Los Angeles herald., 1892-02-12

must have departed hours before; and
even if my cries were heard from the
streets below 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 q
dull leaden feeling at my chest, and
found myself repeating mechanically
old rhymes and jingles and saying the
alphabet backward, as once learned to
do in seeking relief from insomnia. Yet
at the same time was conscious that
my whole life was passing in review be-
fore me, as they say it does when one is
drowning or being hanged. l remem-
bered that saying, too, and without any
cessation of the review wondered in
my doubled consciousness if l were
undergoing the sensations of 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 l must
have lost consciousness for an entire day,
and that this was the second midnight.
But when the third stroke of twelve
came from half dozen clocks, knew
it could not be two days since / had
fallen.
thought first that had become de-
mented; and then it occurred to me that
if were could not reason about it in
that fashion, SO the clocks themselves
must be crazy This theory satisfied me
until the striking began again, when l
went off in another fantastic speculation.
My friends had discovered that l was
missing, and were having the bells rung
to keep my spirits up.
Oh, the long, long, weary hours !
spent in waiting for a glimpse of day
light. / had no hope that daylight
would bring me any relief, but the pros
pect of staying where it was endless mid
night seemed uncomfortable. I groaned
and wept and dug my nails into the
palms of my hands until it seemed as if
the blood would come; but l did not
even feel any sense of pain.
It must have been after the clocks had
struck midnight dozen times or more
Il kept no exact account-that l saw
in the distance at what seemed to be the
farther end of the cathedral roof two
faint glimmers of light. Presently there
were two more and then two more,
until there was regular procession of
them. I tried to shout, but had become
SO weak with cold and suffering that ]
could not raise my voice above whis-
per.
The lights nevertheless approached,
growing gradually stronger, until !
could see that they were borne by sever
al black-robed figures who were march
ing beside coffin. AS the procession
moved slowly toward me began to
wonder what it meant, and whether
funerals took place at midnight on the
roof of Milan cathedral. Then specu.
lated moment on the propriety of dis
turbing the obsequies even in my ex
treme need. Suddenly it dawned upor
me that this was my own funeral, and
knew that was either dead or had gone
mad. In the supreme anguish of this
discovery all memory Of past suffering
was blotted out, and entered on new
period of the most exquisite torture
Fortunately, it was of brief duration
AS the foremost of the moving figures
reached me l felt grasp on my arm
and voice called in my ear:
"Wake up, father. it's time to b.
going down. I guess you must have hat
your yoke turned"
It was my daughter, and beside hel
were the rest of the party, flushed will
their ramble on the roof. Strengthened
out my cramped limbs, which must hav'
gone to sleep about the time did, ant
pulled out my watch. l had been Their
just fifteen minutes.
don't mean to be understood that m.
hair really did turn gray in that nigh
of horror on Milan cathedral. In tn
first place there is not much of it ant
what there is has been tolerably gray fo
some years. Put do mean to say tina
l am no longer incredulous as to tn
| possibility of such capillary change a
the story books tell about. / am quit
sure that if any man or woman reall.
had just such an experience as though
had, his or her hair would turn gra,
provided of course he or she had an
hair that was not gray already.-Tru
Flag.