The record-union., 1892-10-07

TO have to wait long. But he could see no
one. At last, when he was beginning to
feel very miserable, face full of ineffa-
bic love and tenderness, appeared to him.
Right i'll front OF him he saw three pro-
dlglous rocks blocking the road. * voice
spoke 10 him from a thunder cloud say
ing: This is the road TO the eternal
city; once you pass them you can no
more return to the body" There were
tour entrances, one very dark; the other
thfee led into cool, quiet and beautiful
country. he desired to go in, but when
ne reached the exact center OF the rock he
was suddenly stopped. He became un-
conscious again, and when he awoke he
was lying in his bed. He awoke to con-
seriousness and soon recovered. He wrote
out this narrative eight weeks after his
strange experience, but he told the story
to those at the bedside as soon as he re-
Vlyed. The doctor, who was at the bed
side, said that the breath was absolutely
extinct so far as could be observed, and
every symptom marking the patient rs
DEAD was present. Il supposed at one
time that he was actually dead as fully
as ever supposed any one to be dead"
THE HUGUENoT PASTORS STORY.
That is the first story. The second one
is OF a HuguenOt minister by the name OF
Bertrand. 1t is not so recent, but it
is quite as remarkable in its way. Mr..
bertrand was travelling with some pupils
IN the Alps. While ascending the Titlis
Mountain he found himself wearied, and
sent the party Of students up the hill
while he rested on the mountain side.
Alter the party had left him he smoked
and contemplated the scenery. Suddenly
he felt himself as if struck by apopleXy
Ills head was perfectly clear, but his
body was powerless-it was tie sleep OF
the snow. He then gives the following
account of his experience:
THE SENSATION OF DYING.
"a kind of prayer was sent 10 God. and
then l resolved to study quietly the
progress Of death. NV feet and hands
were first frozen, and little by little death
reached my knees and elbows. The sem
sation was not painful, and my mind felt
quite easy. But when death had been all
over my body my head became unbeara-
bly, cold, and it seemed to me that con-
cave pincers squeezed my heart, SO as to
extract my life. | never felt such an
acute pain, but it lasted only second or
minute, and my life went out. 'Well,'
thought /, at last l am what they call a
dead man, and here am, q ball of air in
the air, a captive balloon attached to the
earth by kind Of elastic string and go
ing up and always up. How strange! l
see better than ever, and | am dead
only a small space in the space without
body! Where is my last body?
Looking down L was astounded to recog
nlZe my own envelOp. STRANGE said /
to myself. There is the corpse in which
L lived and which | called me. as if the
coat were the body, as if the body were
the soul! What a horrid thing is that
body-deadly pale, with yellowish- blue
color, holding cigar in its mouth and
match in its two burned fingersi Well.
| hope that you shall never smoke again
dirty rag! All! if only l had hand and
scissors to cut the thread which ties me
still to it!
THE PROFESSOR IS DEAD"
"When my companions return they
will look at that and eXclaim, The Pro-
lessor is dead! Poor young friends!
| They do not know that | never was as
alive as 1 am, and the proof is that I see
the guide going up rather by the right,
| when he promised me to 60 by the left:
| w. was TO be the last, and heis neither the
! first nor the last, but alone, away from
| the rope. Now the guide thinks that /
do not see him, because he hides himself
| behind the young men while drinking at
my bottle of Madeira. Well, go on, poor
man; l hope that my body will never
drink Off againi All! there he is, stealing
a leg of my chickenl Go on, old fellow, eat
| the whole Of the chicken if you choose,
for l hope that my miserable corpse will
never eat or drink again. l felt neither
! surprise nor vexation; l simply stated
| facts with indifference. 'Hellou said /,
| there Is my wife going to Lucerne, and
/ she told me that she would not leave be-
| fore tomorrow, or after tomorrow.
| They are five before the hotel of Lun-
germ. Well, wife, / am a dead man.
Good-by.'
| NEITHER REGRET NOR JOY"
81 must confess that L did not call dear
the one who has always been very dear to
me, and that | felt neither regret nor ioy
at leaving her. My only regret was that
L could not cut the string. In vain l
| travelled through so beautiful worlds that
earth became insignificant. | had only
two Wishes-the certitude of not return
ing to earth and the discovery of my
next glorious body, without which 1 felt
powerless. 1 could not be happy because
the thread, though thinner than ever,
was not out, and the wished-for body was
still invisible to my searching looks.
suddenly shock stopped my ascen-
| sion and l felt that somebody was pull
| ing and pulling the balloon down. Nv
| grief was measureless. The fact was that
while my young friends threw snow balls
at each other our guide discovered and
administered TO my body the well-known
| remedy, rubbing with snow; but as | was
cold and stiff as ice he dare not roll me
for fear of breaking my hands still near
the cigar. L could neither see nor hear
| any more, but could measure my way
down, and when l reached my body again
l had last hope-the balloon seemed
much too large for the mouth.
THE CORPSE SWALLOWED THE BALLOON.
suddenly [ uttered the awful roar of a
| wild beaSt-the corpse swallowed the
balloon, and Bertrand was Bertrand
again, though, for time, worse than be-
/ fore.
Il never felt more violent irritation.
AT last | could say to my poor guide:
Because you are fool you take me for
fool, while my body alone is sick. All! if
you had simply cut the string.
The string? What string? You were
nearly dead
dead! 1 was less dead than you are
now, and the proof is that saw YOU 90
ing up the Titlis by the right, while you
promised me to go by the Left
| 1.-The man staggered before replying.
Because the snow was soft and no danger
of slipping
"'You say that because you thought
me far away. You went up by the right
the rope. Who is a fool? You-not l.
Now show me my bottle OF Madeira, aud
we will see if it is full
"Ihe blow was such that his hands left
my body and he fell down.
"'Oh,' said l, brutally, you may fall
down and stare at me as much as you
please, and give your poor explanations.
| but you cannot prove that my chicken
has two legs, because you stole one'
This was too much for the good man.
He got up, emptied his knapsack while
muttering kind OF confession, and then
! flew away.
when 1 arrived in Lucerne 1 asked
my wife why she had left Interlaken
sooer than she had told me-
because l was afraid of another acci-
dent, and wanted TO be nearerr
t'Were you five in the carriage, and
| did you stop at the Lungern Hotel p
Yes And | went away laughing