Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1860-04-27
MIS- C. l. l. Ian Y
From Chambers Journal.
THREE STARTLING SITUATIONS


I did no, begin life as tho heir toa duke
dom. End myself at twenty one to have been
illeei,imato. and eventually in n position
to dictate .oms popular author. from the
sick ward Of union work-hou.o. the inter-
csting raw materials for hi' novelette,.
Tho Falling Star" Neither did begin
life lad in the knifs-houss, and
Z" Creeping up from high to higher.
Beoome on fortune. GROWING slope.
The centre Of a world. de..r.
Aad 6i with Ahermen TO cope"
The prayer OF my godfather for ms was
like Agur's. ,ha,i ,honld have neither rich.
G. nor poverty; he left mo tha, much abus-
ed dinheri,ance-whieh., to reasonable man
l. nevertheless the hes, in tho world, since
i, enables him to pursue all good objects
for their own sake" moderate indepcn.
dsncc - and hav. ksp, !, ever since.
Hence. o reader. IL is vain to erpee, from
,hi, comfortable other soaring flights into
tho Empyrcan, with large E.) or down
swoop. into the Aby.m'. know no more
of palaces than do OF prison. md yet !
have had my three " startling situations" ="
too. Mos, mortal, who have grown to b
mcn aud women. have had some eTpcrien-
ees Away. aftsrward. observable 20 their
minds eve in the level road o, their eIi.-
,ence.. even II they be bu, the being pitch
el out OF merry.go.round a. a fair. Or
the having proposals Of marriage rendered
to them by black man and Why not I
like the ros,'
Fir, then, I have had the privilege OF
bcholiing a spiritual mauile',a,ion--threc
distinct, or az all events, separate ghosts a,
the same time. This happened on my way
from Calai. to Paris in the winter of 1899.
The boa, as /, always doe. when am IN !,
"A proof Of nv LonS., assertion that there
il nothing about mo unlike wha. belongs
10 the majority Of nv fellow .ereaturcs-had
made an exceedingly bal passage. and
landed upon tho shores Of France with a
vacuum within me. that had vet 10 de.
.iro to rcplcni'h. Had it been o,hcrvi''.
there was very li,tl, time % 30 it. 10. The
diligence. unlike myself, quite II inside,
wa, upon the poiu. Of starting. ani | climb
cd up in miserable condition beside the
conductor. How hc screamed, se.ticulaied
and cracked his proiisiou, whip like de-
mon. driver, IL is not necessary. and would
be painful to me to describe. | isll asleep
as soon rs could. and forgot him; and
when awoke again. he was asleep too, and
the horses were going at ther own sweet,
will and pace. which latter 10 IN France =
v,ry moderate ono. felt cold and hun
gry enough, hut yet 80 fain. a' not 10 ,cem
equal to tho effort ofwaklns tho driver, and
urging him to push on little faster to the
na1t roadside inn f, 90 iain, 80 drow'y. that
no earthly thing, think short OF an up
.et could have reused me up, or awakened
nv interest. No earthly thing, perhaps,
but what was that running along on the
hedss-on tho top Of the hedsc-on tho left
hand; runnin. along by the side OF the dill
igsncs aud yc. little IN advance. 50 a. 'c
turn back aud look a, il and a, me! That
woke the soon enough, and mos, thorough
Iy. What business had Mary Eos', my liz
,ls vard-vho had lately been lol, avid
ow with two children, and whom ] hal
bidden eood.by to only lew day. before
wha, business I say had she TO be running
atop Of roadside hedge between Calais
and Pari, at midnight, always keeping h'I
head turned round. and ber eyes fixed upon
me? There wa. not the least doubt OF II
being Mary, although had never seen her
with that look OF pain and enireaiy on he'
face before. am thankful 90 think thai
she never hal 20 ask anything, either for
herself or others. twire from me. She new
er looked before her, bu, eliied swiftly on
along the hedge; and when gap or gate
intcrvened, seemed to leap IL without any
spring or unusual e1er,ion. when her
eyes were not on mine, they were fixed OF
ono or tho other OF the fore wheels OF th'
diligence aud. presently. leaned over 'c
see what was attracting her in the lcft'hant
one. Georgy was therc-Georsy Ross. her
eldest son, revolving with the wheel, aud
upon it. rim, disappearing and coming az
again a. though he were bound to IL, with
his white facc upward toward me aud bei
but with shut eyes. Ills brother Charles
wa. on the other wheel, knew although o
course, could no, see him (; and presently
upon the grea, empty front seat. where
there wa. room for four beside tho driver
there lay stretched on either side OF me
those samo two boys, in long white dresses
whIeh-,ince they were dead, poor things
as i, subsequently, turned ou,-migh' have
been shrouds. had scarcely time to put
my hand. out. righ, and left and through
each Of these forus. to feel the bare cu'h
ion, Of the seat. when the driver with
bur., Of ,acro woke, and la.bei the horse'
calling them pigs aud demons. Then the
children and their dear mother vanished
from INV sigh, forever. Being OF phles'
matte. or US prefer to call it, ola philo'
sophie disposition, l simply entered in my
note book, writing 1t there as l "a, in thc
clear moonlight, +" Curious illusion pro-
duced December 10, 1882 by hunger and
fatigue.
Nevertheless. as | sat a, breakias. in Par
,on tho morning Of the nineteenth, recei'
we'd word by post tha, Mary Ro'' and her