Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-09-24


hung on the oaks ana jumpers; lnl al
pipe had sprung up by the dry b. ook
and the witch hazels that bloom in tne
fall, here and there outspread tneil
tents of green.
1t is proper still here" said Luther
the undertaken. Il like still woods
when the year is beginning to chan-e
don't you? But you are young: we fee
the changes of the seasons more as We
grow older. Doctor, l want to ask
one question-this is a good place q
ask it; all around is so still, now. Does
the soul contain the body, or the oody
the soul? Come now, that ought to
be an easy one for doctor like you?
Ask me that question some Other
day-later. My view is that the soul
contains the body-what we call the
body is merely living machine; a col
lection of organs that serve the pur-
poses of the soul. So it SEEMS to me.
Yes, and l reckon it $ a sensiIle
one in the main. | think that WY,
too. But doctor, want to ask you IN
other one. Can the soul ever act out
side of the organs of the body Can II
ever see without eyes, or hear without
ears, and know things that are lar
away, of its own self? Could it ever
go away from the body and come be- k
again, doctor? Go away and knock on
a door? | don't mean what they call
spiritual rappings, and SUCH
'No-neyer! L spoke firmly. l vas
beginning to feel a strange interest n
this white-faced man.
Are you quite sure, doctor?"
Quite sure. Why do you ask cheese
strange questions? What have you
heard to suggest them?"
Something curious happened on he
night when Placide died. When I
went over to the Ark to take the
measure for the coffin, the widow, she
that is Placide's mother, she told ne
about it, but she made me promise not
to tell what she told me. | never saw
a thinner body than Placide's was
when we laid him out on the family
board-where I had laid OUT his father
before him. The old families keep
their own boards for su h purposes.
and their own grave clothes, too, for
that matter, winding sheets and things
and all. Curtis (cuciCus), amt it? BIT.
doctor, let the strange thing that hap
pened on the night that Placide died
pass now; I want to ask you one more
in thnrn CIT ~.
sunlight is opening ahead! If the soul
could see without eyes and Lear win
out ears, and leave the body and come
back again, it has a life of it's own,
hasn't it now, doctor? Then the nving
might haunt the living, as we'll as the
dead the living"
Your conclusion is logical. | can
see the drift Of your mind But yol,
have awakened my curiosity as to what
leads you to ask these questions. What
strange thing was it that happened On
the night when Placide died?"
Il cannot tell you now-you Will
know sometime, perhaps. Maybe me
widow herself will tell you all about
it. See those straw Lives over in that
peach orchard-they used to go AID
tell the bees when Peep Y d4td-tncy
have some queer customs in these
parts But here we are in the open
road again. You didn't open to me
much light in the still wood-wnat
are your books for?"
l had thought of these things before.
1t seemed strange, however, that sucn
queries should be haunting the .ra:n
Of this WaXy faced man. An unsteady
light at times came into his eyes. A
Of some kind Was haunting
him, and [ gathered firm his sugges-
tons that it concerned the appearance
Of living man to a living NAH at a dis
lance, perhaps, but certainly the flesh.
Such objects had long interested me.
Luther, the undertaken, was ..e a real
man? With whom was | riding? his
hands that he told me had ''Stiddied
many coffin,' looked ike the hands
Of the dead. He would look up to me
and then drop his eyes. lie
once said-"And he went out, AMI it
was night" He repeated these words
slowly with an absent tone. | can
hear them now.
We passed the Nayatt woods, and
the village or town Of harrington,
when lovely eXpanse of meadow and
water burst upon our view, and out
Of it rose a dark tower and white spire
The tower and spire were in Warren.
The lowered church had once been
burned by the British.
The undertaken gave me another oe-
culiar look. He seemed to be debating
some secret resolution.
What is it?" asked l. Your hest
.ancy makes me nervous. Tell me all"
DIR. Brown, you are an honest man.
can see that What are Icy eyes for,
I'd like to know. Dr. Brown, | haze
in here, and l can hold IT
40 longer
He put his hand to his head.
"Trouble?" asked l. THE head is a
of trouble to many people
mo, it is a shadow in my memory
and I wish it had never found room
CuSl6. IL pushes lie. IL Will IelISFS
the pressure here, if you will just let
me give it up to you in confidence"
"A physician does not repeat secrets
while they can do anyone HARM" said
l. ''Mr. Luther, you may trust me that
nothing you say to me now shall ever
harm YOU {.
Il know, 1 know-what is my head
for. I'd like to know? DR.. Brown