They loved, after
shuffling their feet on the carpet, to creep up to any adult
relation and touch them lightly on the ear, a most sensitive spot.
There would be a little spark, a little shock, and a little
exclamation of surprise. Outside the children's schoolroom there
was a lobby warmed by a stove, and the air there was peculiarly
dry. The young people, with a dozen or so of their youthful
friends, would join hands, taking, however, care not to complete
the circle, and then shuffle their feet vigorously. On completing
the circuit, they could produce a combined spark over two inches
long, with a correspondingly sharp shock. In my bedroom at Ottawa
there was an old-fashioned high brass fender. Had I put on
slippers, and have attempted to warm myself at the fire previous
to turning-in. I should be reminded, by a sharp discharge from my
protesting calves into the metal fender, that I was in dry Canada.
(At that date the dryness of Canada was atmospherical only.)
Curiously enough, a spark leaving the body produces the same shock
as one entering it, and no electricity whatever can be generated
with bare feet.
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