Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-01-01
THE TABLES TURN ED.

A few DAYS ago, about.10 a. M, car
riape drove up before the door OF the
asylum of DR., Auvray, specialist for the
cure Of mental disease. The cOachman
rang the BELL the door was opened and tW 0
men entered quickly into the office. The
servant asked them to be seated and wait
the appearance Of the doctor, who was at
the time engaged elsewhere. One Of these
strangers was a man of fifty years, Of SAN
guine tenn permanent, Drowned by the sun,
coarse and altogether of unprepossessing
appearance. Imagine rough specimen
of a wOrkmen dressed In his employer s
clothes and you have NJ. marriott. His
nephew, Francis Thomas, was young
man Of twenty.three, difficult to describe
because he resembled so many others of
his age and condition in life. He was
neither tall nor short, neither handsome
or ugly, neither Hercules nor an effemi-
nate dandy, but medium In all respects
and very uDassuming In manner, but
when lie entered the house of DR.. A. he
was very much excited; he strobe rest
essly about the office as one enraged; his
hands were tied,
Calm yourself" said her uncle" What
| am going to do is for your own good.
You will be happy here and the doctor
will cure you,
Il am not at all sick, and why have
you bound me?"
Because you might have thrown me
out of the door. You are rot in your
right mind, my dear Francis, and we will
restore it to you.
/ am as rational as you, uncle, and
don't know what you mean. My mind
is clear, my judgment cool, my memory
excellent Shall | recite something, trans
late some Latin or give you any other
proof of my sanity? Here is a Tacitus III
this library, or, if you prefer another test,
| will solve a problem in arithmetic or
geometry. You do not want that? Well,
let me relate the events of the morning.
You came at o'clock not to awaken me,
because | was not asleep, bat to drag me
from my bed. | dressed myself without
the assistance of my valet. You begged
me to come with you to DR.. As. | re-
fused. You insisted. | became angry
Ny valet assisted you to tie my hands.
will give him his dismissal this evening.
| owe him Ii day wages, that Is S13, be-
cause | engaged him at $50 month. You
owe him an indemnity for having causei
him to lose his place. Is all this reason
able, and do you yet reckon on making
me pass for an insane person? Alb, my
dear uncle, return to yOurself-remembe
that my mother was your sister. What
would she say, my poor mother, to see me
here? bear you no ill will, and all can
be arranged amicably."
But Nj, Marriott was obdurate. He was
saying to himself, Il will pay $1,000 a
year board here for my nephew out of his
income; 81 200 from $4,000 leaves 81 800
for myself. | shall be rich He seated
himself and opened a book which CHANGED
to be lying near.
"Sit down there" said he to Francis;
81 will read you something. Try to listen
that will quiet you"
He read: The monomaniac is pos
sessed Of one idea, under the exclusive
contTOi of one pa sion, caused usually by
love, fear, vanity, ambition or remorse.
1t is betrayed 10y the same symptoms as
the passions, sometimes 10y excessive JOY,
gaiety, audaciJy and noise; sometimes by
tlmldity, sadness and silence.
During this reading Francis appeared
to calm himself and fall INTO a browse; it
was warm III the Doctors Office. Bravo, s"
thought Nj, Marriott here IS prodigy of
a medical book it puts a man to Sleep
who is neither hungry or sleepy Francis
did not sleep, but he played sleep to per-
fiction. He leaned his head on his breast,
and his respiration had the mathematical
regularity of sound sleeper. His uncle
was deceived by it. He went on with his
reading for a short time In a low tone,
then he yawned, ceased to read. allowed
his book to slip away, closed his eyes and
slept in good faith, to the great satisfac.
ton of his nephew, who was maliciously
watching him from the corner of his eye.
Francis began by moving his chair. NJ
Marriott stirred no more than tree. Then
he began to walk, allowing his boots to
make some noise on the floor. Nj. NJ.
began to snoTe. Then the pretended luna
tic approached the bureau, found a metal
eraser, fixed 1t sohdiy in corner, and
managed to cut the cords with which his
arms were bound He was free and once
more In the possession of his hands He
with difficulty restrained a cry of Joy and
came softly toward his uncle. In two
minutes NJ. Marriott was tied firmly. but it
had been effected so carefully that his sleep
was not even disturbed. Francis, highly
e.eted with his success. picked up the
book, which had fallen on the floor. 1t
was the last edition Iof "MOnomanja
Explained. of which DR. A was the
6utuOI lie Call IL away anu ScNuISIi
to be reading with great interest when the
doctor entered, excusing himself for the
delay.
Francis arose, replaced the book on the
bureau and explained the business with
great volubihty. "Su," said ne, 1T is
my maternal uncle that | am going to
cCndde to your care You see before you
man about fifty years old. Injured to
manual labor and tn" privations of life
of toll As to the rest, he was born of
healthy parents III q family where there
has never been seen case of mental aber-
alton. So you will not have to contend
against a case of hereditary malady. His
monomauia is one of the most curious YOU
may ever have had occasion to observe.
He passes with incredltable rspidity
from extreme gaiety to extreme SADNESS
1t is a singular combination of what is
truly called monomania and melan.
choly.
HAS he entirely lost his reason?"
mo, sir, he is deranged only on one
subject an that appears to be your special
ty.
''What is the popularity of this sub,
ject?'
''Alas! sir, it is the peculiar ty of on
century cupidity. The poor patient
after having worked hard from infancy
finds himself without fortune. My father
starting from the same point as he, ha;
lett me considerable fortune Ny uncle