River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-09-23
THE BASILISK.
A STORY OF TO-DAY.
CHAPTER L.
RETROSPECTIVE.

numerous institutions, half scien tifc,
half charitable, and wholly admirable,
which do so much to justify the nine
teenth century in its tenure of such an
advanced place among the ages.
Founded by private benevolence, the
Home gives what its name processes TO
limited number of patients of the
better class, whose means do not allow
of their enjoying the highest skill, ex-
cept under conditions of painful pub
lcity. and who, but for the shelter
Afforded by the Home. would have
been brought, perhaps. to beggary by
their afliiction. OF this refuge was l,
frank Coplestone, an inmate; and one
fine afternoon in September, 1888, |
was sitting in the resident surgeons
sanctum, as had for some time past
been rather an established custom,
smoking long pipe, and talking.
much like other people, over the con-
Germs of our little world with good DR..
Shaw.
In the pauses of our intimate and
desultory conversation, / reflected for
the hundredth time on the marvellous
and merciful faculty men possess of
becoming; if not reconciled, at least re-
signed, to the most dreadful conditions
of existence. RecOnciled / was not.
Rut bod I 1OOl-aH into n ,,,aOioiap q
mirror four years ago, and seen myself
in the future the blind helpless being |
now was, i should have deemed il a
lying vision to have shown me capable
of living at all under such an affection.
Four years agol What an immense
time for young man to look forward
to! What an Insignificant period to
look back upon, when the years have
hidden their chances, or quickly run
the gauntlet of slumbering ambition.
The last four years had been to me a
dream of horror, from which l was
only just awakening into sober dark
ness. And yet l could sit smoking
with DR.. Shaw, and talk with every
day interest over things in general. l
could not have done it had | really
shared Shaw's opinion of my case. 1
knew he had come to consider it hope
less. The principle that made me a
tolerable companion, the principle that
kept me living or a sane man, was
Hope.
The life at st. Bartimeus' if not of
an exhilarating character, was made
as cheerful as circumstances allowed.
/ We were not, even the most fOrlorn of
us, left without the sense of sympathy
ana even friendliness. We had good
] ly number of visitors who interested
| themselves in our interests, and joined,
/ both actively and passively, in our en-
] tertainments. Some were of the ma
| ture of real friends, others were those
| good souls, who feel that affiiction
/ gives a brother q sort of claim upon
| them, and generally cOntrive TO let him
| realize that he is sort of poor rela-
! ton of the human family, whose rights
cannot be gainsaid, but whose situation
| allows of a certain goody-goOd dis
| count upon their benevOlence. Our
/ concerts were, in limited sense, cele-
brated, if | may with propriety say so,
as | was the chief musician of the es-
tablishment. Plays, in which some OF
us took part, with the extraordinary
4 facility which seems incredible, or at
least miraculous, to those who have
not had much experience of tho blind,
were not seldom performed in the
| 10 haD % hn Infnn FHho5a ra1ar-S
| afforded at least as much qualification
| to outsiders as to the inmates. For
| the hall allowed of the erection of a
( good sized stage, and accommodated a
large audience. This being the case,
benevolence and dramatic ambition
went hand-in-hand; and many anna
teurs who cared little for amusing the
blind, were glad to exercise their talent
upon so favorable an arena, before
| their kinsfolk and acquaintance. DIR.
| Shaw. though not much of an actor,
/ being, in fact, as he said, bothered by
having a lot of other people about him
was much given to recitations on these
/ festive occasions, and being some
/ thing of poet, often took the OppOrtu-
| nifty of letting off his own compositions
which were generally of a martial
| character. As ] was always content
/ to sit silently, and let my thoughts
run on as they would, while the good
/ doctor acclaimed his compositions, he
had come to regard me as critic of
no mean order, and a useful court, of
first instance.
! To-day, With an apologize authority
of tone, which had learned to inter-
/ pref as the precursor of preliminary
\ reading, DR.. Shaw, our conversation
/ having turned on the next projected
entertainment, proposed to read me
| dramatic poem he had been writing for
the occasion. | settled myself to
/ think. He took turn or two about
/ the room, and then accOmpani ed my
/ thoughts with the not unmusical ca
dences o: his partially trained voice.
And as he read | let my mind go
back to the past, saw myself again
/ boy of nineteen, imaginative, impUlsive,
romantic. My mother, an officer 5
/ widow of scanty means, mad managed
| to send me to a good school. and was
now contrlving to let me study music
/ in London. / had a taste, amount
/ ing to passion for music,
/ and L worked at it with
will; being resolved not only TO
make living by it, but some time or
I other, to make name and fame as
well. How hard l worked At school
l had done but moderately well. |
/ had no heart in the work there; and
1 though as have said, a romantic and
imaginative boy, l was a tollerably
/ robust one. and devoted myself to
| games with zeal which might have
( done no little if devoted to classics or
mathematics. The change from the
/ free open air school life to that OF close
/ study and mental excitement in London
/ began to tell on me before | gave the
matter thought; and it was probably
as much of my weak state Of health, as
to any extraordinary amount of youth
full susceptibility, tibet / owed my
first great passion-sudden, overwhelm-
ing. hopeless. l was looking over
some music one afternoon in a shop in
Bond street, when two ladies entered;
one | did not notice-she was like all
T other women to NV unawakened eyes.
The other came as a revelation. The
I first sight of her face applied a match
+ to all the stored up romance of my
mind. She was of a tall and stately
/ figure, with plentiful dark hair, and
/ vopdcrful black ar-as She looked az