The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-01-01
The Simultaneous Thought.
"Fancies!" she almost shrieked.
Something occurred in my sight once
that altered my entire life

"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.
But, 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 absolved from my long
penance if | do but confide the secret to
someone else.
Il warn you that l am a wretched
confessor.
You must not interrupt me-
Il promise.
Very well, listen. | tell it you just
as l see it with my eyes and hear it
with my ears at this moment" Mootla
began. Il am a mere child. 1t is a
warm summer day, and am in a car
penter's shop, somewhere,-for l never
knew the name of the place,-hunting
blocks for toy houses among the shay
ings. In the center of the room there
are two workmen, quite near each 9th
er. They are intimate friends. One is
using broadax. He is trimming down
piece of timber, while the other makes
mortise holes in an end of the same
great log. The younger man, who
works with the mallet and chisel, is
pale and much exhausted. Laying
down his tools, he slowly raises his
arm above his head as he drawls out:
You handle that ak SO well,
George
"'YesP murmurs the axman, in a
strangely interrogative tone, as the
bright steel cleaves the sides of the
tough beam. Now he stops chopping
to glare vacantly at the cold, gray
metal; now he resumes work more Wig
orously.
..'It seems so keen,' the younger
says.
!" And sure, the elder adds.
"'Life's such bore, l wish you'd
split my head
Poor fellow; he's taken at his
word.
"A flash of light and a new crash
put an everlasting period to the dia-
logue. | see that ak S blade buried in
the skull of the young apprentice, while
its handle still quivers in the elder
workman's grasp.
MY God! the look of horror on that
murderer's face! 1t fades away, and
the man falls in a swoon upon the
floor.
Il hear the rush of feet. Blanched
faces gather round in awful silence
l am not seen. They do not suspect
me OF the terrible scene. Why don't
somebody speak?
How hideous is silence!
Il see only one object in that room.
Not the bleeding corpse, but the man
who has done the murder I, alone,
have heard their conversation. |, alone,
know how the young man begged for
death. l crawl over to the PROSTATE
chopper of wood. | understand the
case. l stoop down and kiss his cold
forehead. l forgive him, for | know
he only obliged friend. They tell me
that he also is dead. Strong men
e.rivo to .aar mo from him, but bog
to stay. They deny me this. l scream:
He is my father.
s.Is this true?' exclaimed Walter,
terror-stricken at the realism of the
tale.
True answered Mootla, solemnly;
DtiI o"ceti W you lhdt lHdH dClct
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 lis
that track the wake of an eclipse
what are they all, compared to the i'm
pulse that makes an innocent man a
murderer"
There was long pause.
at was all so horrible that | believe
the average death-rate of the village
increased" Mootla resumed, hearing
anew her own thoughts. There were
two suicides soon after, and boy-lov-
er strangled his sweetheart. "-"On q
Margin"