Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-01-18
NO. 43.

MAC to the floor ike a clod.
so doctor ! why did you do it p
10 save your life, Miss Marchand "
Poor st. Victor His fate is on
him at last.
Her voice was calm in Its despair.
She sank down beside the senseless
man, lifting the worn, white face to
her lap and covering it with kisses.
" l saw it,-yet / did not think it
would come so soon. O God J be pit
iful Have [ not prayed enough p
The lips of the injured man began
to quiveF. We must bind him and
get him to bed before he fully recov-
ers, d said the doctor, lifting Edith to
her feet. Here Thompson, help me
carry him to his bed
When the maniac recovered cOnsci-
BUSINESS fully, his rawlings were fearful.
It was the malady of frenzy in its
most appalling condition. The extent
of the mental wreck Doctor Graham
had, for the last half hour of the
feast, been trying to fathOm. When
be dealt that dreadful blow he knew
the wreck was complete reason had
gone out forever with that panther
like shrek All that could be done
was to secure the maniac against in
jury to himself and others, and to al
minister such anti-spasmOdics or
anasthetics as, II some degree, would
control the parOxysms.
Poor St. Victor ! So young, so gift
ed, so blest with worldly goods his
fate was upon him, as Edith had said.
From that hour he had but brief
respite from torment. Not a CLEAN of
sanity came from those fiery eyes all
was fierce, uutamable, inhuman, as if
the life had been one of storm and
crime, instead Of peace and purity
Did there lay upon that racking bed a
proof Of the natual depravity Of the
creature man, when the creature was
uncontrolled by a reasoning, RESPONSE
bic will ? Or, was il not rather a
proof that the mental machine was in
disorder, by a distentiOn Of the blood
vessles and their engagement in the
brain,-that cerebral excitement was
purely physical penomenOn, depend
ent upon simple, physical causes,
which science some day shall define
and skill shall eounteract
Happily, the fire In the sufferer 8
brain scOrched and consumed the
sources Of his life, as flames drink up
the water that is pOWerless to quench
them. Day by day he wasted and, in
less than a month from that night
Christmas evening,-St. Victor Mar
chand's form was at peace In death.
During all that time DR. Graham
never left the sufferers bedside. Day
and night he was there at his post,
doing all that was possible to alleviate
the pain. The skill of a physician
and the love Of a brother were ex-
hausted In that battle with death In
its most dreaded form.
His care was, too, required for Miss
Edith. Her life was so interviewer
with that of her brother, that the doc
tor doubted if she could survive the
shock TO her sympathies and affec-
ton When the surprise of the trag-
edy was over, on the day following the
first Outburst of the malady, she told
him that for months she had feared
the worst. She had remarked svmp-
toms so like her fathers as to excite
her fears yet, with the happiness of
youth, the sister persuaded herself
that her apprehensIOns were ground
less. His sunny nature seemed proof
against the approach of an evil so
blasting: aud her momentary fears
were banished by the very mood of
height ened vlVacity and excitement
which had awakened them. Having
no intimate friend in whom to confde,
none to counsel, she had borne the
weight of her inward sorrow and dread
alone
At intervals, during Christmas dav,
she had observed an inoohereney in
her brothers. speech, and an unwonted
nervousness Of manner, which had in
spired her with serious alarm. When
he proposed to drive out, she enc0ur-
aged the suggestion, hoping that the
cold air might restore him to his usual
state. Upon his return with DIR. Gra-
ham, he had seemed so entirely like
himself, so happy, so disposed to en-
jOyment, that she once more dismissed
every thought of danger, until she
overheard the sharp whispers in which
he addressed his guest.
And oh, to think" she cried, while
the tears stTeamed down her cheeks,
+" that in his love for me, his madness
should take the shape of behOlding
the conditions of his own brain reflect
lin mine He was so afraid harm
would come to me,-thOughtful Of me
so lPng as even a shadow Of sanity re-
mained. Dear, dear st. Victor,-sO
good, SO pure, so wise Why was not
Z the victim, if it was fated there must
be one? Then lifting her fearful
eyes Doctor, perhaps the poison
turks In my veins, too : Tell me, do
you think there is danger that /, too,
shall one day go mad p
/ 9 No. poor child, most emphatically,
I do not. You must not permit such a
fancy to enter your mind. As St.
Victor said, you are your mothers
image and counterpart, In tempera-
ment and mental quality, while he,
doubtless, in all active or positive ele-
ments of constitution and tempera
ment, was his fathers reflex. Is itnot
true p
I believe so. My dear father used,
[ know. to think st. Victor nearer to
him than I could be. When together,
they looked and acted very much alike.
Poor. dear brother ~ and again the
tears coursed down her cheeks.
The doctor was deeply moved this
grief was so inexpressably deep as to
stir in his heart every emotion of ten
derness aud sympathy it was possible
for a gentiesOUled man to feel.
"L loved him, he said, gently, be-
fore / had known him an hour. His
nature was like a magnet, to draw
love. Alas it is sad, when the prom
ise of such life is blighted. would
have given my life for his, could it
have averted this terrible blow from
this house.
a radient. SOULFUL look dwelt in
her tear -dimmed eyes. That this man
"a comparative tranger-shOuld
manifest this inerest in her brother
aroused all the gratitude and affection
of her warm nature.
And l love you, DR. Graham, for
loving him" she said, in the pathOs Of
the language that never speaks un-
truthfully,-th pathos of irrepressa-
bic feeling. Then she added Do
not leave US, doctor. You are all the
friend we have in this great city. IF
you leave us I shall, indeed, be alone.
will remain, my dear child, so
long as there is need of my services"
He did not tell her, in so many
words, that the case was hopeless but
her eye was quick to see the wasting
form aud the growing prostration
which followed each paroxysm, How
D 4 "A q 4