Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-01-31

dead see the things Of life with clearer
vision than they who are still min
gled in its turmoil--could never know
that he was innocent. And he had
! taken wife-left forlorn now, poor
Soul,-and there was an orphan child
Of his own blood. And 50 the great
stream of life rolled on past the des'
olate rock to which he was left
chained. deaf 10 the thunder Of the on
rushing waves, clean forgotten, like a
dead man out of mind.
| Like those sufferers whom Dante
met in hell, and who thought no more
Of their agonieS in the bitter tidngS
he brought them Of their beloved on
earth, No t. cared little for the pun.
iShmeut and loss Of good marks which
his breach of discipline cost him, II
was many days before he was again
employed on the fortitications. for that
work was eagerly coveted and only
given to the heSt-hchaveSi men, both
because it afforded the unfortunate
captives a welcome glimpse Of the
outside world, and also because 1t Of
fered greater facilities of escape than
any other work, greater than those
which the dock-yaM laharers enjoyed,
Eveard'S next week, therefore. was
spent within the dreary confines OF
the prison, partly at accounts and
partly at hospital duty, in which he
was much more uScf&l than other
men on account of his previous train
ing, but duties which he particularly
abhorred for many reasons; amongst
others, on account of the confinement
and the leisure they gave the MUD
for brooding.
1t Is difficult to realize the agony
of despair which devourcd Everam' S
heart and confused his intellect in the
first months OF his Imprisonment.
The horror of Cyrirs treachery and
evil-dcing, and the shame of seeing all
human virtue and honor in the dust,
blmted his perceptions of minor evils
at first. and the black despair OF feel
ing that there was no God. or only
sone cruel deity who laughed at the
lllStIN u luHtNtlll iUCll diitl lItlubltii
cyil-doerS, made him like a stone.
The thought that his life's purpose
was wrecked; ;hnt lie crIl now
never pursue th)Sr grand scientific
theories which he was SO near bring
ing to perfection; and the productions
Of centuries of human intellect wore
closed to him forever; that the mental
powers he so delighted in exercising
must rust, and perhaps be crushed
beneath a daily load of brute-lik,'
, drudgery and degrading hardship;
that his finer susceptibilities would
be blunted or effaced by the daily con-
tact with all that was coarsest and
| foulcSt in human nature; that he
would be utterly cut off from all that
was calculated to nouriSh and refresh
the higher nature, did not come to him
till much later.
Like some captured wild animal,
he submitted with logged unwilling
ness to the restraints Of superior force:
he did his prison tasks with the mute
protest of the blinded Samson among
his tornlentors. not caring whether he
pulled down the pillars Of his prison
house or not in his savage strength,
1t was relief to him to exhaust him.
self in hard bodily toll, and he per-
formed feats Of strength in his pas.
sion which surprised men born and
trained to physical labor.
The chaplain was a man for whom
hn i,,
AIRY in which angels. much less foolish
and sinful men. might fear to tread,
and for whom the highest mysteries
of the divine nature were but scraps
of glib commonplace; a man who eX-
pected men stepped In years of vice
and foulncss to be converted at once
by the rude and sudden enunciatlon Of
his wcll-worn formula; sincere and
well-meaniNg man withal. VINO looked
upon earth as an antc-chan'bcr to an
unspcakable he'll, from which 4 very
small and numbered few might oc-
caSionally be snatched by a sort Of
chance-medley jugglery, Of which he
and half a dozen more alone knew the
catchword or enchanted password; the
chaplin pronounced him an utter rep
rebate.
"But have you no care for your
poor soulY he asked one day after
weariSome exhortations and endless
questioning, to which the prisoner had
given no reply.
None whatever" he replied at last.
He was a favorite with the warders,
whom he despised in his unjust re-
sentiment OF their authority, or with
his ellow-prisoners, who hated him,
firstly, because he was a gentleman;
and, secondly, because all his looks
and words silently rebuked the vic
iousness of their own. Excessive la
Dor and hopeless brooding brought
him to the hospital at last.
The prison doctor knew his history,
and felt for him as for a brother In
trouble, and, accustomed as he was
to suspect and discover malingerng,
saw at once that No. Cos strange
malady was no feigned one, but arose
from the mind rather than the body.
One day, after many rough but kindly