The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-06-09
ers and undressed mvself, it was fully II


I went up as usual. first undressed the
child. and put her into he'd then / made
myself comfortable. and got my Bible
and sat bv the fire-it was very cold for
the season, and I kept fire in my room
and after had finished my chapter,
knPlt down to nv prayers: my position
as ] knelt was with nv back ~ the fire,
and nv face toward the bed I had scarce
" got on nv knees. when [ caught sight
of something unusual under the bed on
looking more attentivelv could that
it was mans foot NV first impulse
was to scream. hut fortunately restr ired
mvself: and, the first shock over, I was
able IN think. had no doubt that it was
robher, and that if he found out that he
was discovered. he might not stop short
of murder | dared not 90 In he'd, and
pretend did not know he there; and
vet. how to get the child and myself out
of the room without exciting suspicion, |
could not imagine These thNuohts pass
ed through my mind in half the time |
have taken to tell you; and I WAS about
to rise from nv knees. when 7 suddenly
rPcollected that nv doing en- at once
MIGHT in itself excite suspicion /: for
aupht knew. it might he some one who
man servant, though 7 had no reason to
suspect him. At All events, determined
TO remain some time longer as if engaged
in my devOtions. ] need not tell you
that I could not give much heed to nv
PRAYERS, but 7 did ask for protection and
Guidance. You know, dear, that | am a
slow, methodical old woman. and l sell
dom get through nv prayers in less than
rtn of I of
mined not to stir for at least ten minutes
What an age those ten minutes seemed '
7 never took nv ewes off the foot until
inst before I arose, when it was SLOWLY
withdrawn ont Of nv sight. When I saw
II move. I felt faint with fright, for
feared lest the man had suspected, and
was going to come ont I; however, he re-
mained oriet. and then I got ND from nv
knees. The next thing to he done was to
get the child ont of bed without causing
anv alarm. Speaking as calmly as I was
able. ] asked her If she was awake; she
answered in rather sleepy tone, hut
aroused herself as | continued speaking.
"Fannv, dear" I said, 81 have left my
KEYS below stairs"-I ftlt a little uneasy
at the falsehood, but I hope I was not
wrong" I cannot undress without
them don't like going down by myself;
would Won mind getting IN. my love. and
coming with me?" She jumped out ofbed
in a moment, and, having wrapped
shawl round her, pushed her before me
then, when opening the door, | managed
to take out the KEY and put it in on the
other side. / then shut the door and
locked it and then. nv dear. | could no
longer control mveelf-I shrieked several
times at the top of my voice, and tainted.
After all. poor Joseph, the coachman was
faithful, for one of the maids called him
in, and, armed with a pitchfOrk, he Sc
cured the rObber, who was trying to get
out of the window"
Here was an instance of retention of
presence of mind in the face of apparent
danger, and the loss of self-cOntrol when
the danger had passed. Habit has much
to do in the preservation of the cerebral
equilibrium, as we see, for instance, in the
sailor who goes aloft without feeling anv
inclination to come down "by the run,
and in the matador in the "bull ring"
whose fate depends on his GOODNESS. Edu
cation, also, no doubt, assists in keeping
the brain in order Yet here, again, we
have numerous instances of presence of
mind in the humber and less educated
ranks in life. One example-alsO true
story-though it has appeared in this very
journal in another form, and in the guise
of fiction, and has besides been made use
of on the stage-will suffice Caroline
c., good looking, finely -pToportioned
Young girl, lived as ladv's maid with a
fashionable widow, rather p1sse. One
evening, after having assisted at her mis-
tress' toilet for dinner party, she amused
herself, before putting away the various
articles scattered about the room. in try
ing on pair of silk stockings and dress
shoes belonging to her mistress, and, hav.
ing done so, she viewed her well turned
limbs with complacency, saying aloud .
"There's a leg for stocking, anc
there's foot for shoe. Hav
ing satisfied herself as to their
symmetry, she divested herself of her
borrowed plumes, put the room to rights
and awaited the return of her mistress,
whom she saw into bed. That was the
last time she saw her alive. She was
found in the morning murdered in her
bed, the jewel-case and plate chest broken
open and robbed. The robbcr and mur
derer had left no trace by which he could
be captured, and, in spite of the most dill
ligent search, escaped. Three years after,
Caroline was engaged in a similar Ca
pacily by lady who took her to Paris
She had almost forgotten the murder, and
if she thought of it, it was not with any
hope of discovering the criminal. IL hap
pened that she was walking in one of the
public prOmenades one afternoon, when,
rs she passed group Of men, she heard
these words: "There's leg for stock
ing, and there's a foot for a shoe" In a
moment the events OF the evening before
her mistress was murdered flashed on her
memory And now for her marvellous
presence of mind. Pretending not to
have heard anything, she glanced side
ways 1T the group of men. She saw there
were three, but she could not tell which
of them had spoken. She walked
slowly past them, then stopped in
an undecided manner, and final
ly turned back, and, walking
up to them, she asked to be directed to a
certain street. AS she expected, all of
them had a word for her, and amongst the
voices che easily recognized the one that
had just spoken. Their language and
looks were both very free, but she only
told them that they were very impertinent,
and that she would get the information
she wanted from the first gendarme. She
thus averted suspicion if they watched
her speaking to "A policeman. The next
difficulty was how to- inform gendarme
what she wanted; she had been only a
fortnight in France, and scarcely knew a
word of French. She, however, carried
a pocket dictionary with her, to assist
her in making purchases, and as a means
of acquiring little French. Going over
to bench, she sat down, and, searching
through the dictionary, found the words
she wanted, and she then wrote them on the
fly-leaf of the dictionary. The sentence
ran thus Genddrme, ,je acoir besoin yous
drreter IN nNurtrier. The grammar was
not very correct, as dictionaries do not
teach syntax, but the gendarme under
stood it, and in another minute held the
murderer in HIS grasp. He was afterwards
convicted, and hung on the giN's tes-
timOny.
In this example we observe kind of
presence of mind not usual in the fe nalc