short address. The musical part of the entertainment, consisting of vocal and instrumental pieces, was sustained by the lady friends of the society, assisted by Messrs. Fuggle, Funnell, and the Temperance choir. At intervals during these performances the dismantling of the trees was proceeded with, and the articles with which they were adorned distributed among the company. Most of the articles were as useful as they were ornamental, and as each recipient had the privilege of selecting to the value of his admission ticket - 6d., 1/- or 2/- as the case might be, such selection could not fail to be of a highly satisfactory character. On the second evening the Hall was again overflowingly full, many persons being unable to obtain admission. The proceedings were similar in character to those of the first evening, except that the musical accompaniments were more extensive. The vocalists on this occasion, in addition to the Society's choir, were the Misses Tichbon and Baker, and Messrs. Fuggle, Butler, Tinley, and H. Phillips, jun. After the distribution of articles from the replenished trees, a Dutch auction took place, which, together with the company's speculations in a sort of twelfth-night cake, created no small amount of merriment.
The pecuniary results of the festival were an addition to the funds of about £32. Of this amount, 13 pounds were realised at a stall which was held in the Hall on the afternoon of Tuesday, when numerous useful and fancy articles were disposed of by Mrs. Tilson-Marsh and Mrs. J. Reid.
Thunder Storms
The thunder-storm, or series of storms which on Wednesday evening, June 24th passed over from south to north by the east and west of St. Leonards, and which raged in proximity to the town in the early morning of Thursday, had a fatal effect in the neighbourhood of Lewes. The story, as reported was that a Mr. Weller, a butcher and grocer, of Glynde, was returning from Brighton on Wednesday evening, accompanied by his wife and another female in a light, spring cart, and that they passed through Lewes at about eleven o'clock, when the lightning and thunder were quite appaling. At about daybreak the following morning, the lifeless bodies of these unfortunate persons were discovered in the road near the Beddingham hills, about 2¼ miles distant from Lewes. The conjecture was that they were either killed by the electric fluid or being thrown violently to the ground by the affrighted and unmanageable horse. The cart had been upset, but the horse was still alive. Another of the (probably many) casualties of the storm was that by which an acrobat at the Cemome Gardens on Thursday evening received such injuries that his life was despaired of. He had been performing on a wire of great length for some weeks, and on repeating his exploits that evening he was precipitated from a great height to the ground. The wire was -
