Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-02-29

roro me, as Tney say IL docs wnen one Is
drowning or being hanged. | remein.
bered that saying, too. and without any
cessation OF the review | wondered in
my doubled consciousness il were
undergoine the sensations of drowning
man or o.: o..r being hanged, and wished
could FE, seem down on paper for the
benefit ol d., r'st Of mankind.
WEa, =i'.' a ne as singular was that
the cl,,.. ..,' On striking twelve. The
secoid ,,,,} did this thought must
have! ,.,ariousness for an entire day.
and ,hf 30, wls the second midnight.
But whc,i lac third stroke of twelve
came from half dozen clocks, | knew
it could not he two days since ] had
fallen
thought first that had become de.
mented: and then il occurred to me that
if were could not reason about it in
that fashion, so the clocks themselves
must bo crazy. This theory satisfied me
until the striking began again. when
went Oft in another fantastic speculation.
Ny friends had discovered that | was
missing, and were having the bells rung
to keep my spirits up.
Oh, tho long, long, weary hours |
spent III waiting for n 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. groaned
and wept and dug my nails into tho
palms of my hands until it seemed as II
the blood would Gomez but | did not
even feel any sense of pain.
Ii must have been after the clocks had
struck midnight dozen times or moro
Il kept no exact account-that ! saw
in the distance at what seemed to be tho
farther end of the cathedral roof two
faint glimmers of light. Presently there
We're two more and then two moro,
until there was a regular procession OF
them. tried to shout, but had become
so weak with cold and suffering that l
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 n coffin. As the procession
moved slowly toward mo | began to
wonder what it meant, and whether
funerals took place at midnight on the
roof of Milan cathedral. Then specu-
lated moment on tho propriety of dis.
turbing the obsequies even In my ex-
treme need. Suddenly it dawned upon
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 q new
period of tho most exquisite torture
Fortunately, it was of brief duration.
As tho foremost Of the moving figures
reached me | felt grasp on my arm
and voice called in my ear:
Wake up, father; it's time to be
going down. guess you must have had
your yoke turned"
Ii was nay daughter, and beside her
Were the rest of tho party, flushed with
their ramble on the roof. | Strengthened
out my cramped limbs, which must have
gone to sleep about tho time did, and
| pulled out my watch. had been there
| just fifteen minutes.
ldon'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 it and
what there is has been tolerably gray for
some years. Put 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 experience rs | thought
had, his or her hair would turn gray
provided of course he or she had any
hair that was not gray already True
! Flag.