Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-26
CHAPTER XII.

OF course we watched the papers for an
announcement of the Touraine's arrival. A
fast steamer, ordinarily accomplishing the
passage within seven days, she ought to
have reached Havre on the 22d. She was
not reported, however, until Monday the
oath, being then two days overdue.
It was on Friday, the 4th of January,
that we at last got a letter. The envelope was
superscribed not in Miriam's hand, but in
Fairchild's; and when we tore it open we
saw that the letter itself had been written
by the groom and not by the bride. This
struck us as rather odd, and made US lit
tie uneasy. We hastened to read:
"HoTEL DE LA GRANDE BRETAGNE,
"HAvRE, December %, 1888.
and such news as have to give you'll ]
should put off writing until we reach Paris,
in the hope that when we are there the face
of things may have altered for the better;
only I know if you don't receive a line
sooner than you would in that case, you
will be alarmed.
"What have to tell you is SO horrible in
ever way put it. can't hope to make il
any less painful for you by mincing it, OF
beating about the bush. Yet it seems bru-
tai to state the hideous fact downright
Miriam has become blind, totally blind.
whether incurably so or not, we do not
yet know. Of course, we hope for the best;
but we can be sure of nothing until we get
to Paris, where we shall consult the best oc-
imagine our state of mind.
eve had a most frightful passage, and
that was the cause of it. We ran into q
storm directly we left Sandy Hook, and it
followed us all the way across. Bad enough at
the outset, it seemed to get steadily worse
and worse until we reached port. 1t had
only this mitigation, that it was behind us
and moved in the same direction with us.
Therefore we were delayed but about 48
hours. If it had been against us, there's no
telling when we should have got ashore.
For six consecutive days (from the 18th
to the 23d) the matches were battened down,
no passengers were allowed on deck, and
not only were, the port holes kept per-
manently closed, but the inner iron shutters
were screwed up, lest the sea should break
through the glass and swamp us. The sky
lights were also covered. Thus daylight
was excluded, as we'll as fresh air. Then
the electric lighting machine got out of or
der and we had to fall back upou candles
and kerosene. The atmosphere in the cab
ins became something uncomfortable. Much
of the time, owing to the violent motion, it
was impossible to keep even the candles or
the kerosene lamps burning, and we were
condemned to total darkness. At last,
however, they got the electric machine into
running gear again, so that we had light
c i l..
night, the sea broke over uswith a roar like
the discharge of cannon, making every
timber of the ship creak and tremble. It
was enough to drive one frantic, that ever
lasting rythmic thunder. And all the
time we were tossed up, down and around,
us if that giant vessel were a cockle-shell.
Standing erect or walking was not to be
thought of. had to creep from place to
place on hands and knees. And then the
never ending motion, and the incessant
noise; the bowling of the wind, the pound
ing of the water. the creaking of timbers,
the swapping of cordage, the clanking Of
chains, the crashing of loose things being
knocked about, tine shouts and the tramp
ing of the sailors overhead, the groans of
seasick people, the shrieks of scared women
and children. 1 tell you it was frightful;
it was like hell gone mad; the memory of it
is like the memory of a nightmare.
Miriam suffered excrutiat1ngly from sea-
sickness. 1t was the most heartrendlng
sight I ever witnessed, the agony she en-
dured. / had never dreamed that seasick-
ness could be SO terrible. What made it
worse, of course, was the hopelessness of
her obtaining any relief until we reached
shore, unless the storm abated. There was
nothing anyone could do. I just sat there
beside her and held her hand, while she
either lay exhausted or started up and went
through the torments of the damned. L
can give you no idea Of what she suffered.
1t was hard work to sit still there and watch
her sufferings, and realize that was utterly
powerless to help her in any way. From
Monday, the 18th, until last night, when
she had been ashore some hours-precisely
one week-she did not taste food. Once in
a while she would drink a little water
with drop of brandy in it,
but even that distressed her cruelty
On the Goth she was seized with convul-
sions, awful beyond description. From
then on until we left the ship, she simply
alternated between terrible paroxysms and
utter prostration. Four days! 1 thought
she was going to die, her convulsions were
so violent, the prostration that ensued was
so death-like. The ships surgeon himself
said there was great danger-that death
might result from exhaustion. For those
four days (from the Doth to the 24th), he
kept her almost constantly under the inhu-
ence OF opiates. On Saturday she seemed
little better. That is, her convulsions came
schooner, and were of shorter duration.
When not in convulsions she lay in stup-
or, like sleep, only most of the time her
eyes were half open and she would groan.
But on Sunday she was worse again; and it
was on Sunday night, about 10 o'clock, that
after she had lain perfectly quiet for an
hour or so, all at once she started up and
cried out; 81 can't see you. can't see
anything. 1t is all dark. What has hap
pened? / believe am blind"
"Of course thought it must be some hal
lucination caused by her sickness. could
not believe that she had really become
blind. But the ships surgeon came and
made an examination and discovered that it
was so. He could attribute it only to par
alysis Of the optic nerve, the consequence Of
shock and exhaustion. What the danger Of
-, ha;nr ,,arr, = nanf rvas he oou1d nnt sav