Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-13
STORY OF THE TELEeusT,
The Wonderful Effects Of ,
"Gyrating Current" =.

"Gyrating Current"
The afternoon was dull and gloomy.
1t had been raining all day, and the bad
weather had kept people in doors, Sc
that I had been alone in my study and
able to bend all my energies to the diff.
cult and entangled task in hand. Ihad
reached a stopping place-or rather q
place where a consultation of authori.
ties was necessary, and with a sigh oil
relief l picked up a volume of Tyndall's
essays, and. throwing myself on the
sofa, lit a cigar, and gradually became
absorbed If he close reasoning of that
master of modern physics.
For some reason q certain passage in
one of his lectures attracted my atten.
ton strongly. 1t was this:
"Wc have the strongest reason for
believing that what the nerves convey
to the brain is, in all cases, motion. Il
is the motion excited by sugar in the
nerves of taste which, transmitted to
the brain, produces the sensation OF
sweetness, while bitterness is the result
OF motion produced by aloes."
l put aside the book to follow out an
odd train Of thought which the passage
suggested. just then my cigar went
out; and as l arose to get a match to
relight it, some one Knocked at the
door. l opened it. The hallway was
dark, and for u moment l could discern
no one; but gradually the figure of g
man became visible some distance off,
as if he had hastily moved away.
'NNhy don't you come in?" ldemand-
ed. The man hesitated a moment, and
then entered. He refused the proffered
easy chair, and seated himself ON the
very edge of an uncomfortable stool,
which l never use except to mount
upon in order to reach books on high
shelves.
He was q peculiar looking person,
slight and spare in build, with bAshy gray
hair brushed back from a wrink.ed fore
head, somewhat retreating, but pro-
truding far ,.ver a pair Of keen eyes.
The lower part of his face va covered
with q beard Of the same oushy char
actor as his hair, which, however, did
not conceal the outlines of a long chin
and the somewhat vacillating express
sion about his mouth. It was a coun-
tenance which, once seen, would be
difficult to forget-siDgular in the mu-
tual contradiction of its features.
He wore q child's felt hat with a very
narrow brim, perched on one side Of
s his head in IN anonymously jaunty
way; q hat with a curious multiplicity
OF ventilatipg holes scattered over the
crown, in one of which was knotted n
piece of frayed hemp Irvine which led
down to one of his b%uttonholes. The
hat seemed merely to rest on his head.
and was decidedly too small for him.
No doubt it fell off frequently, and
hence the necessity ..for the cord. His
loose blue flannel coat had but n but
ton. all others having abandoned their
fastenings and left little tangles of rusty
black thread behind them. The neither
portion of this garment had been part
ly torn of, and ewn fast again with
white string in great criss-cross stitches.
His trousers were pagggy where they
should have been tight. and tight where
they should have been bagggy; and l re-
marked, also, chat his shoes were laced
with the same sort of brown Irvine that
confined his hat, and that one of them
had q loose half-sole which clapped IN
a singular w~ay.against his foot when ne
walked.
For a few moments after seating him.
self he regarded me silently but closely,
81 if studying my features, until, !
fact, his gaze became actually 1rksome
to me. Then it seemed suddenly to oc-
cur to him that his hat wa still on his
head, for he removed it quickly with a
hasty apology, and placed it carefully
on the table beside lhim.
Then he stared ut me again:
"Can l do ANYTHING for you?' Iasked,
somewhat uneasily. His presence was
becoming an annoyance.
He made no reply, but instead, after
pecrjng tixedly into his hat, carefully
extracted therefrom y little parcel
seemingly a sort OF box wrapped m a
scrap OF newspaper-and a roll OF wire.
These he placed on my study table, then
once more staring at me unde MS
busbv eyebrows. he demanded abrupt
ly: .:Haye you had your dinner.
..No."I replied, somewhat astonished
al the question.
Hungry" no
went on rapidly. r
..Excuse the question-no otfense. l
asked it because it leads, SO TO speah'
to other things. Now, I'm not hungry
myself-not now-and it follows tha5
nv remark was not Oh i%nsinuation that