The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-07-07

in the deliberate slaying of man in his full health and strength, at which the heart of the most hardened Quakes. And now l was calmer than those who were there to witness my death; a great quiet had come upon me, and I awaited the end without dread, almost without interest.
 In this state l remained while the necessary formalAies were completed. I submitted to being pinioned, and to the drawing of the cap over my face with the passivity of an insensible man. I heard the deputies moving about cautiously to and fro, their sub- dued whispers, and the creaking of the ghastly machinery of death. Idid not suffer; my whole nature seemed to be concentrated into one absorbing sense of waiting for some strange, un- known thing about to happen.
 Suddenly there was a sharp tremor which seemed to run through my whole body, and the noise in my ears like the explosion of & thousand can- non, pealing of into far distance with fainter and fainter reverberations. For a moment there was feeling of rend- ing, bursting suffocation, and mad agony of desire to breathe, to draw only one full, sweet breath.
 To and fro, over my whole frame, ran keen electric thrills and cold creep ings of the skin, like that which is felt in benumbed limb when the cir culation is restored. Actual pain there was none, and such suffering as I experienced was almost purely mental, similar, though in a less de- gree, to the perturbations of delir- ium. Nor was l conscious of any pal pablo fear of death. My brain was busy with a kind of anxious wonder at my own sensations, and a bewild- cred yet p r'istent craving to under stand then.
 The feeling of suffocation was of brief duration, and after 1t passed away I experienced no clearly defined physical sensibility. Up to this time had been blackness before my sight, hut now, slowly and by almost imper- ceptible degrees, a pale, white glow made itself manifest. It was as if l were floating in space, and the univer- sal sky above, around and below me, were being suffused with such a dawn as never rose to mortal eyes. Slowly it deepened from phantasmal, color less gleam to rich, clear yellow, then to ruddy orange, and finally to a lurid crimson, like the last of an Ital- ian sunset. This illumination seemed to remain steadfast for great length of time. At this stage my emotion was that of admiration and pleasure, though with the undercurrent of doubt and anxiety which was present whole during the experience.
 Suddenly I became aware that a change was taking place. The atmos- phere thickened and darkened, until the red glow was like that of great conflagration upon the black clouds of 8 rainy night. And now l was con- scious of some great disaster in the world, some widespread, general ruin in which all mankind bore a part. Funereal bells answered each other from every spire and tower, ringing out wild, tuneless warnings of some- thing far worse to come.
 The streets were thronged with weeping, despairing crowds, raised their white faces and clasped hands in intellectual prayer. There was the sound of many feet echoing from the pavement, mounted messengers gal loped everywhere, the sparks flashing beneath their horses hoofs as they sped away. All was mad effort to escape. Women clung to husbands and lovers {; men clasped hands for the last time with averted faces. And still the fun ereal bells tolled and there was no hope in any heart-none.
 This state, inexpressibly mournful to me, seemed prolonged to an eter- nity; but it, too, passed, at length. The lurid glow slowly disintregated into countless flashing, many colored gleams, revolving before my eyes around points of inconceivable bright ness, receding backward into illimit- able space, and growing fainter and fainter, until they became like pale stars; then they utterly disappeared.
 My sensations at this stage are diffi- cult, nay, impossible to describe. I had lost the idea of personality. I was, if I may use the phrase, an entity without identity, wandering, self-ex- istent thought. Cognition was re- duced to the merest dream-like self knowledge, probably not more than that possessed by the lowest form of existence. Reason, memory, hope or fear had none. Somewhere in my brain a sentient fibre still vibrated feebly; nothing more.
 Suddenly, as if the glimmering spark of life were blown into momeltary brightness before expiring finally, I became conscious of sound and motion. Some vast cavalcade was approaching, with thunder of innumerable feet,