Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-05-06

However, ii expected nay Frenchmsn
to sit very long silent he soon undeceived
me by beginning to complain, in his trem'
ulous, aged voice, Of his weakness and
aching limbs. --.-
- ia The terrible cold that has affected
me-" said he, while his head nodded nerv-
ously. AZ feel the rheumatism in every
bone. There is no weakness like the
rheumatism, ! have heard. and Ills
true, Ills trne 1t may lay me
along-yes, by the Virgin, tits rheums-
tism-what else! Here he was interrupt
ed by q long fit of coughing, and when
it was ended he turned to address me
sgain, but looked at the bulkhead on my
right, as if his vision could not fix me.
But my cspeIs are not over" be cried,
setting up his rickety, shrill throat; no, no!
Vive l'amour! Vive In joie! The sun is
coming; the sun is the fountain Of life;
ay, mon brave, there are some shakes in
these stout legs yet!' He shook his head
with a fine air of cunning and knowing
ness, ginning very oddly; and then fall
ing grave with startling suddenness, he
began to dribble out practical love story
he had once before favored me with, de.
scriblng the charms of the woman with q
horrid leer, his head nodding with the
nervous affection Of age all the time, while
he looked blindly in my direction-a hid
eOus and yet pitiful otject
could not say that his mind was gone,
but he talked with many breaks for
breath, and not very coherently, as though
the office of his tongue ives performed by
habit rather than memory, so that he often
went far astray, sndbabbled into sentences
that had no reference to what had gone
before, though on the whole managed to
collect what he meant. ! was sure he had
not power enough of vision TO observe ME
in the dim, reddish light of the cook room,
and this being 80 be could not know was
present-more particularly "a he could not
hear ME: yet he persisted in his poor
babble, which was behavior in him that,
more than even the matter of his speech,
persuaded me of his imbecility.
He made no reference to our situation,
and in solemn truth believe his memery
retained no more than few odds and ends
of the evil story Of his life like bits Of tar
nished lace and arusty button or two lying
in the bottom of dark chest that has long
been emptied OF the clothes it once held.
But my condition made sueh heavy de-
mands upon my thoughts that had very
much less attention TO give TO this surpris
ing phenomenon Of senili.y that is IN
common merits deserved, II has puzzled
every member Of the faculty that
mentioned 1t TO, the supposition
being that, given the case OF sus.
pended animation, there is no waste
aud the person would quit his stupor with
tho same powers and aspect as he possessed
when he entered il, though il lasted thou
sand years. But granting there is TO waste.
Time is always present, waiting to settle
accounts when the sleeper lifts his head.
There may be an artificial interval, during
which the victim might show az my pirate
did-but the poised load Of years Is sever
ed on sudden by the scythe and becomes
superintendent, and with the weight
comes the Transformation; and this theary,
a. the only eye witness Of the marvellous
thing, will hold aud maintain while l
breath in my body to support it (!
lief him Cabling to himself-somc-
times grinning as if greatly diverted, SONG
times lifting trembling hand to help his
ghostly recital by an equally gbcstly dumb
show-and went on deck, satisfied mat he
was too weak to get the fire and meddle
with it, but sufficiently invigorated by his
long nights rest TO sit up without tumb-
ling off the bench
This time l carried with me an old per
spective glass had noticed in the chest in
my cabin-tbe chest in which were the
nautical instruments, charts and papers
and lsveled it along the coast of the island;
but it was q poor glass, and ] found I
conld manage nearly ss well with the
naked eye. There was no chsnge
of any kind, only that there
was a sensible diminuticn in the
blowing Of the wind, and 9teponding
decrease in the height Of s kas. The
ice stretched in a consider ~ on either
hand the ship and ahead hs.the water
frothed freely over ii, and hrs bs great
janglipg and flashing Of 2aEsnk hoes, but
the hull was no lcngeI heAyif hit by
them. L.,
got into the main o,;as 20 sw the
body of the vessel, and "a ne WI salts
faction that the con he fn&f the
sec had thinned dow sen snsw 10