River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-01-01
The Simultaneous Thought.

aFanceisl" she almost shrieked.
Something occurred in my sight once
that has altered my entire life"
'HThere, now. have no claim upoT
your confidence" he demonstrated.
''But. my dear friend, must tell
somebody. I've never told a human
being, though I've described it to my.
self a hundred thousand times. Per-
haps / shall be absolved of my long
penance if do but confde the secret
to some one else"
II warn you that am a wretched
confessor.
"You must not interrupt me"
II promise
Every well, 1 tell you it just as | seq
it with my eyes and hear it with my
ears this moment" Mootla began. a
am mere child. 1t is q warm summer
day, and l am In q carpenters shop,
somewhere for / never knew the name
OF the place hunting blocks for toy
houses among the shayings. In the
centre of the room there are two work
men, quite near each other. They are
intimate friends. One is using broad
ak. He is trimming down a peice of
timber, while the other makes mortice
holes in the end of the same great log.
The younger man, who with mallet and
chisel, is pale and much exhausted.
Laying down his tools, he slowly raises
his arms above his head as he drawls
out,
"'You handle that ak SO we'll,
George
'Yes?' murmers the ax-man in a
strangely interrogative tone, as the
steel cleayes the side of the tough beam
Now he stops chopping to glare vacant
ly at the cold gray metal; now he re-
sumes work more vigorously.
1T seems 50 keen, the younger says.
And sure, the elder adds.
'Life's such a bore, wish you'd
split my head
poor fellow, he's taken at his word.
"A flash of light and new crash put
an everlasting period to the dialogue.
/ see the axis blade buried in the skull
of the young apprentice, while its han
die still quiyers in the elder workmans
grasp.
"My God! the look of horror on that
murderer's facet 1t fades away, and
II hear the rush of feet. Blanched
faces gather round in awful silence. ]
am not seen. They do not suspect me
of the terrible crime. Why don'tsome
body speak?
"How hideous is silence!
II see only one object in that room.
Not the bleeding corpse, but the man
who had done the murder. |, alone.
have heard their conversation. /, alone.
know how the young man begged for
DEATH / crawl over to the PROSTATE
chopper of wood. / understand the
case. / stoop down and kiss his
cold forehead. ! forgive him for
know that he only obliged friend.
They tell me that he also is dead.
Strong men strive to tear me from him.
but l beg to stay. They deny me this.
scream He is my father"
as this true?" exclaimed Walter,
terror stricken at the realism of the
tale.
"True, answered Mootla, solemnly:
"but swear to you that man acted
without moral intent. | understand
the psychology of that crime now. 1t
was the correlation, the reciprocity of
like thought simultaneously present in
two minds We are told of danger in
conjunctions of the stars, OF human ills
that track the wake OF an eclipse-what
are they all, compared to the impulse
that makes an innocent man muir
derer?"
There was long pause.
at was all so horrible that I believe
the average death rate in the village in
creased" Mootla resumed hearing anew
her own thoughts. There were two
suicides soon after, and boy lover
strangled his sweetheart.