This  section  was  subject  to  storms  that
filled  the  narrow  streams  until  they  be-
came dangerous  torrents,  sweeping  all
before  them,  and  sometimes  making  a


322      MINUTE-MAN  ON   THE  FRONTIER.
jam  of  logs  twenty  miles  long.  One
spring  I  noticed  that  all  the  bridges  were
new,  and  that  they  had  all  been  built  some
four  feet  higher  than  before.  I  was  told
that  the  spring  freshets  had  swept  every-
thing before  them,  and  had  been  so  un-
usually high  that  the  change  of  level
became  necessary.
It  was  the  night  before  the  wedding,  and
I  was  preaching  in  a  little  schoolhouse  that
held  about  twenty  people.  It  was  a  very
hot  night  for  that  latitude,  and  every  one
was  depressed  with  the  heat.  A  great
black  cloud  covered  the  heavens,  except
an  ugly  streak  of  dirty  yellow  in  the  west.
It  was  not  long  before  the  yellow  glare  was
swallowed  up  by  the  night ;  and  then  from
out  of  the  dense  black  canopy  shot  streaks
of  vivid  lightning,  forked,  chained,  and
of  every  variety,  and  ''long  and  loud  the
thunder  bellowed."

We  were  not  long  in  closing  that  meet-
ing. All  that  rode  in  our  wagon  had  more
than  two  miles  to  go.  The  horses  were
terrified,  but  to  those  who  enjoy  a  thun-


THE   PIONEER    WEDDING.  323

der-storm  it  was  sublime.  We  crossed
one  bridge  in  the  nick  of  time  ;  for  it
went  thundering  down  as  the  back  wheel
bumped  against  the  road,  only  just  clear
of  it.
One  man  was  asleep  in  his  shanty,  and
did  not  know  of  the  storm  until  his  little
dog,  tired  of  swimming  around  the  room,
climbed  on  the  bed,  and  licked  his  face.
