Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-03-24
tim of opium in the later stages of his

antly ''cut' him whom they considered
the "disgrace Of the family. l found
myself alone in the world. My married
sister, residing in the South of France,
had throughout maintained an affection
ate and sympathetic correspondence
with her erring brother, and now kindly
urged me to spend a winter season I'M
der her roof. [ accepted gratefully I;
and, thanks to her watchful influence,
reggained, for a while, the mastery over
my passion. But after a brief spell of
reform, we were again forced to sep
arate, for fear of public scandal and a
bad example to the household.
The slope of the Maritime Alps, it is
well known, abound in health resorts
for summer tourists. So soon, then, as
l found myself once more cast adrift, 1
resolved on seeking out the most re-
mote and least frequented of these
mountain Businesses. There it was my
fixed purpose to put a sure and, as I
hoped, speedy finishing stroke to q
useless and humiliating existence. In
short, l had deliberately determined on
perpetrating alcoholic suicide. On the
extreme frontiers of France and Pied
mont, perched some 1000 feet above
the sea-level, lies a narrow plateau, or
mountain ledge, commanding ar ex-
tensive and almost unrivaled prospect.
The place takes its name of Notre Dame
de la Fentre from a window-like ap(r-
ture in an overhanging mountain, which
a pious tradition attributes to the mirac-
ulous passage of the Blessed Virgin,
bearing the infant Jesus in her arms.
On the site of her resting place, below
the mountain, q chapel has been erected,
consecrated to the cult of the Madonna.
1t attracts thousands of pilgrims from
the distant towns and villages both of
France and Italy, on the 18th of August,
the FIESTA of the Assumption. Here is
also a modest but comfortable auberge,
for the accommodation of the numer-
Gus tourists who visit this romantic and
salubrious spot during the brief summer
season.
I took up my abode in this little hos
telry in the month of July, 49,, with
the Interpretation of ending my days
there, and at no distant date. Mean
while held doggedly aloof from all in.
%tercourse save with the tough but kind
ly and honest folks who supplied my
daily needs. But to no purpose did 1
invoke death. [ could neither live nor
die. At last, strangely, though, a sud-
den revu1sion of feeling took possession
of me. Hope, as it.were, even against
hope, seemed to revive in me. Again l
hankered after life, and aspired to a
more normal existence.
Reader, do you believe in PRESENT.
ments? Hitherto l had been a skeptic,
/ a~l ,o,,o,,j ri Wv l. o,k:;-~. =. ~ -
tiers savoring of spiritual or extra-ma-
terial agency. But natural instinct will
revenge itself, from time to time, upon
even the most stubborn of unbelievers.
In q moment | fell a victim to credulity /;
[ felt a vague, but none the less posi-
tive, assurance Of some event about to
befall me which was destined to change
the current of my whole life. OF its
precise nature [ had not even a glimpse,
but it was a strange fancy connected
with .hopefulness rather than misgivings.
Did I not already know the worst?
Surely any change, no matter what,
must be welcome to me! Nevertheless,
at the outset l strove to stlfle it as the
promptings of a childish superstition
or yet more probably, a symptom OF
mental deterioration, perhaps even OF
brain-softening. Despite all my efforts,
it would whisper in my ear, like a still,
small voice, day and night.
One morning l woke with this idea
more wildly impressed on my mind
than ever; and, at a late hour, as usual,
rose and dressed for nv solitary mid.
day meal. [ heard strange voices in the
adjoining room, and clearly distin.
guished the unwonted accents Of my ma
tive tongue. Two English ladies had
bespoken rooms for a weeks stay. Only
q few days had elapsed since such an
announcement would have failed to
awaken the faintest interest in my mind.
The case was otherwise. now. I felt a
sudden craving for congenial inter
course with my unknown f~ellow.country-
women. :,
To brace my nerves for the inter
view, [ drank more deeply than usual,
but the excitement of anticipation Sc
sured to me the full possession OF all my
faculties. I entered the salon; the
two ladies, seated at the open window,
were silently admiring tie. prospect.
In a foreign land in general, and in an
out-of-the-world place like that in which
I was now staying in particular, the
sight of a fellow-countryman is well
come. Within half an hour we were
on terms of cordial intimacy. The two
ladies stood in the relation OF aunt and
niece. The former, though somewhat
advanced in life, was still a comely
dame. The years of the latter could
barely have reached a quarter Of a cen
fury. Without any pretentions to regu-
lar beauty Of features, Sylvia, for such
was her name, was undeniably prepos-
sessing, and an intellectual and anna
BILE type of co%untenance proved a faith
full index to her moral and mental
character. Both were evidently women
of culture and refinement.
On this memorable evening, which
marked a great epoch in the lives of two
of the party, the truth of the adage,
"ha zinc reritas," was strikingly exem.
plifed. In the course of conversation
my companion expressed q natural
though well-bred curiosity to learn the
motives which could have prompted
an educated Englishman, like myself,
to seek a living tomb in these mountain
solitudes. My heart, which had so long
borne the burden of its silent seal,