty. "Your feelings are too much
engaged. I will see her to-morrow morning,
if that will suit you."
Now, Amicia, to tell the truth, would
have given a good deal to see her rival, as
she was convinced Edith Price was; but she
could not help seeing that what Lady Charity
said was right, and that she had better not
see her, so she said:
"Very well."
"I will write her a line to-night," said
Lady Charity, "informing her that I hear she
is looking out for a situation, and that, if she
is inclined to call on me at eleven o'clock tomorrow, I shall be able to offer her 50;1596]one which
it might suit her to accept. I shall then be
able to judge both as to her respectability
and her acquirements."
"You are an angel, dear Lady Charity!"
said Amicia, kissing her on both cheeks
"You have called me that before," said
Lady Charity, "and I do not at all feel as if
I deserved the endearing name; but I will do
what I can to help you."
"So different from Mrs. Grimalkin," said
Amicia, as she drove off. "That's what I
call a reliable, trustworthy friend."
And so she drove home, feeling much
easier in her mind than she had been, as she
expressed it, "for ages."
[To 3E coxTi~u~n.]
PROTECTION FROM LIGHT NING.
O~TVER much we may be disposed to
exult in the alleged fact that Franklin's invention has robbed the skies of their
terrors, it is nevertheless true that the amount
of damage to life and property, occasioned
every year by lightning, is something appalling. To those who think of the subject for
the first time it may perhaps appear that the
danger to whi~b we are exposed from light.
ning is very slight; but those who have carefully noted the number of persons injured by
lightning during the course of the year are
aware that the risk of accident from this
source is greater than that incurred by travellers on our railroads; in other words, that
the number of persons killed by lightning is
greater than that killed on our railroads.
Thus, during the ten days succeeding July 3,
18"2, no less than fifteen persons were killed
by lightning in the Northern and Eastern
States. A succession of three railroad accidents, in each of which five persons had been
killed, would have horrified the community;
but these fifteen deaths by lightning seem to
have attracted very little attention. When
we come to extend our investigations over a
longer period, we find substantially the same
results. Poey, in 1855, found that, during
the preceding twelve years, there were recorded 262 cases of persons that had been
killed, and 430 injured; while, of course, as
every one knows, the cases that escape tlie
notice of the statistician are generally quite
as numerous as those that are recorded. In
France, during twenty-nine years, an average
of "~ persons lost their lives, and 232 were
injured, per annum, as may be seen by referring to the report of Boudin, presented to the
Academy of Sciences, in 1864. The most
perfect records were kept in Mecklenburg,
where it was found that one person was killed
out of every 24",200 inhabitants. Now, on
English railroads, the death-rate is one for
every 1,256,290 passengers; and, in Franc,e
the death-rate is one for every 1,955,555 passengers. In short, statistics fully bear us out
in saying that, oh our worst-managed roads,
the percentage of passengers killed is not as
great as the percentage of the whole population that is killed by lightning. These melancholy facts should lead to an earnest consideration of the best means 9f avoiding lightning-strokes; and, fortunately, it is the opinion of our most judicious and most thoroughly informed men that all danger from
this source may be avoided, at least in
ships and houses. In the British navy,
where the very perfect system of protection,
devised by Sir William Snow Harris, is in
use, injury by lightning has become a thing
almost unknown; while, previous to its adoption, the material loss was valued at $250,000.
The Cathedral of St.-Peter, in Geneva, although so elevated as to be above all other
buildings in the neighborhood, has for three
centuries enjoyed perfect immunity from damage by lightning; whi~e the tower of St.Gervaise, although much lower, has been frequently struck. This doubtless arises from
the fact that all the towers of St.-Peter are
accidentally furnished with very perfect conductors. The great column of London,
known as the Monument, erected in 16~",
in commemoration of the great fire, although over two hundred feet in height, has
never been struck; while much lower b~~lldings in the vicinity have not escaped. The
Monument, however, is protected by a most
perfect conductor; the upper end terminating
in a vase, from which proceed numerous me~
al plates, designed to imitate the appearance
of tongues of flame. The vase communicates,
by means of stout bars of iron, with the metal