Some bodies give out
flashes and sparks by being rubbed. If you stroke a black cat briskly in
the dark, you will see faint flashes of light come from her fur, and on
very cold nights in the winter season, flannels that are worn next the
skin crackle and give sparks when taken off and shaken."
These things astonished Lady Mary. She tried the experiment with the amber
and thread, and was much amused by seeing the thread attracted; and she
wanted to see the sparks from the cat's back, only there happened,
unfortunately, to be no black cat or kitten in Government House. Mrs.
Frazer, however, promised to procure a beautiful black kitten for her,
that she might enjoy the singular sight of the electric sparks from its
coat; and Lady Mary wished winter were come, that she might see the sparks
from her flannel petticoat and hear the sounds.
"Let us now go and look out again at the sky," said Miss Campbell; and
Lady Mary skipped joyfully through the French window to the balcony, but
ran back, and flinging her arms about her nurse, cried out, in accents of
alarm, "Nurse, nurse, the sky is all closing together! Oh, Miss Campbell,
what shall we do?"
"There is no cause for fear, my dear child; do not be frightened. There is
nothing to harm us.
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