Omaha daily bee., 1892-02-07

Iuab WASN'T nalleu there- any loose thlng,
any unattached fragment OF bone, or meat, or
morals, or disease or propensities, or ac-
embellishments, or what not And l don't
say but that feel well enough; feel bet
ter than would III 1 was dead, l reckon
And besides, they say that 1 am going to
build up now and come right along and be
all right. am not saying anything, but l
wish had enough OF my disease back to
make me aware OF myself, and enough OF my
habits to make it worth while to live. To
have nothing the matter with you and no
habits is pretty tame, pretty colorless. 1t is
just the way saint feels, l reckon; IL is at
least the way he looks. l never could stand
saint. That reminds me that you see very
already said this whole big enterprise is
owned and managed by convent. The few
priests one does see here are dressed like
human beings. and so there may be moro Of
them than l Imagine. Fifteen priests
dressed like these coulG not attract as much
of your attention as would one priest at AK
les -Bains. You cannot pull your eye loose
from the French priest so long as he is in
sight, his dress is so fascinatingly ugly.
"A singular Climate.
1 seem to be wandering from the subject,
but am not. This is about the coldest place
L ever saw and the wettest too. This August
seems like an English November to me.
Rainf Why, 1t seems to like to rain here. 1t
seems to rain every time there Is chance.
You are strictly required to be airing and ex-
hate to see the gun shine because hate air
and exerclse-duty air and outy exercise
taken for medicine. 1t seems ungenuine, out
OF season, degraded to sordid utilities sub
one can't describe in Words but-don't you
understands with that something gone what
is left is but canned air, canned exercise, and
you don't want 1t.
When the sun does shine Tor q few mo-
ments or few hours these people swarm out
an HnslF hpnII IUh ha orr TO md hn
hills and through the piEe woods and make
the most of the chance, an have focked
out too, on some OF these occasions but as q
rule stay in ana try to got warm.
And what is there for means, besides heavy
clothing and rugs and the polished white
tomb that stands lofty and heartless In the
corner and thinks 1t Is a stovei or all the
creations of human insanity this thing is the
most forbidding. Whether 1t is heating the
room or isn't, the expression IS the same
cold indifference You can't tell which 1t Is
doing without gong and putting your hand
ON 1t. They burn little handfuis OF kinulings
in II, no substantial wood, and no coal.
The fire burns out every fifteen minutes.
and there Is no way to tell when this has
happened. On these dismal days with the
ram steadily falling, 1t is no better company
than corpse. A roaring hickory fire with
the flames leaping up the chimney-but
must not think of such things, they make q
person homesick. This is q most strange
place to get rid OF disease.
That is what you think most OF the time
But in the intervals, when the sun shines
and you are tramping the hills and are CON-
paratively warm, you get to be neutral, may be
even friendly l went up to the
| Alssichtthurm the other DAY. This is @
| tower which stands on the summit of a steep
hemlock mountain here; o tower which there
| isn't the least use for because the view Is as
good at the base of IL as 1t is at the top of II.
| But Germanic peoples are just mad for
vlews--they never get enough of a view-f
| they owned Mount Blanc they would builda
| tower on top of it.
The roads up that mountain through that
| hemlock forest are hard packed and smooth,
| and the grades are easy and comfortable.
! They are for walkers, not for carriages. You
| move through deep silence and twilight, and
| you seem to be in a million-columned temple;
| whether you look up the hill or down IL you
catch glImpses Of distant figures Hitting
! without sound, appearing and disap-
pearing In the aim distances AMONG
the stems Of the trees, anu It is all
very spectral and solemn and I'm
pressive Now and then the gloom is ac-
cepted and sized upto your comprehension In
striking way; ray OF sunshine finds its
| way down through and suddenly calls your
| attention, for where il falls, far up the hill
slope In the brown duskiness, IL lays q stripe
that has q glare like lightning. The utter
I stiffness of the forest depths. the soundless
hush, the total absence OF stir or motion Of
any kind In leaf or branch, are things which
| We have no ex perienee of at home, and con-
| sequenuy no name for In our language. AT
home thnre would be the plant OF insects
| and the twittering Of birds, and the vagrant
breezes would CULVER the foliage. Here II Is
ths stiffness OF death. This Is what the Ger
mans are forever talking about dreaming
aoout and despairingly trying to catch