The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-07-26

The ordinary arunKard refreshes
himself nthe morning with tea. Moth
ing refreshed me, because l could
taste nothing, and because my suffer
ings sprang from a different source,
though they were the same kind. I
had to bear them as best | might.
| remembered the command which
-Mr.-Strange, / had forgotten his
name again-gave me. to walk twenty
miles after d 'sheayy night" / started
to obey him.
Outside London. beyond Islington,
where there are now rows of houses,
but were then fields. I saw a little
modest cottage, standing alone in the
garden. 1t was a cottage with four
rooms only. covered over with creep
ers. On the board. standing at the
gate, was an announcement that it was
to let. a thought struck me: Here
could be seclusicn, at any rate. Here
| could shut myself up every night,
and await in comparative safety the
dreadful punishment - fast becoming
heavier than | could bear-which my
tormentOr inflicted upon me. Why
should not take the cottage. pay the
rent in advance every month-for how
many months should l have to pay it?
and 50 wait in patience and resigna-
ton the approach of my Inevitable
fate?
l made inquiries at once and secured
the place at 4 merely nominal rent.
Then l moved in a little furniture,
bought secondhand in Islington High
Cf1sAAf 0n1 n,0 :, fhN .naa11NHnt n
lonely hermit. of the house. There
were nc houses within hearing. in case
l should storm and rage in my drunk
en- madness at night. The cottage
stood removed from the road. and no
callers were likely to trouble me.
Within those walls I should be secure
from some dangers ut least. Here,
night after night, l could await the at
tacks of surfeit and intoxication which
regularly came; for my master knew
no pity.
On the first evening l sat down at
half-past six to prepare for what was
coming. The day was drawing in.
and 4 cold twilight-the month Of
March-coyered the trees and shrubs
in my little garden, as I opened the
door and looked out.
Before me stood the negro.
My spirit was quite broken. and I
could only moan.
do you al me to go with you
again." I asked. thinking Of the last
entertainment at which | provided
amusement for my master.
"Massa say him berry glad you come
hyar. You walk the twenty mile eb-
berry day, else massa know the reason
why. How you feel, Massa Lucraft?
Heigh! heigh. cluck! Dat most for
tunate day for you when you sign dat
little paper"
lie delivered his message and disap-
peared III the darkness. l heard his
footsteps crunching the gravel in the
road, and | longed, only now | had no
courage Or spirit left. to seize him and
tear him limb from limb.
Then l shut myself in, lit one can
die, II sat over the fire. | thought
OF the scenes by which my e~xtravagant
fancy had been excited; the garden
full Of lively girls-What were girls to
me now? the country walks l was to
have with Juliet-where was my pas
sion for Juliet now? The ease and hap
piness, the lightness and innocence, of
the life before me, drawn by an arch
decelver, compared with my present,
my actua! misery, sitting alone. cut off
from mankind, the slave and victim of
q secret profligate and glutton, doomed
to die slowly, unless it should please
the murderer to kill me off quickly,
and then. because the first symptoms
Of the attack Ware coming on, l went to
bed and stayed there.
So began my new life. A wretched
life it was. There was no occupation
possible for me-no amusement. [
walked every day, in fair weather or
foul, u measured twenty miles.
This in some degree restored vitality
to my system. l never read; l took no
interest in any politics. / sat by NY
self and brooded.
AS for my meals. I bought them
ready prepared. They consisted al
most wholly of bread and cold mutton.
You may judge of the absolutely taste
less condition to which | was reduced,
when I write calmly and truthfully
that cold boiled mutton was as agree
able to me as any other form Of food.
l found, after repeated trials, that
mutton forms the best fuel-it is bet
ter than either beef or portland keeps
the human engine at work for the long
est time. So / had mutton. AS I dis
covered also that bulk IA necessary,
and that only a certain amount Of an
imal food was wanted, / used to have
cold potatoes always ready. l stocked
twice a day, at II in the morning and
about 5 in the afternoon. Thus forth
fed, / got through the miserable hours
as best I could.
I look back on that period as one of
unmitigated misery and despair. l was
[hahhier in the checks. Ny hands trem-