The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1885-02-19
The simu,taueou. Thought.

s'Fancies!'' she almost shrieked.
"Something occurred in my sight once
that altered my entire life"
There. now. have no claim upon
your confidence" he demonstrated.
''Rut, my dear friend, must tell
somebody. I've never told human
being, though have described it to
myself hundred thousand times. Per-
haps shall be abso we'd from my long
penance if do but confde the secret to
someone else"
=! warn you that am a wretched
confessor."
..You must not interrupt me-"
81 promise.
Every well, listen. tell it you just
as see it with my eyes and hear ii
with my ears at this moment" Mootla
began. II am a mere child. 1t is a
warm summer day, and am in car
pentcr's shop. sonewhere,-for never
knew the name of the place.-huntin.
blocks for toy houses among the shaw
ings. In the center of the room there
are two workmen. quite near each 9th
er. They arc intimate friends. One is
using a broadax. He is trimming down
a piece OF timber, while the other makes
mortisc holes in an 4nd OF the same
great log. The yodnger man. who
works with the mailer and chisel, j:
pale and much exhausted. Laying
down his tools. he slowly raises hi:
arm above his head Us he drawls out:
".You handle that OK SO well
George
...Yes?' mnrmurs the axman, in 9
strangely interrogative tone, as the
bright steel cleavcs the sides of the
tough beam. Now he stops ehoppine
to glare yacantly ut the cold, gray
metal; now lie resumes work more Wig.
Orously.
..'It seems SO keen,' the younges
says.
:. And sure the elder adds.
Life such bore, l wish you d
split my head
Poor fellow; he's taken al his
word.
"a flash of light and a new crash
put an everlasting period to the dia-
logue. see tilatsax's blade buried in
the skull of the young apprentice, while
its handle still quivers in tie elder
workman's grasp.
s.My God! the look of horror on that
murderer's face! 1t fades away, and
the man falls in swOon upon the
floor.
Il hear the rush of feet. Blanched
faces gat ,er round in awful silence.
am not seen. They do not suspect
me OF the terrible scene. Why don't
somebody speak?
.sHow hideOus is silence!
Il see only one object in that room.
Not the bleeding corpse. but the man
who has done the murder. /, alone,
have heard their conversation. l. alone,
know how the young man begged for
death. crawl over to the prostrate
chopper of wood. / understand the
case. stoop down and kiss his cold
forehead. forgive him, f.r know
he ouIy obliged fir end. They tell me
that he also is dead. Strong men
strive to tear me from him, but 1 beg
to stay. They deny me this. / scream:
He is my f.,tner:
.Is tins truc?" 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 minus. 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 i'm
pulse that makes an innocent man a
murde-er?'
There was long pause.
ut was all so horrible that I believe
the average death-rate of the village
increased" Mootia resumed. hearing
anew her own thoughts. ''There were
two suicides soon after, and boy-lOv-
er str,Dglcd his sweetheart. - On a
1ur0iH. T"