Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-11-23
LINING WITHOUT SLEEP.
The Strange Story ola Newspaper
Writer.
Thoughts of Tremens and Terrible Dread
of De Quineey's Opium Dreams---A
Description ofSOme ofthe Pic
lures that Came in His
Wakeful Hours
Ness lori nrHth.

Experiences out OF the common happen IN
the lives of most scribblers on the daily
press. 1t may be remarked that the cur
Gus mental and physical experiences her
set.down are told just as they happened.
That is enough to say.
During the. period of silent freting the
writer began serial story for Sunday pa
per. TWAS intensely interesting to ITS au-
thor, if to nobody else. / felt uncommonly
well, too. There was an elasticity-an un-
consciousness Of bone, brain. and muscle
that was unaccountable. / had been tired
for twenty years, quite that. But now this
WEAKNESS departed There was sudden
gathering up of physical forces, They
seemed strong enough to roll the cloud Of
depression away.
Friday morning l began TO write the
serial. Sunday morning the first two chap
tiers we're in the paper. Other writing re-
quired part of my time also, and | was con-
stantly occupied. So matters moved on for
three weeks. The peculiar feeling OF exal-
tation continued.
Suddedly, without moments warning,
in perfect health, as it seemed, could not
sleep. That was all The nights were
spent in tossing from side to side, back and
forth, like a pendulum. / would lose con-
seriousness for FIVE minutes, perhaps, and
then awake as if I had been shot out Of a
gub. Presently twas impossible to write
more than little while. l became very
weak and nervous. IF there is anything
hat has always been detestable to me it is
What women call
"Having n Good Cry"
Aside from the loss of beloved friends,
here is very little in this world worth shed
ding tear about. But now the strangest
hing happened. would start in on my
story in the morning, write for half an hour,
and then l would put nv head down upon
The table and cry like school girl 1t
would be utterly impossible for me to write
line more. Plainly, the machine was ou:
t "whack.' All the while, like devour
ing monster, the Sunday paper waited for
he next chapter otthe story.
Somatters went on. There came to be e
trightful, boring pain in the left side at the
TOD of my head. Sometimes | did not
sleep an hour out Of the twenty.four. Again
there were weeks at time when | did no!
get an hours sleep at once. Then one who
had the right said:
You must consult physician. You can
have whom you choose, but somebody it
must b."
think l selected my medical adviser
mainly because he was man who had
written good novel At the same time
he was an iminent authority in nervous dis
eases. He said:
you have anamia Of the brain. 1t may
result in softening."
do you mean that you are going to have
me out here in padded cell and strai hit
jacket?
Il tell you plainly there is danger of it.
No remedies will do you any good at pres
ent. You must stop all work instantly"
But can't stop work. I'm writing a
serial novel two chapters published every
Sunday heaven save u.s.
We'll, wherever in the world you think
you would rather 60 just now, it will be a
good plan to go there"
Old Point Comfort, Va.
Its balmy airs, its fig trees and creep myr-
ties that live out doors the year around, its
glorious stretch OF blue, glistening waters,
it's lazy, jolly negroes, its infinitely selfcom-
placent martial dudes from Fortress Mon
roe-that was my place. Kindly friends
said was suffering from oyerwork, but il
was not that. Work, severe and solid, is
good for soul and body. 1t is worrying that
kills. The blood vessels in my brain had
been engaged so long that they had lost
their elasticity, and the veins and arteries
up there would no longer do their work
That was the medical explanation of it, ]
,hlnk. The result was sn&mis or blood
eRsness of the brain. Ny eyes began to
pain me intensely. At times was halt
blind. My eyes are blue But at this time
they faded out almost white and took on 8
strange, colorless lock, impossible to de
scribe. An oculist examined them. 1T il
very interesting case" he said. 9TH
retina Of your eve is nearly bloodless"
i was an interesting case, and was
hacked of to Old Point Comfort to tn,
Rvgeia Hotel And there, on the shores o.
he blue Chesapeake, began series o
siupendous mental experiences. AS | lool
lack on them from this safe distance the,
romind me Of De Quiucey's opium dreams
and of that only.
Except that mine were not induced b.
Opium. There drew the line | had done
ANYTHING or everything to make me sleep
except to take laudanum or morphine, or
any form Of that drug. l had desthly
horror Of beginning it lest ] should
Become an Opium Victim.
"l'll wear it out" said They gave me
an airy little room in a quiet wing. No
Ct it was, overlooking the beautiful water
two ways. There tried to wear it out
Listless, weary days were followed BY
nights of agony Sometimes the feeling was
exactly like what delirium tremens is de-
scribed to be, except was in full possession
Of my senses. Spiders, skeletons, and
shapes of grizzly horror, with claws and
grinning fsngs, flashed before my eyes as
Law and tried to sleep. Again there we're
visions of the stupendous, the terrible
Giant trees, 1000 feet high. with waving
wiDg-like branches, shot and disappeared.
Blacker heights in the midst Of dim
darkness wavered before my sight and were
gone. When closed my eyes, strange cir.
cles and spots and spaces Of light foated
before them, Circles of dusky gold sud
denly appeared upon field Of holy, shining
violet light 1t was ike the violet tint that
sometimes glints for moment across the
electric light, but i. was infinitely more
beautiful. One circle of dusky gold, mar.
rowed to q spot Of white light upon the mar
row field. and disappeared, 20 be followed
by another floating in its place. Some
times the circles were a vivid, exquisite
green.
There were stranger things than this.
Into the violet field and the circles of dusky
gold there sometimes we're projected human
faces and figures. They came in flashing
lableaux aud disappeared in less time than
could be measured, vet they were perfect. l
saw their dress, the color of their eyes, and
could have identified them anywhere. They
were commonplace enough looking, mostly.
49,. ~ .h.t sine ,hara ,vaa ~ 90 an -,