, 1880-07-25

:: tn OCCUPY it. For he must occupy it. This
i the grim feature Of the situation. He
-,,1-es a desperate resolve to sleep on the
aoor tn occupy the washstand, or to tip over
+se I 1nreau and sleep on that, but the knobs
d,scourage him. In his growing rage at tho
1,ad the washstand, the bureau, and the
.hai,. not to mention the tin slop-jar, become
dsar tn him be has an insane. idea that they
rnnst be moved to sympathy with his fo11o1n
condition. and is tempted to hug them But
these are vain de1usionsi The victim has
m resource, and he prepares to grapple with
ths ;nsensate monster. He realities his help
,seness md approaches his mortal enemy
derrecatingly, tin1idly, as If invoking mercy.
Is spreads back the cover, carefully adjusts
tbe pait of bologna -6ansaRcs, and stretches
h;rself upon the rack, aud thinks OF the
f.mous bed of procrustes, which was either
~ small or too large; and to thesize Of (which
th.t celebrated torturer adapted the limbs
- h,sy1ctIms by force As he moves rest
,esty. finding with each, change a harder
.not be- sighs TO be bound with Procrustean
cnIds He had yaInly believed that the bed,
though hard, was level plain What de-
1ns;on and snarel It is rs uneven as
a woru-out cobblerstone pavement He
stretches himself at full length on his back
md finds thai his hips rest on one elevation
.nd his feet on another, his legs spanning
the axfu1 chasm like the 2rches OF bridge.
Ia raises his right foot and strikes the
.bump" with all his force, hoping to level
= vain efforts; the *'hump' remains, but
M foot IS disabled, and the owner of 1t cries
ant with pain. He drags himself towards
ft1e head Of the bed, curling up in the neigh
korhood Of the sausage-1ike pillows and
fries to drop of to sleep, but feels his
feet slipping from under him into the
chasu formerly spanned by his legs. Then
be turns first on one side, then on the other,
hut in each case his hip encounters an ex-
certionally large cobb1e-stona *s hump" and
be roars with agony. Finally he throws one
Of the sausage pillows at. the bureau and the
other at the wsshstand, makes great racket
and wakens baby in the next room. Then
be sits upright among the cobble- stones and
swears and tears his hair. He offers, If tho
maker Of the bed shall be produced, to FRY,
boil, and roast him, to cut him mp into little
pieces with red-hot shears and give the pieces
to bIocdhoupds. He Is consumed with rage
against his landlord. but be dare not utter
one profane word Of malediction on that
polnt BE knows that the house is full, and
that personal enemy of his is, at the mo-
1aent sleeping on sofa in the patlor. How
he would like to inveigle that person
into bis soom and his bed! He
bounccs out Of bed aid laughs a
6endish hugh as the thought seizes him that
be will rush into the parlor, waken the
s1eepez propose reconciliation. and offer as
evidence Of his forgiveness and Christian
charity to give up his bed to his enemy! But
he lacks the nerve to execute the content-
plated crime: Relieved. for an instant of
thn horrihle torture of tho bed, his better nat
ure asserts Itself Holding the lifted latch
in his hand, he stands appalled, at the hei-
nousness of-the ofense he is about to COM
nit Shamed by conscience, he drops his
bruised arms, hangs his head, staggers to
the window, and, by the moonlight, finds the
time TO be o'clock. A fnint light already
streaks the eastern ski, cock crows, the
rumble Of the milk-man's cart resounds
on the grayelly road, a cool, moist
breeze sweeps over. the dew-laden grass
and steals in at the shade1ess win
dow. tanning the heated brow OF the
wretched man. He is completely broken in
spirit Tears lickle down his nose as t1a
recalls the days OF his boyhood, when he
ran away from home and slept sweetiy In a
hayloft- He hears sound under the win
dow. and starts Ike guilty. thing. He casts
shame faced look about the disordered
room, but when his eye rests upon the bed
the embers of his impotent rage, flare up
with 8 lurld light and he utters faint ini-
pfecation. Then he highly resolves to devote
Its life to reforming watering-place beds,
dresses hastily, ,,steals out otthe house like
.hiet, curls up In a heap on. the grass under
tree goes to sleep, and the spiders weave
Wehs about him. >,