River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-02-22
THE HAND OF FATE.

/
La Harpe, the celebrated materialist, il
said to have fought duel with a friend
who had asserted the existence of his
own conscience. Such a skeptical fan.
attic was | at the date of the events / am
! about to relate. / was president of 8
society for the prevention ofsupersition
believe in nothing beyond the key Of
my five senses. / was a furious enemy
of dreams, omens, presentiments, ghosts
and spirits. was not likely, therefore,
to have been misled by superstiious ere
dulity or preserves Imagination in re-
gard to the circumstances.
I was living in bachelor lodgings in a
quiet street in the upper part of the city.
l went little into society and had few
friends. I spent most of the evenings,
consequently, in the seclusion of my
room, with no company but my books.
One autumn evening | reached home
at late hour, but feeling no desire to
sleep l lighted my lamp and sat down
for the purpose of finishing volume
had been reading. 1t was dissertation
on a favorite subject of mine-namely:
the physical causes Of dreams and appa-
ritions, the author tracing all spectral APP
partitions to illusions brought about by
by disordered nervous functions. / was
deeply interested, and read ON steadily
until after midnight.
Suddenly and without any warning
my light flickered and went out. For a
moment the room was in intense dark
ness. had drawn the curtain before
the windows, and the fire in the CRATE
had died down long before. Just as
was on the point of impatiently rising to
reiight the lamp, | was nailed to the
chair 9y strange phenomenon. Against
the opposite wall of my room faint
glow of light began TO appear. In shape
it was like the circular patch which is
thrown by Il camera upon screen. 1t
continued to increase in brilliancy until
the whole room was in a glare equal to
the MONDAY. 1t was as if circular Win
dow had been cut in the wall, admitting
the full power of the sun.
For an instant surprise held me dumb
and motionless; then arose. and, going
to the wall, placed my hand upon the
patch of light. observed that my hand
cast no shadow, and that, therefore, the
light could not come from behind me.
Puzzled, but by no means alarmed, l
went back to my chair, calmly resolved
10 watch the matter to its conclusion.
For moment the light remained
clear and steady; then a slight mist
seemed to overspread it. Out of this
mist, by slow degrees a picture was
evolved There was wide, deep river,
crossed by railroad bridge, in the fore
ground. | could see here and there a
vessel drifting with the tide, for it APP
peared to be still, warm day. In the
distance the hills looked blue and hazy.
There were white clouds in the sky, and
at a distance the smoke from a town on
the river bank rose lazily into the air.
I could note and memorize every de-
tail-the color of the wooden tres tie of
the railroad bridge; the shape and num-
Der OF the signal boards, the peculiar ar
rangement of the telegraph wires. In
fact, | could have sworn | sat before an
open window looking upon maternal
landscape of real sky, earth and water.
| noted, too, particularly, a weak spot
near the center of the bridge. The bed
of the road seemed to have warped, and
several sleepers were delayed and
loosened. | even said unconsciously:
''There will be terrible accident at
that point some daI-."
While / was gaping at the apparitioI
with sensations impossible to describe,
| observed the smoke Of an approaching
train. 1t rushed swiftly around curve
and upon tie bridge at undated speed.
| was conscious of feeling of intense
interest in it. | felt very mnch like Il
person witnessing a drama with high
wrong emotions, breathlessly watching
the action which is drawing toward the
tragic announcement.
On came the train. counted the cars
there were sixteen-four of a yellowish
color, and the remainder of deep red.
saw upon the sides the words: North
ern New York and Canada Railroad"
saw that the engines number was 10,
and shat the engineer. leaning out of the
window toward me, had large red face
and heavy black beard.
As the train came upon the bridge
there seemed to be sudden jar and
stoppage. The engine leaped into the
air like frightened horse and rolled OFT
the bridge, followed by six of the cars.
There was an intense movement OF alarm
and horror, shower of fire and a cloud
of steam which for moment hid every
thing from sight.
A moment afterward my attention was
irresistibly drawn to two figures strug-
Cling in the water. Ore was girl very
Young and beautiful, attired in gray
travelling suit She had lost her bonnet,
and her long fair hair was floating upon
the water.
The other figure was that of man,
whose appearances gave me a shock of
surprise. ! seemed to recognize him,
though his face was turned away. At
first he seemed to be making prepara-
tons to strike out vigorously toward the
shore. Then he seemed to catch sight OF
the young girl, for he turned, and,
swimming toward her, supported her on
one arm, while with the other he kept
them both afloat.
AT this moment / caught sight of his
face. / started up and uttered shout
of absolute terror. 1t was my own face,
white and stern with excitement and
resolution, that | saw before me.
As if my voice had broken the spell,
the light, landscape, wrecked train and
struggling swimmers disappeared like q
flash Of lightning. | rubbed my eyes
and looked around. The light was
burning brightly as before. The book
had been reading had slipped from my
hand to the floor. | perceived then that
| had been merely dreaming a vivid
dream.
To say that l was not STARTLED would
be untrue. | was very much moved,
but it was neither with superstitious
fear nor the slightest faith. Here,
thought, was grand opportunity to put
my favorite theories into practice.
had dreamed a dream Of such distinct
ness and detail, that it might readily be
supposed to be forewarning. That it
would prove to be nothing of the sort |
felt perfectly convinced. | would write
down the circumstances, and, when
events had proven them wholly false,
use the whole as knock down argu-
ment against all faith in any forewarn-
ings whatsoever.
On further investigation L confessed
that / was somewhat perplexed. Ifound
there was such raIiroad as Northern
New FORK and canada, ana that the
cars of the color seen in my dream.
found, further, on conversation with a
person who had travelled over the route,
that the road crossed the Black River on
a trestle-bridge, and that, viewed up the
river, the landscape would appear about
as | had seen it.
was by no means convinced, how
ever. / might have heard of the rail-
road in question and forgotten the fact
The color of the cars was such as is COM
mon to railroads. The landscape NAV
have borne only a general resemblance
to the Black river; moreover my descrip-
ton of the one seen in my dream could
at most have given only few salient
points, such as hills, water, a distant
town and trestle bridge, common to a
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