THE LIGHT THAT FAILED.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13732, 23 October 1908, Page 6

THE LIGHT THAT FAILED.

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I' felt just ;i little nervous. "You can't iNime u]i here aiitl - j»li«v Apache gaimi» or Sherlock Holmes." I said. "ami if you call me - brother' or "comrade" again. I'll tin on* you over the balcony. " Leave me iny breath, and 1 will tell you what has happened." he replied.' with something l>etween a sob and a chuckle. 1 let him go, a lamp was brought in, ami I >j» thai he was shaking—shaking. not with lear. but with laughter. T-Ah! They i~liall tor good ones of ihem. the il'rty bourgeois.'" he gasjied. when he had breath enough to >peak. "It is the strike of the light. ami this time it succeeds." "But what is going on T" 1 a.-ke.l. " What do you mean 7" "It is r.o easy." hr replied, "Our bro-th-is. the braves, they have acted cleverly." he 'aid. " A -crew ui.iscieiveil. a -.witch or two into the jmcke,. few wire* twisted, et voila. I'aris is in darkness. (in tii the w'mlow. then, ami look." 1 looked, and after looking caught him by the arm and lan downstairs with mm and out imo the street. The boulevards were in darkness, there were a few gas lights heie and theie. but not one electric lamp web burning exeept in the Passage des Princess, wln-ie a restaurant makes its own electricity. All the restaurants were black in a darkness which little by little became mine v'.iible by the light of oil and the candles stuck in bottles or in Chinese lanterns. A<i i; was not the time that Mich a thing has happened, the ISoulevaid tradesfolk were jlist a little better prepaid! for j it than they had been in Muich a year ago. And then, still holding on to my small irieiid, 1 ran round to one or two newspaper offices. There confusion reigned. The product "on of a new spaper eniaiL< continuously hard work from early afternoon till the nexl morning, and the sudden* causation of the electricity which lights the offices and inns the linotype machines is no small matter. But there was even iimie confusion than the absence of electricity alone could cause. Kvervbody in «wiy office was fnriouiily angiy. and talking at the tops of their voices about, the disgraceful Mate of affairs and the dirty Government that made such a thing pus -sible. And everybody's friendo had ru-h-.d ai-> fast as taxi-calm. horse-drawn cabw. or as fast. a.-> tboir leg» cmihl cany rhein to the nearest newspaper office to condole, to watch, and to express their views. Nobody in the office* could find any lights, and those who had laid hands on a lamp or candle gen- rally found con siderable difficulty in getting the man with the matches, who had neither, to combine forctti. I baw one enthusiast trying to puzzle out copy by the light of a cigar ette, but lie found it impracticable, and gave it up in d«*pair. The one opinion everybody expressed. loudly and emphatically. between apologies for bumping into friend* and aci|iiaintanc> s. was that something inia-t b- done. This opinion was forcibly for two hours, ami then as the clocks sit in k ten the lighti> lit up again. " ht voila." said the usual! man in llie yellow alpaca, with a grin like that of a triumphant, monkey. "Look here. I want to know all about this," I said. I sat down out ,«ide a cafe, bought him beer, and pumped. "The bourgeois triumphed on tlie 3id of August," he explained; " 10-night we triumphed, we! This that we have ar tanged is jut>t a little protest, a durkn > s of two hours to show what we can do. pour etnlx-ter W jouriiaux ijuoi ! Vive h- Travail! We turned the liaht out, wwait two little hours in daiktu.-H. we give them light again, and prrha|t» afterwards. ' qui sail T We shall Ingin once mine." I said, as I got up and left him. —.luhn "You are nice people, 1 don't think.' * N*. Huphael. in Si. jamtti'.i Budget. 1