The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1894-02-28

THE MAN BEFORE NE WAS MYSELF.
markably unimaginative, the two sure signs
of such character being want of humor
and a want of fear, for only imaginative
people are witty or nervous. i am neither.
Moreover, enjoy unvarying good health,
nor have Gor l have been examined) any
ocular defect which might explain the
sight I saw as a delusive vision. So it is ia
all ignorance of causes, perhaps purely ma
terial. perhaps mysterious beyond our ken,
that I Law before you the plain narration of
the fact.
Some years ago 1 took lodgings in the
neighborhood of ST. James park. Being
somewhat proud of my new abode, was
one day exhibiting it to my old friend,
John Hoyle He was, as in duty bound,
expressing his approval OF things IN gener-
al when, glancing into my bedroom, his eye
caught heavy bronze bust, which for its
utter lack of beauty had been consigned to
high shelf in that apartment
Rather risky, that ancestor of yours up
there, isn't hep" said Hoyle.
''Oh, safe as a house, john" l replied
and thought no more about 1T. Indeed so
careless was / that few days afterward,
because of a draft that ran through my
room, | had my bed moved and placed
rested.
Some time elapsed, and one evening I was
| returning in the dusk of the twilight from
my work along the path which skirts St.
James park. l was tired and somewhat
| out of spirits and walked moodily along
with eyes fixed upon the ground, but can
not say now that had any real prescience
| of evil
| When had got about half way along the
path, became conscious of the presence of
some person walking in front of me-a
! presence I had not before noticed. Raising
| my eyes, | saw at about 20 PAGES ahead
| figure that seemed strangely familiar to
me. The man was walking at the same
| pace as myself, with his eyes on the ground,
as mine had been just before. The strangest
part of the affair was that, familiar as his
whole appearance seemed, could not for
the life of me recall his name or in any way
| fix his identity. This not only aroused my
curiosity, but somewhat irritated me- as
| one is irritaCed at a trick played by ones
| memory. quickened my pace in order to
get I'D to the man before me. and as l did
| so his walk, his clothes, his hands clasped
| behind him, the whole man became more
and more familiar to me, but it was not till
had peered into his face in the gathering
dusk that my growing suspicion became a
certainty, and l knew that the man before
me was myself
I hung back, startled, dismayed, but with
| as vet no sensation of actual fear. lnever
thought of fight. was attracted to the
! figure before me and compelled to Follow,
| nv reason struggling with NEAL the while.
People had been called doubles" before
now: there were hundreds of cases of Curl
ous likenesses. Why should not this be like
the rest? But all the while / knew it was
not 1t was not the mere face and figure
| that were the same-the clothes, the hair
on the face, the wear of the very boots,
every detail told me that this was no mere
likeness this was my own image. So
| I followed with my mind all restless with
| dazed thoughts and feelings which cannot
now define. The position was so strange,
so new, that my mind could not grasp it.
On the man walked, slowly, terribly slow
", in the direction of my home. Down the
street, / following, he went, paused at my
door, unlocked itand entered.
| have said, believe with truth, that ]
am not man who is easily frightened, but
then at that moment the chill horror of fear
seized me-
Before nv sensations had been so unde-
fined that I had not been actually afraid;
now the sense of loneliness, separation even
from the mysterious figure that had gone
in at my door, weighed me down with ter
ror of what it all might mean. dared not
enter and meet that presence in the dark
ness of the house. / could not get right
away; fascination held me to the spot. So
all night long / hung about the streets
around trying to catch glimpse of the
house as often as could without arousing
the curiosity of the people about, for some
thing more than fear of ridicule prevented
me from. telling my story to any one.
At last the eternal night was over. The
morning broke, and with the light came
confidence, for the fears Of the day are
never like the fears of the night. When it
was broad daylight and the world Was
soon to be astir, l faced the task. I'M
locked the door and entered. In the hall, on
the stairs, all was still and undisturbed. /
passed into ray sitting room. There was
no one there-all was as left it. In the
bedroom, no one, but there where should
have lain asleep-the bronze had crashed
upon the bedl
Every man should study to save some