Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-04-18
"A MODERN MIRACLE" :"
Bereft of Reason But Restored
by Surgical Operation.
Charming Easter Story by Mrs. E. NJ.
Gtlmer Turning on skillful oper-
alton by DR.. David Winston

than the chdmbTes gdTniers of my
friend, the colonel, in New Orleans.
They face upon a wide balcony, framed
in by a lattice of exquisite hand
wrought irOn-work, that overhangs
the 6unQltettc at such q cuaningly de-
vised angle it is perfectly feasible to
attract the attention of any one pass
ing below whose presence. you may
desire, and equally easy to avoid de-
lection by unWelcome visitors, say
bill. collectors, for instance, or the man
who wants to be accommodated with
an X for few days.
In these pleasant rooms, surrounded
by gems of old carved furniture, and
bric-a.bra to make a collector die Of
envy, the colonel has lived thirty
forty-1ifty-no one knows how many
years. There is an old story of an in-
quisitive woman, more bold than the
rest, who asked the colonel once, point
blank, how old he was, prefacing her
inquiry by saying, "she knew he
would not object to telling lady"
Certainly not" replied the colonel
in his blandest manner, "but no lady
ever asked me such an impertinent
question"
1t is a commonly accepted fiction in
the circle in which the old
beau moves that he has found the
fountain of perpetual youth. He has
belonged-doe belong-to the joImcs8c
C{Oree of so many successive genera
tions the count has been lost. Very
old people say they and the colonel
were young together, but that Is mani
testify impossible.
In way, though he recognizes this,
and is often heard to say that many
person will be glad when he is dead,
because he remembers too far back
into that time when the sWelldOm of
to-day were mostly butchers, and
bakers, and candlestick-makers to that
other swelldom that went out with the
war.
"Bah ~ he says, scornfully, as Mrs,
New Rich's carriage flashes 10y him,
resplendent with armOrial bearing on
the panel, "bah Us if did not know
the only heraldic device she is entitled
to is pig rampant on a liyer-colored
shield. Or perhaps ii is at the opera,
when Mrs. Blank looks scornfully
down on the rest of the world from
her box. "Is-is that Madame Blank ?'
asks the colonel carefully adjusting
his pi1ce neg. "Very handsome
woman. She, ,ah-eh, "he goes on, almost
with infantile sweetness, reminds
me ofthe way her mother used to sit in
her stall at the market-house.
| really think, my boy, when
that woman died, the secret of grow
ing burr artichokes to their perfection
perished with her"
1t cannot be denied that the colonel
| does remember too much.
A year ago-it was almost at the
very end of Lent-We were sitting on
| that pleasant balcony of his in that
enchanting solitude, a dGur that is
only possible to old friends and new
lovers, who feel that speech or silence
| is alike eloquent with what has been
said or trembles Oh the lip still un-
spoken, Behind us, in the shadow of II
window curtain, was a table on WHICH
stood flask of absinthe and glasses.
| BY and by we would go out and eat a
| little dinner of the cOlOneps ordering
craw. fish, bisque, river-shrimp boiled
in ed-pepper water tenderloin of
trout with Tartar sauce, and the rest
that would leave us feeling as if we
had swallowed torch-light pro-
cession. In the meantime it was very
pleasant up there, just above the
heads of the surging crowd, with the
sweet south wind in our faces, heavy
| with the perfume of orange blossoms
and sweet olive.
at is Passion Week. / said lazily,
land according to priest and creed the
whole earth should be in sack cloth and
ashes, while look there, - and Ipointed
to where long, trailing rose stem had
clambered over n neighboring wall and
was Haunting itselfin the very bravado
of beauty. The garden from which
this truant had escaped was q gay
mosaic of color. The colonel followed
my glance and then his eye strayed
back to the street and frightened as
they met the gaze of another pair OF
ewes uprased to our balcony.
"Ah, Madame d'Arbl0y," he mur
INJURED softly, leaning over the rail.
She said few words in French tC
him, and then as swiftly and lightly
as a boy he ran down the steps, re
turning in few moments with great
sheaf of Ascension lilies.
"She never forgets,o he said not
once in all those years MOH Djeu
after all is said, it was n miracle.n
| sat silent and smoked on-OI does
not question ones friends soul. Dark
ness came on, the electric lights
flashed out like glow-N orms, the cease
less rush of feet below lost distinctnes'
and merged themselves into con
fused sound. The colonel stirred un
easily in his long bamboo chair.
IL never spoke Of it to any ont
! before" he said presently, but l hav,
n feeling | should like to tell you. Per
haps it is the time-it is the ami
versary. Perhaps it is as they say
and | am growing old, and so garru
lous. But it happened so many yeai
ago My boy, you saw MADAME
d1Arblay, aud you see these lilies
Bien, it is a Bit of history | am goin,
to tell you-and mine, for curiousl,
, enough, we are all mixed up in ou
! neighbor's affairs.
"You know when the war was owe
and we of the Confederacy came back
we came back to ruined fortunes, an
a lot of us poor devils scattered a
over the world. Coflee-farming
Brazil and Mexico, mining in tn
, West, engineering anything that o
fered to put bit of bread IN hungr
mouths, or a rag on too scGntil
, clothed backs. 1t was general eA
odus, and somehow in 1t the D'Al
blay's and | went to some property W
had in the upper part Of the Stat
where there was fine timber. w
y built saw-mills and did fairly wei
: until D'Arblay, who was ofa restles
q pushing disposition, hit on the idea ,
going TO another place, where thel
was a fine water-power that /