The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-12-28

The MRSTERS OF The ART. !
BY MAYNE LINDSAY
M
. by ne {


kleeplessness. unless your life is SO
smooth and free that you can afford to
lie still and look at IL. Even then there
will be crrmpled rose leaves; such as a
death watch that ticks monotonously
until every beat is a hammer tap tap
ping on yosur brain; or dog that howls
In the distance at intervals, so that you
are held in all the throes of suspense
when not in process of active torture.
But when the grim brotherhood Of care
and regret and sorrow steal in through
the night, magnified by the darkness
into Brobdingnagian proprietors; when
they paint the past and the present
ay. and worst of all the hereafter-in
their own grisly hue, then comes the
full burdensofmisery. You try the right
side first and the orthodox position
bedclothess upt chin. right ear we'll in
pillow, knees slightly bent, eyes shut.
What happens? Hold the covering ever
90 tightly, in slips Care to be your bed
fellow. And then what record of
trouble hetbreathes into your ear! The
debts that must be paid, the children
that must be fed, the promotion that
never comes, the strange symptoms
that you fearsmeans the beginning Of
disease--whichsoewer Is appropriate to
y<Vr case he lays before you. Turn on
tho Jeff side now and try again. What
of wasted opportunities, of the crisis
you n light have been god and proved
yourse. " less tha n a man? What Of the
youth {. rat slipped by with never an un-
selfish irupulse; the childhood that lost
its innoc,.nce so. much too soon? That
IS regret whispering and nagging at
your helpltxsncss. Another effort, and
turn upon your back, with your knees
making MoUntS,inai of the bedclothes
Sorrow now---sor.row for the dead face
you an.nevcr1seesagain for the lost love
that will plead dforahearing;i for the touch
that thrilled you so much.once that to
think of it now Isl agony. And thus on
through The night, until the dawn steals
in to shame your hot eyeballs, and start
you forth TO wait, for theAnext bedtime
land repetition.
Charlie Esdaife knew most of these
things. Hethad tested them by the light
--or the blackness-of experience for
to the inmosu soul l-of WEAKNESS. He was
far out In camp, with no doctor to help
him. and with no driend to rout out of
sweet sleep by way of company. He
had tried the, three positions aforesaid;
be had lit the lamp andJread all the ad-
vertisements in the "Pdoneer," and he
had lain with the light up and studied
the shadows that hung about the tent
corners. He was camping in n clearing
in the forest, awaytomt and beyond the
headquarters Of his district. Back and
at either side stretched the forest land,
thick and almost tracldless, but full just
now of strange far-away noises. Before
and below swiEled the Ganges, very mar
row and swift just there, snarling over
the rocks and heaying itself into rapids
and eddies; beyond that again came
Jungle and hills, all wild and bare of
human habitations and here, perched
on the high bank. sat the modest pair
of tents--a Swiss cottage and n "shul-
dari"-that Esdaile had had assigned to
him by right of his calling in life, which
was that of superintendent Of police in
Timli district. Mrs. Es<laile and the
children were at Timli, whence came
every other day arunner, jogging out
of the forest at a long, louping trot,
with o basket of meat or vegetables at
each end of stick. and letter from the
"mem sahib," full mainly Of domestic
details, sticking out of a bunch of mari
Colds and hedge-roses When the
''daliwnla" went back, he used to take
with him fish caught that morning,
queershaped stones or improvised toys
for the babies, and return letter
breathing all- -eheerfrine-s, and tbrgiin=
ming: "My precious Pattie," without
word of the esleep-destroying devil. Mrs
Esdaile had her own troubles, and Es-
daile was Englishman enough to tuck
his away when he could. He was lit
tie dried-up man of Norfolk squirearchy
breed, born and schooled in India, but
British bulldog and sportsman TO the
hearts core. To the hereditary tastes
he had added knowledge of the many
strange things of The east. acquired
from the tine he had hearlSened TO his
ayah's editions of folklore onwards.
He knew what the village patriarchs
talked of when they squatted together
Inside the mud huts of winter evenings,
and the smoke from the dried dung fuel
made them cough wheezily. He knew
what had happened behind the scenes
when his constahles came 20 tell him
OF the dead man found in Ram Dass'
ARA patch; and IL was not Ram Dass
that he tracked down and brought TO
Justice. lie knew even some of the
woraen's secrets-the ones which their
own husbands did not know-and how
such and such charm was made 10
keep of the evil eye. u was knowledge
bought dearly sometimes. but IL meant
power: particularly 10 policeman.
Not evca HiTa Singh. last Of northern
dncoi's. who had sworn never to be
1ound alive in on English jail. could out
wit this eastern trained Englishman.
Wherefore llira Singh kept clear OF
Ii,nli f.iHtricf. ard amused himself bv