Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1894-10-18
DEATH OF O'LEARY.
COMM ENTARY ON SOME
MEMS FEAR OF DYING.


Thor Tune Comes and o'Loary Cor
taInly was Not Alarmed
AYES, it is curious fact" said
DR. Collins, as he sat waiting for his
carriage TO como round one after.
noon at the end Of visit. was
convalescent but not quite ont OF
the DOCTORS hands, and we cfteu pro-
longed his professional quarter OF
an hour in friendly talk. at is
curious fact, but either men have
lied in the past or deatIi'bas lost bis
terror in our own time- IehaYe at
tended many hundreds of deathbcds
and neyor saw any one near his
or hor end Who was afraid TO die
a remember he continued after
a pause, .once hearing Of curious
little conversation which ook place
in the II hospital when | WIS
house surgeon there. IT was told
me by the priest, who VIZ g iriera
OF mine, 1t was so light episode
as to be hardly worth repeating, but
it touched me when heard it and |
think it bears on the subject we are
discussing
'Pray let me hear it," g 7, and
this, as we'll as | can. rememoer it,
is tho story DIR. Collins told me;
1t was late one evening and the
lights were turned down in No 3
ward OF the IL hospital. The
patients were lying silent save for
the occasional tossings and mutter-
ings which told that restless minds
and bodies were in vain pursuit. OF
sleep. Sleep is very capricious in
her visits to the sicls-now and then
she hovers over bed, and the man
lies flushed and uneasy, it is true,
but unconscious of the world Of pain
to which he will shortly wake. BY
some pillows she rauses Just long
enough to mako the heads upon
them fancy, as their eyelids close,
that for once they have cheated the
night; but after a troubled dozc they
start up again, painfully wide awake
this time, and the next five or six
hours rendered all the more intoler'
able by the mockery Of rest which
preceded them. Besides these de-
lusive tricks sleep comes armed with
other torments Most people hare
special nightmare of their own,
which visits them whenever fever
mas laid its burning touch on body
or mind--,some fantastic delusion
which in hours OF health and day
light they can discuss and even
smile at. but which a riso OF tenn
perature transforms into the terror
that walketh by eight
The man who was lying on the
bed at the end of the long ward was
beset by the idea OF wheels There
Is something terrible about wheel,
as Ezekiel knew in his night-watches
.ong ago, when he heard Il voice cry
in his hearings 'Oh Wheel" and
trembled at the words. This man
could SEQ quite well that great
wheels were approaching him from
every directions the room was full
Of them; he was one himself, re.
volving quickly till he felt the bed
clothes burn beneath him with the
| friction Now he was himself again,
out all around him they were turn
ing, some swiftly, others very slow
ly, which was more awful still
There was one large black one draw
ing nearer and nearer to his bed,
ill it seemed as II it must crush him
as he lay. He shrieked aloud with
terror, but the wheel stopped beside
his pillow and at his cry it changed
into the Doctor who was STOPPING
over him. and then from the doctor
into the priest. Yes, it was the
priest, but what was he sayingp and
with desperate effort the wander
Ing mind steadied itself for u mo-
ncnt and the phantoms fed back
Into the shapeless night behind him.
Father Molloy stopped over the
mans pillow. "My SON. said the
,riest gently, your pains will soor
he over; the church is always ready
Tor you-have you anything on your
ioul to.night?N
"Faith, your riverince." said the
man, in faint, dry voice, "lt's
month since l have had wan bi.
drink, and it's an Everlasting thirs
tnaJ is on my soul, 81 ~ Isl anu ma
the curse OF st. Lawrence conshum
the man who brought me into thi
bitter, burning camp
, He was drunken old gunner VIII
y had spent most OF his life betvee
the cells and the canteen. and ha,
ing found no rest in either ha
lrifted to that last refuge to forlor
t ones. the H. hospital, where i
had come to die,
The priest tried to rouse tt
Q olouded mind to sense Of the pa
and of the future, but it was u hop
less attempt Tho past drilted b
It fore the dying man in broken visiol
8 OF canteen revelrles, and wild a
ventures, and comrades wicked
l.---lt IT,. ........ nm. IL,