, 1888-03-07
DEATH FROM FREEZING.
A TRAVELLER DESCRIBES HIS Ex-
PERlENCE IN THIS LINE.

Great st. Ecrnard--First Indication Of
Something Wrong Strange and Deli
cious Sensations.
On the particular occasion referred to, 1
started from Martigny at 6 a. m. and in
tended to traverse the thirty miles to the
hospicc of the Great st. Bernard before
night. Time Hbeing of consequence, 1
thought it prudent, SO rs to get to the
summit of the pass before dark, not to stop
for a meal to be cooked at Orsieres or
Liddes, but pressed forward to the last
place before the snow tramp commenced,
the Cantine de PROF.. There l met with n
young nobleman and his guide. After an
interchange of inquiries, and IN offer on
my part of some chocolate and biscuits to
the other travellers, as the cantine was
hard up that day in eatables, we set out
together, and had crossed the Plan de Ma
rengo without any presentiment of what
was going to happen. The first indication
of something wrong was the peculiar ap-
pearance which my surroundings seemed
to assume Everything looked hazy to
my vision-even the snow and the rocks
Tying about looked as If enveloped in q
fog, although the afternoon was beauti-
fully clear. Then l felt that | must sit
down and enjoy it; but the guides flask
of kirschwasser set me going again. Very
soon, however, the former feeling re-
turned; but the same treatment tempo
rarily recovered me. At last | took to
stumbling along, fell down several times,
and at length could not help myself. My
companions urged me in vain to arouse to
one more effort, but it was useless.
The guides experience was now of the
utmost service. Divining the exact state
of the case, and what might happen, he
took a very sensible course. Leaving the
marquis to see to me, he hurried forward
to meet the two monk who always came
down from the hospice at n particular
hour each day, so as to obtain their
efficient help. On their arrival, the mar
quis either went on, on his own account,
or was requested to go forward with the
news. Anyhow, / was informed the next
day that his report was, that IN. lie -
had persisted in the SHOWS" In the
meantime the two monks n guide took
me in hand, and, shaking me up, made
my hands clasp q belt around the guides
waist. and each of the monks took an
arm. The former acted rs n substitute
for horse power and the two latter as
wheels. AS for myself 1 was fast becom-
ing n dead weight. Between the cantine
and the hospice there is n space of seven
and n half miles of very rough walking,
uphill, of course, and with q depth of
several feet of where the c%antonniers
had not cleared n path. l suspect that
my deliverers had a very difficult task,
over at least five miles, to keep me from
getting into that sleep from which there
is no waking.
The sensations of that journey during
occasional CLEANS of consciousness will
never be erased from my mind. Is there
such an essence of ~ecstatic delight as
elixir mortis? If there is, it must have
been something like it, or the very thing
itself, which l enjoyed that day. No
words can possibly express the surprising
desire which l felt to sit down and enjoy
my felicity-and sleep. Blu my inexora-
BILE friends knew that sleep meant death;
and though my repeated appeals of
"Doucement, d~oucement," were plaintive
enough, they were met by redoubled
efforts to force me onward, even when my
own legs would not move any longer. The
collapse was complete. During the sus-
tanned efforts of the three men, 1 had but
momentary glimpses of consciousness /
remember seeing two something's, black,
one on each side, but very indistinct.
These, of course, were the friendly
monks. The one overwhelming idea that
filed my mind then was how to get to
that sleep, that blissful ~euthanasia which
poets have sung about, hut which my
companions were doing their best to rob
me of, just when I had got it within my
grasp.
Another lucid interval occurred Just MS
we approached the door of the hospice, for
l saw two or three Of the dogs; n then
l was lost again, till l found myself in the
large room, surrounded by several of the
mons One administered some extract
of orange flowers, and that was followed
by some warm broth. Then another
tugged off my boots, socks, etc, and be-
tween them, somehow or other, they got
me into bed. (This particular room would
not have been mine if 1 had gone as an or
binary traveller usually does. 1 am under
the impression that it was looked upon as
the best bedroom, being the one used by
Napoleon Bonaparte when he stopped Mt
the hospice en- route to the Italian cam
paign.) In the night / woke, breathing
very quickly and very hard. The room
itself had the appearance of being one
mass of cotton wool. Congestion of the
lungs had got hold of me now, and l felt
very i'll indeed. But, however, the next
morning l did what the monks had inef-
f~ectually tried to impress upon me the
night before, and 1 made an effort. My
first duty to others was to see the excel
lent guide and make him n due acknowl-
edgment; and as the noble and heroic
monks, who live only for others, would
not hear of anything but thanks, / had
recourse to the tronc of the church. To
the three men / am, humanity speaking,
indebted for my life. A grateful heart
need never be ashamed of its precious
burden.-Chambers' Journal.