Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1867-04-26

morning, and I said to myself: "This
comes of temperance" Through the day
l felt singularly strange my voice was
l tremulous; planted my foot upon the
pavement in an uncertain way, and had a
general impression that | had lost some.
thing. AT my regular dinner hour | was
appetiteless. | retired to bed wretched
My dreams were unpleasant, and the next
| morning | awoke with an uncomfortable
feeling OF unrefreshedness NV hands
were hot, and my face, though pale, was
burning. In making my toilet several at
tempts were necessary to enable me to part
my hair in line anything like an approach
to straightness for my hand, in'its manipu-
atoms of the comb, dotted up and down like
dairy maids in printing butter As for
breakfast, / was conscious Of no fast to break.
Mechanically, however, appeared at the
table. But toast, tea, mullins, eggs had lost
their power of fascination. Hot and
tempting though they were, looked upon
them coldly. So tremulOus and uncertain
was my hand that lii attempting to drink
my tea l nearly poured it into my ear.
While being shaved subsequently, found
1t next to impossible TO sit still Several
times in my nervous starts the barber
gashed my face and chin.
n blank, horrible day seemed before me.
Time, like a leaden weight, hung upon my
soul. To some simple business calculation
which the cashier of our house tried to
present to me, found it impossible to lis
ten. The figures were before my ewes. and
| attempted to grasp them They danced
and Jostled each other like puppets at a
Dooth-the mines wagging their heads at
me mOcklngly, and the sevens curling up
their tails in derision. The cashier, MOTTO
ing my bewildered air and look, ATTEMPTED
to explain his tones fell upon NV ear as
monotonously and meaningless as rain
upon cottage thatch. As he proceeded
droning out his details singular rage
took possession of me; and | believe
should have throttled Linn where he stood
had not seized my hat, and abruptly
quilted the office
1t seemed to me that the open air would
bring relief; but it did not. | walked not
with my accustomed firmness of tread, but
with a jerkiness, as jumping jack might
II endowed with automatic motion. Some
how scarcely knew when my feet touched
the ground; 1t seemed that | was stepping
upon air. A friend met me. and, with a
familiar slap on the back, asked me to take
drink. | started, and shrank as his.hand
fell upon me AS though from a thunder
bolt-it seemed trip-hammer delivered
between my shoulders. His face was as IA
miliar as my own, but / looked into it
with frightened expression which
prompted the inquiry, what the devil ails
your"
"a little under the weather." replied.
"A drink will set you all right" he re-
turned, and then L explained to him that |
was forbidden stimulants
"Devilish dangerous" he said, "quitting
50 sue denly; you can't stop horse at full
speed without tiinging him fiat on his
launches | wouldn't dare to go back on
my whisky in that style nohow. 1t would
bring ON mt OF the Jim-Jims sure?"
But L was true to my pledge and my
ply stefan, and my friend left me with
plying look. Rats in your boots, to-mor.
row morning" he said. land no mistake.
IN betting on it,
;. Feeling it useless to make any attempt at
dinner, and fully assured that would cut
but sorry figure in the after-talk, made
my way to my rooms, remarking to myself
III patr0nlZlng way, that good nights
sleep wouh restore me TO my normal self
was utterly Frustrated, mentally and
physically. In the course of the evening
number of friends dropped in was re-
Ginning on the sofa. Requesting them to
excuse me from rising, on the plea that |
was thoroughly tired out by the duties of
the day, retained my position, but il was
useless TO endeavor to take part in the con.
versation. And very soon, in spite of INV
endeavors, dropped off To sleep, if sleep
1t might be called, for at intervals of verv
few minutes, | awoke with sudden start
and clutch. the impreSSie,p from iIIy inInu
being that was falling from some place.
80 buSlly engaged were my friends in dis
cusSing absorbing topic of the day, that
they did not notice my nervousness, but
seeing that | was indeed fatigued they each
and all took carly leave.
went to bed. So thoroughly exhausted
was L, for had slept very fitftllly the two
preceding nights. that L dropped into a
heavy siumber as soon as my head touched
the pillow. In the dream which came to
me L found myself on IA very steep roof II
was impossible To stand up, SO sharp was
The incline, and | threw myself fiat on nv
face, clutching at the shingles But all
was useless; slowly but surely | slipped
toward the caves. dug my nails into the
wood in fierce endeavor to avert the fate
which threatened me but all was in vain
Occasionally prOtruding nail head afford
ed Inc a mOmentary respite, but the hold
was insufficient, and soon was again slip
ping down, down toward the caves. 1t
seemed hours, hours of apYehensiOn and
agony. At last the caves were reached and
the end seemed immediate. NY legs dan
gled in air; my hands clutched the tin
water-spout which ran along the edge of
the roof in one last, wild effort at self pre-
seryation: it gave way under my weight
and with all the breath gone out of nv
body awoke. At least ten hours seemed
to have been consumed
Looking at my watch, found that il was
precisely seven minutes since had gone to
bed
Thankful, most thankful that it was all
dream, and that / had not indeed fallen
from the roof of four-story frame house.
with tin water-spout clatter about my
ears, closed my eyes, and endeavored to
again compose myself to slumber. To nv
surprise, my eyelids seemed lined with
blue, and they were rs transparent as flame
This scarcely seemed in accordance with
the eternal fitness of things, and popped
my head under the bed-clothes to secure
opaqueness; but still my eyelids, lined with
blue flames, fiickered and glowed as queer
ly as ever. And l thought OF what my
friend had said about Jim-Jims
Very soon again, however, was asleep.
How long l slept do not know, but /
was awakened with boom in my ear
like the tolling of mighty bell. Boom
boom boom-every stroke smote on nv au-
raj sense, echoing and vibrating through
my brain until was nearly deafened. /
sprang up instinctlvely, and the sound
ceased; laid my head down again and it
recommended. Wishing to time the hour
of the unusual disturbance, touched the
stop OF the watch, which lay under my pill
low. All was quiet at once. Here was
clue to the mystery l released the stop,
and again the bell Numbered in my ears.
Each nerve strained to tension like that
Of a harp-string. the ticking of tho u,atob