Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-03-31

was no sooner fastened than my uncon-
scious assailant began beating the wall,
making the loose pieces of dried mortar
rattle down between the lath and
Notwithstanding On the night subsc-
quent to the adventure just narrated,
Roberts said:
al met the same old drunkard again
yesterday He came Mt me with his
knife, but l got away with him.
knocked him down into the cellar.
knew he was knocked down the cellar
stairs, because heard his bones rat
tle.n
The sleeper had curiously confoundcd
the rattling of dried mortar with the
rattling OF drunkard's bones.
A more conscientious boy, and one
more correct in his habits and language
than my young companion, | have nev.
er met. In his wakoful moments, an
oath was rs much q stranger TO his lips
as to the lips of deaf mute. In his
sleep, occasionally, he would make the
air sulphurous with his profanity When
awake. the only knowledge he pos
scssed of what he had done in his sleep
was in the vague recollection of dream.
One day he looked particularly haggard
and complained of great fatigue. On
the following night, after falling asleep,
he said:
Yesterday had walk of about iif.
teen miles"
He then detailed his travels, how he
had gone to u railroad station called
Jonesville, four miles distant how the
place "had the appearance of Sunday,
! all the stores and houses being closed;h
I hp,v ba haI ,ya1loI IN
post-village, and finally how he had been
driven off by an ugly dog from a farm.
ers promises located in an adjoining
township. His story was verified sub
sequcntly by several witnesses who had
seen him on the night in question in the
several places he had named. 1 had
left him for few days, and was on the
farm from which he had been driven by
the vigilant Watchdog. After his de-
scription of his nights tramp, he ex-
planned that he was hunting for me.
His malady, for such it had now be-
come, had assumed alarming symptoms,
and we sought by some means to at
least alleviate the difficulty. We took
the precise course, or rather allowed
him TO take it, that only aggravated the
trouble. He went to college prepar.
atory school located at Hillsdale, Mich.
and straightway became the one object
of interest for the whole institution
His freaks became daily more eccentric
AT one time he remained in sorNnam.
bulistic state for iifty-six hours, during
which time he was u guest at n semina
ry soirec, and of course the cynosure o.
all eyes. 1t was during this brief pc
riod, and while asleep, that he wrote mt
a letter in answer to friendly ont
, which but few days before | had sen
him. 1t began and ended with abuse
and was filed up with invective. Onl,
n few weeks previously, as David ant
Jonathan, we had parted, and so far n
, knew, our friendship was still lirml,
cemented. / was therefore not littl
, stunned ut the reading of my friend
, vituperation. The writing was on thre
sides of sheet of note-paper, and con
cluded with: " You need never answe
. this letter. / shall never receive any
5 thing directed in your handwriting. Al
A enveloped thus addressed to me will b
4 returned unopened"
: On the last page of the sheet he ha
a used the cork of his ink-stand in blacl
G ing the paper around several lines, rel
s resenting ligure-heads most grotesquc
}, In one corner was Mephistophelea
s portrait, done in black ink, ornamente
e with the mythical horns and forke
IS tongue, and directly under it the su!
IS gestive, not to say personal, inscriptio
|. in capital letters Z" YOU"
n Once out of this sleep, the Young ma
e lapsed Immediately into another unit
}. finally, studying began to make insar
If ity appear inevitable. Indeed, his son
II nambulism already had all the chara
y teristics of insanity-it was insanit,
e Urged by his friends, he returned
,. Mosherville, when, only Il few evening
n after, he went to bed as usual, and
Is usual spirits, only to awake in Il
D morning in Il semi-unconscious stat,
n This was some time in September. II
te did not recover his wonted reason Il
'e early in December. During the da
'r he would read and write some, perfor
little labor, eat heavily, and all IL
y time act precisely as he had done whe
e, on his nightly somnambulistic exou
IL sons. Retiring to bed, he would sir
NJ into death-like stupor, from which
IS was impossible to arouse him.
Of length, one morning in December, aft
TO having passed night of most profour
re silence, he awoke, and began Ii
OF where he had left it three months b
N fore. He sat down to write lette
a, and dated it in September. On goir
ID out into the air, he was amazed at Il
ID frigidity of n September morning, and
ly was with the utmost difficulty that
OF could be persuaded finally that for thr,
lie months the world had been moving {
he by him unheeded, that while he had sleI
a early fall had glided into winter, tn
Ell indeed, he was quarter of year old
III than when he last went to sleep. Lie
AT there should be another somnambulist
Il, lapse, my young friend was careful
'd guarded from any kind of mental c
n ercise, and from any possible physiC
m fatigue. He began then to mend n
~ continued to mend until recovery W
IS, accomplished. When last heard fro
ne him, he was successful Method
ne clergyman in Buffalo, a thriving lit
p town in the interior of the State
n Illinois. a. Mortimer Roe, IN Po!te