Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1886-09-29
BASILISK.
A STORY OF d
CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER II.
AN INTRODUCTION.
II will introduce you to the Bas-
ilisk."
This promise of DR.. Shaw's, INSIGHT
icant as it sounded, produced q great
effect upon me; an effect of which,
while 1 owned its beneficial influence,
I was in truth a little bit ashamed.
During all the time of my darkness l
had kept up a passive rebellion against
the calamity that had befa]len me. I
had abstained from open complainings,
but this was from pride than
from submission; and while I felt most
deeply the blight that had fallen on my
interests, I never thought of acquiring
new ones or of trying to find amuse-
ment or occupation in the little events
of the daily life around me. Blindness
was a calamity which 1 had no more
regarded as likely to happen to nae
than death itself. And death, though
generally recognized as inevitable, is
about the very last thing a young mar
expects to meet with in his proper per-
son. Moreover, I had always had a
kind of contempt for blindness, asso-
ciating it very intimately with some
aggressive form of dissent, as an
alternative with desperate villainy.
Charles Dickens was responsible for
the latter idea, the character of Stage
having made a deep impression upon
my boyish mind. The former notion
was derived from tho wife of a village
shopkeeper, who, if not actually blind,
was in the habit of wearing portentous
blue s%pectacles. This good woman
would check the high spirits of q
schoolboy, home for the holidays, by
launching at my needless head ap-
posite texts of Scripture of a commina-
tory character, and crushing any at.
tempts at conversation which touched
upon the weather, by intimating plain
~ the impiety of commenting upon the
direct dealings of Providence.
When recovering from my illness at
home I shrank from the Kindness of
friends and visitors. Their sympathy
enraged instead of soothing me. How,
indeed, could they s~ympathizeP They
were out in the light of the sun; Twas
down-far down in the abyss. It was
nothing to me that l could hear their
voices from above, hushed only when
they spoke to me, to a tenderer tone.
I was cut off from them; and they only
aggravated my misery by a kindness
which brought no comfort, H. helpful
ness which frightened not the edge of
my despair. I shrank from all efforts
to draw me out of myself, and would
doubtless have mopcd myself to mad
ness if c at being a burden to
my mother had not drawn me to &C.
cept the shelter of St. Bartimeus's
Home. Here I had gradually been led
to mix in the musical pursuits which
were so much in favor there: not that
I took any interest in them, but that
being among fellow sufferers I had less
longing to shrink from the insolent
happiness that could only play at being
touched by my misfortune.
The growth. then, of an ordinary
interest in my mind was a new and
wholesome sign-yet I was ashamed of
its cause. The mere prospect of being
introduced to q stranger, whom I could
not sven see, somehow made me feel
that I still belonged to the general fell
(owship of mankind, in a way that no
care or kindness had hitherto enabled
me to realize.
/ was very curious to make Miss
Beaufoy's acquaintance, and DR..
Shaw's dislike OF her did nothing to
diminish my curiosity. The similar
ity of idea conveyed by the doctors
name for her, with that which was so
impressed on my mind by the vision
that remained with me all these years,
led me to attach, 1 believe, q sort of
superstitious Importance to the meet
ing. l said very little of this kind to
DIR. Shaw; but he knew very well that
the prospect had made a difference in
me already. For one thing, I be-
thought ne of my personal appear
ance. l remembered, among other
impressions of the past, one that blind
people generally wore long coats and
long hair. 1t was not easy to picture
myself in such guise; but I realized
that my hair was decidedly bunchy.
and soon made an EXPEDITION under
the charge of a faithful attendant, from
which I returned shorn according to
the ordinary custom of mankind.
In the ev -.ng I went round to DR..
Shaw room for q talk.
" .'Hallo!' he cried on seeing me.
'Why, what have you been doing to
yourselfl" -
'.Iv'e only had my hair cut properly,"
I said; "unless-1sa say, I hope he has
cut it properly: ~.
oh yes; it's all right. But why this
sudden change of styleP"
'.WeI, I don't SEQ why one shouldn't
look as much like other people as pos
sible,' l said. Il don't want to Fl gure
at the piano on Wednesday like . man
who has cut his string, and escaped
from his dog"
*.Oh-ah!" said Shaw. "wednesday
evening! to be sure. I wish some Of
the others would tako the same view.
TO mo that you re unusually Interested
about Wednesday"
'.It's the first time T have taken in
terest in anything for four years." I
answered. II don't know why"
81 think I do said Shaw. "Some-
thing has excited your ~fancy-s0me-
thing I said about one Of the que sts."
That's exactly what it i. Ever