The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-12-11

away alive. NV friends would never
dream that was there. They had un-
doubtedly concluded that / had gone
down, and if they missed me would
search everywhere but in the right
place. 1t might be days before the
particular spot in which lay would
be visited, and in that case it would be
too late. Starvation would do for me,
even if the injury / had received did
not. In my anguish Ishrieked aloud,
but was duly conscious all the time
that nobody could hear me. Visitors
and custodians alike must have de-
parted hours before; and even if my
cries were heard from the streets be-
low nobody would attribute them to
their real source.
To the feeling of acute anguish sue
ceeded one of blank despair. / no
longer speculated on the possibility of
being discovered dead or alive. There
was dull leaden feeling at my chest
and | found myself re peating mechan-
ically old rhymes and jingles anG say
ing the alphabet backward, as ! once
learned to do in seeking relief from in
somnia. Yet at the same time j was
conscious that my whole life was pass
ing in review before me as they say it
does when one is drowning or being
hanged. i remembered that saying,
too, and without any cessation of the
review / wondered in my double con-
sciousness if / were undergoing the
sensations of a drowning man or of
one being hanged, and ! wished !
could put them down on paper for the
benefit of the rest of mankind. What
struck me as singular was that the
clocks kept on striking twelve. The
second time they did this / thought !
must have lost consciousness for an en-
tire day and that this was the second
midnight. But when the third stroke
of twelve came from half a dozen
clocks i knew it could not be two DAYS
since had fallen. ] thought first that
/ had become demented; and then it
occurred to me that if | We're 1 could
not reason about IL in that fashion 50
the clocks themselves must be crazy.
This theory satisfied me until the
striking began again, when ! went off
N another fantastic speculation. My
friends had discovered that | was miss
ing and were having the bells rung To
keep my spirits up.
Oh, the long, long. weary hours !
spent in waiting for q glimpse of day
light ! had no hope that daylight
would bring me any relief, but the
prospect of staying where it was end
iessly midnight seemed uncomfortable.
| groaned and wept and dug my nails
into the palms of my hands until il
seemed as if the blood would come:
out did not even feel any sense of
pain.
1t must have been after the clocks
had struck midnight dozen times or
morc-I kept no exact account-that
eaw In the distance AT wnaJ seemed to
be the farther end of the cathedral
roof two faint glimmers of light Pres
emily there were two more, and then
two more, until there was regular
procession of them ] tried to shout,
Dut had become SO weak with cold and
iuffering that / could not raise my
voice above whisper. The lights
nevertheless approached, growing
-.radunlly stronger until / could see
that they were borne by several black
-obed figures who Were marching be-
ide a coffin. As the procession moved
lowly towards me | began to wonder
what it meant and whether funerals
took place at midnight on the roof Of
Milan cathedral Then / speculated
moment on the propriety of disturbing
he obsequies even in my extreme
need Suddenly it dawned I me that
this was my own funeral, and l knew
that was either dead or had gone mad.
In the supreme anguish of this discovery
ali memory of past suffering was
blotted out and / entered on a new
period of the most exquisite torture
Fortunately it was of brief duration.
AS the foremost of the moving figures
reached me / felt a grasp on my arm
and a voice called in my ear:
Wake up. father: it's time to be GO
ing down. i guess you must have had
your yoke turned"
1t was my daughter, and beside her
were the rest of the party, flushed with
their ramble on the roof. | straight
ened ont my cramped limbs, which
must have gone to sleep about the time
| did, and pulled out my watch. / had
been there just fifteen minutes
don't mean to be understood that
my hair really did turn gray in that
night of horror on Milan cathedral
In the first place there is not much of
il and what there is has been tolerably
gray for some years But / do mean
to say that am no longer incredulous
as to the possibility of such a capillary
change as the story books tell about /
am quite sure that if any man or
woman really had just such an expe-
rience as j thought | had his or her
hair would turn gray provided, of
course, he or she had any hair that was
not gray already.-Detroit Free Press.