The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-17

back to his po' old nanny des like yoh
see him. doctah. an l des skeered plumb
outen my wits, dat / is"
l examined John carefully and could find
not the least thing the matter with him.
and half believed he was shamminr The
room was whitewashed, and l noticed a.
streak entirely around 1t that was so even-
ly drawn that 1t attracted my attention,
but In the stirring events Of those days I
really paid scant heed to so trihlng case
as Johns, and so APPARENTLY trivial an in
dication as was that level streak on the
wall. His mother was still talking
DE reason dat an de table an cheers is
in de floor. doctah, is dat John he des
runs inter all of EN- If dey close c de wall.
Pears like he des 'bleeged t skim along
close up as cher he kin. Dat dar streak
IS whar his elbow scrapes along all day
an all night, 'cep' when somebody's sit
tin holdin' his ham er feelin' his pulst,
like you Is now"
Young and inexperienced as I was, even
this did not give me a clew, and / left
Aunt Martha and John after giving some
trifing advice and remedy, both of which
knew to be innocuous.
| spent several years in Paris and In
Germany after the war, and It was not
until 1888 that I was back in Washington
We had an international convention there
at the time, and were taken to various
public institutions among which was q
lttle asylum for poor negroes.
In one room, as we were passing the
door, happened to observe on the white
washed wall a well worn streak drawn
so level and circling the room so perfect
ly that 1t called to my mind q vision
which l had wholly forgotten.
Memory was coming back to me- and
slowly taking UP the threads Of the war
days, when one of the resident physi-
clans, who had missed me and returned
said as he Joined me at the grated door:
for years. No one knows why. He is per-
fectly harmless. perfectly helpless as to
taking care of himself, and he walks and
walks, day and night and always bears
to the left. If we let him out he'd bear
off to the left and go In the river or thu
fire, or lose himself in the woods. He
never talks, although we have never
found anything the matter with him. He
eats and sleeps well. Strange case"
Before noon the next day we had Johns
small room looking like a hospital OPP
Grating room, and the great black frame
lay on the table under the influence OF
ether. Five of us stood around him, and
! told them my theories and plans. My
| colleagues warmed to the idea
l cut open the right side Of the thick
| skull and, sure enough, a splintered piece
| of bone from an old depressed fracture
| pressed into the brain. lifted II. dressed
| 1t with antseptics and replaced skull and
| scalp and placed him In his bed. Then We
| set about reviving him. We were all in
| tensely anxious to know what the result
would be, and five notebooks were ready
/ in five hands. Presently John opened his
| eyes and stared about him. Then he ask
ed-and It was the first articulate word
| he had uttered for over twenty long
years:
'Whar did de army move to yisteday?'
was too excited TO reply and no one
| else appeared to grasp the fun meaning
| of hts question Presently / said:
Toward Richmond, John. but you were
| hurt little and had to stay behind, and
we have been doctoring you. You are all
right now How do you feel?"
Gus rate thankee, sir; fus rate. Which
side licked Yesterday? Ourn?"
Yes, John. But you must not talk now.
I'll tell you all about 1t tomorrow"
/ stayed in Washington to watch his
case and ask him some questions, but he
never understood one OF them. The bait
tie Of Bull Run had been Yesterday to
him. and If he had dreamed, the dreams
had taken fight at the touch Of the knife
and fed from the lifted skull.
When he began to walk he had no fur
Their tendency TO trend to the left. His
health, which was always good, enabled
him to recuperate with great speed from
the operation, and he Is to-day supporting
Aunt Martha by driving the carriage OF
one Of the best known senator's at the cap
ital. still look upon John as about my
most valuable piece of stage property, 50
to speak, in surgery.
There has never come a glimmer Of
memory to him of the twenty odd years
that he was a mere circling automaton.
The war and his experience up 10 that
time when he was struck on the head.
most likely by piece Of spent shell, are
as If they were yesterday in his memory.
and his mind Is as clear and as good as
the average of his race and condition;
but where that mind was and how It was
occupied during those years is a never
falling query to me, all the more perhaps
because II does not trouble or puzzle him
In the least.
First student-"What makes you look
so melancholy" Second student--'T have
been fooled. / asked my father TO send