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Show The Lightning Wai Mad. During a picnio hold by the colored order of Odd Fellows lightning struck a tree under which the festivities were conducted. The following Sunday old Dan Hightowor, a colored preacher of , great renown, arose and said:- ' ' "Brudders and sisterers, we'se Jest had er awful 'lustration o' whut. da Lawd thinks o' de wickedness o' dis yere worl'l. While dem follerers o' Satan wuz er dancin' an er skylarkin' uudep dat tree, an' w'en da oughter been er prayin' nr raisin' money fur ter git this yere church outon debt, yere come de lightnin' o' de Lawd an' struck de tree. Oh, whut a warnin' was dat, sinner man. . Sinner pnssan, jes' stop fur er minit an' think what er warnin' come down on dat 'ca-sion, 'ca-sion, De sinners got upmoney fur.dat picnio, but w'en I axes 'em fur money ter he'p save their souls, w'y da ginter grunt an' 'plain o' hard times, ;, "Nebber mine; de lightnin' gwine come wus don dat de naixt - time de sinners sin-ners an' de folks dat 'tind like da is Christians gits up one o' dwn picnics, W'y, brudders, er picnio ain't nuthin' but old Satan ersunnin' hieso'f., Brudder Mallory, put down dat winder, ef you pleases, sah. Dur's er ruin comiu' up. De sinners is er buckin' right er gin d9 church w'en da goes off da ter''- ; There oame a terrific peal' of thunder and a vivid flash of light ..One corner of the church fell and the' rain came pouring in. The house had been struck by lightning. . ; The old preacher did not lose his presence pres-ence of mind, for when, af'tor the fright was over, a "sinner man" asked what he thought of lightning striking a church as well as a tree under which the picnio was held, he said: t '.. "It's disser way: de lightnin has got so uster strikin' at deze sinners dat it kain't keep still, an' you'se got It so mad it doan know whar it's hittin'." Pittsburg Pitts-burg Dispatch. : v |