The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-01-27

| EltiQGQ b4aI uaQ gone uOWtt, oA-,.
they missed me would search every
where but in the right place. 1t might
be days before the particular spot IN
which / lay would be visited, and I'D
That case it would be too late. Starva-
ION would do for me, even if the INJURY
had received did not. In my anguish
shrieked aloud, but was duly con-
Bcious all the time that nobody could
hear me. Visitors and custodians alike
must have departed hours before; ana
even if my cries were heard from the
Etreets 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 OF 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 10
do in seeking relief from insomnia. yer
at the same time l 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. ! relnelh-
bered that saying, too, and without any
cessation of the review | wondered IN
nv doubled consciousness if l were
undergoing the sensations of a drowning
man. or of one being hanged, and she'd
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 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 I 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 |
went of in another fantastic speculation
My friends had discovered that | was
missing, and were having the bells rung
to keep my spirits up.
Oh, the long, long, weary hours l
spent in waiting for q 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 the
palms Of my hands until it seemed as IT
the blood would come; but l did not
avay, fool any sanSn of main
It must have been after the clocks had
struck midnight dozen times or more
Il kept no exact account-that ! saw
in the distance at what seemed to be the
farther end Of the cathedral roof two
faint glinners of light. Presently there
were two more and then two more,
until there was q regular procession of
them. tried to shout, but had become
so weak with cold and suffering that l
could not raise my voice above a whis-
per.
The lights nevertheless approached,
growing gradually stronger, until l
could see that they were borne by sever
al black-robed figures who were march
ing beside a coffin. AS the procession
moved slowly toward me l 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
trlrbing the obsequies even in my ex-
IRENE 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 a new
period of the most exquisite torture.
Fortunately, it was of brief duration.
AS the foremost Of the moving figures
reached me felt grasp on my arm
and a voice called in my ear:
awake up, father; it's time to be
going down. l guess you must have had
your yoke turned"
1t was my daughter, and beside her
were the rest of the party, flushed with
their ramble on the roof. I Strengthened
out my cramped limbs, which must have
gone to sleep about the time did, and
pulled out my watch. | had been there
just fifteen minutes.
don'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 capillary change as
the story books tell about | am quite
sure that if any man or woman really
had just such an experience as thought
had, his OF her hair would turn gray
provided OF course he or she had any
hair that was not gray already.-True
Flag.
Oyerrenched Himself.
A shoe manufacturer of New Eng