The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-06-21

THE CROPPING oF DARKENEb MIND.

INT Nh'NANh w hiNb
Again do We introduce the reader to the
office Of the correspondent, Mr.. GorstOn,
but this time the splendor If the moon
light gilds every external object, and II lies
on one broad, white sheet upon the floor,
as 1t comes IN through the windows and
streams the room with a mellow radiance.
MIR Nurston and MIR Leroy are both
there, the latter silently watching the ever
mysterious and brooding figure uf Mr.
Mapleton, who Is leaning his head upon
his hand at the table The glass door con
Meeting with the other rooms is closed and
as Mr.. lorstnn arises and lights the lamp,
he says:
Enough Of moonlight dreaming, gen
tlemen. We have business before us
Here, indicating two manuscripts lying
upon the table. are two written state
ments, the one being paper which our
friend MIR Mapletun wrote under certain
strange influences Nov, We have dis
cussed the point regarding the manuscript
and its being other than mere romance
The presumption, ! own, is that the young
man may have imagined that the face he
saw resembled some one he had known
away bach in his past, and the MANUSCRIPT
may be simply statement and nothing
more However, whilst conversing with
our young friend, Master Tom Gray, dis
covered that he had found manuscript
some time ago, at the place where he came
from. Simply, as a literary man desires
to see manuscripts. ! asked to see it.
have it here nov, and by its side, Mr.
Mapleton's story. Apart, either is but an
idle romance Together they connect and
form a romance the romance Of the life
of some human being, perhaps your own"
Mr. Mapleton started slightly.
For the benefit of MIR Leroy, and IN
order that | may secure his opinion, | now
propose reading these two manuscripts
aloud The one will select first is the
one written by you, Mr. Mapleton, a few
days since, under such strange mental in
tiuences that You believe some mesmeric
divination il contained therein. The other
is somewhat soiled, partly lllegible paper,
written on both sides, and bearing only an
initial signature. Ii was found by Tom
Gray some months since, before he left his
native village, to seek his fortune in Lon
don.
. will read Mr.. Mapleton's manuscript
first, and will then proceed to this other.
And the story Of our young friend, as EN-
bodied in this sketch, is 50 strange that
am tempted to believe that, under some
mystical influence. he has been lea to
commit t. paper that which We have been
So earnestly seeking to know the history
Of his past life.
~ have, therefore termed this manu-
script
HIS STORY.
vision of storm and tempest a dream
Of Wild water and winds which sweep the
earth, the SKY, the sea A vision Of
storm and tempest consciousness of a
dead forces within, unable to cope with
the realities Of the phantasmagolia which
memory seems to parade before my
minds eye. Airy galleries Of thought
Vistas Of pleasure, and solid phalanx of
the eniss.lries Of woe and sorrow, pass be
fore my eyes. All this, and much more
in the aggregate; III detail, little that | can
recall accurately.
Seemingly, standing beneath blood
spreadn leaves Of tree which grows
only III Indian latitudes, and surveying the
dangerous Jungle before me Flanked by
mountains melting, miles upon miles away
into an apparently endless chain. comes a
D
sire at my heart. Love, neither forgotten
nor untrue, bat lost, So utterly, and 80 en-
tirely that, in heart felt anguish, weep,
seems to have been mine once seems to
have filled my life, and lent a kindly glow
to all the impeling motives of life
And nov seems to float before my mind
vision Of a temple here, in this solitude,
surrounded hy mighty banyon trees, he
meath which are paths, Well trudden by
devotees to the god Of lndian worship a
temple, within WHICH il hideuus idol, the
object Of the superstitious yeneration of
those who worship at morning, noon and
night
A companion is with NE a man in whom
| put my trust a friend, long tried and
true. We enter A huge diamond blazes
On the brow Of the statue idol, while gifts
Of gold and jewels lay before the idol. An
Indian guide shows US the idol, the treas
ures, and then the picture fades.
Fades to give birth to another one, this
time counting room. The friend is with
me still. see money fareweIls are spo-
ken, aud then, the sea
Some dim revocation Of memory brings
to my mind a MYSTERIOUS resemblance Of two
faces. There seems a mocking fiend in.
corporated into friend a friend
nov an enemy. Then dim foreboding,
that am the victim of hallucination. and
then--a and then.
Let me pause, for my mind is amazed
aghast, A long period Of darkness, q lon.
flight of time, and, then, what
lam here, | am living, breathing, exist
ing, and that il all But. have no past
but the single risiO', Of tLd tace to-day ha
convinced me that once had one
As he concluded the reading Of the m4n
useript, Mr.. Yorston replaced it upon tn,
table, and looked at the remaining occu