The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1892-11-11

were many inexplicable noises. of heavy 1
objects falling and fragile things break /
ing, always Just beyond the visual range |
OF the nearer, but we tried to attribute
them to our little army of clumsy negro |
servants.
ION the fifth day my sister Cynthia,
emerging from the family l,rlor in the
front of the second floor, emitted an UNI
earthly shrek and plunged down upon the
carpet between the parlor door and the
stairs, dragging with her the portiere she
had clutched in the moment of her fall
After several minutes of restorative treat
ment had brought her to herself she said:
When drew back the portiere to step out
from the threshold and my weight was all
ready following my advanced left foot, so
that l could not check my step, saw or
seemed to see that the whole floor before me
had disappeared, and in it's stead was only
huge, black, apparently bottomless well
or chasm. | could not stop myself from,
as thought, plunging intoit, and l seemed
to fall to the center of the earth. could
not at first believe myself still alive when
you picked me up My dear Cynthia, I
said, you are bilious; that is ALL.
But within twenty-four hours l real
lied that if biliousness was the explana-
tion we all were bilious, for every one of
us had the horrffying experience Of sud
denly finding ourselves, upon stepping out
Of a door, on the very verge of a black
abyss, into which we could not prevent
falling headlong. Matters reached such a
pass that we had to arm ourselves with
sticks and tap the floors before us as we
walked to find assurance for our steps, like
family of blind folks.
ION the seventh day my wife's sister
Julia-a most estimable but rather deli
cate young lady-joined us. After her
coming things became worse. A chair
upon which person was about to sit down
would be suddenly discovered as merely
chair of the imagination, but the discovery
would not be made until the sitter had
gone sprawling on the floor. In like man
ner any one of us was apt to be deceived
by an apparent but actually nonexistent
table, which would beguile us into trying
to put fragile things on it, only to see them
drop to the floor and break. But the most
startling illusion of all was the fire. We
all were in the garden on the east side of
the house one evening after shutdown, dis
cussing the planting of some ornamental
shrubbery, when CHANGING to look up /
saw the windows of the northeast corner
| EOOlu klOWl Win ltdpinS lllSluO
and blue smoke curling out above the
slightly lowered upper sash of one of them.
Evidently the house was on fire. l
rushed up there, two steps at a time-of
course tumbling again and again on the
stairs, for in my excitement could not
count the steps-and the others followed
with pals of water. There was no fret
Not sign of any do not think l could
have been more completely ullnerved even
by finding a con1agration raging than l
was by that discovery No; the windows
were not illuminated by reflection of the
setting sum- for he had already set on the
opposite side of the house. From that
time ON false alarms of fire constantly
menaced us; flames showing in the win
dows if we were outside and the smell of
smoke assailing our nostrils in the still
watches of the night, sometimes even the
swapping and cracking of light wood
burning being clearly audible when all
else was still.
ION the southwest corner of the house,
half projecting from the garrett through
the roof, was a huge cylindrical wooden
tank, to which water was pumped up by a
windmill for distribution through the
building. 1t held, should suppose, fifty
or sixty barrels-perhaps more. One night