The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-22
SHE CAN'T AWAKEN
PEASANT GIRL WHO HAS SLEPT
UNBROKENLY FOR THIR-
TEEN YEARS.
The Case Arouses Great Interest
in France and Is Being
Watched Closely.

ard yet wholly true is the story of
Marie Bouyenvil, which is just now at
tracing the attention of the most emf
nent physicians and specialists in
France. She is simple French peas
ant girl, and differs in no respect
from the girls of her class, except In
the astonishing fact that she has not
ieft her bed in the last thirteen years.
ana mas not been awake for a single
moment during all that time Ever
since May 81, 1883, she has been fast
asleep, and apparently, except at rare
intervals, wholly unconscious.
A terrible tragedy threw her into
this seemingly interminable Iethargy
on that fatal day of May, thirteen
years ago. Until then her life was
quite commonplace. She was born
about thirty years ago at Thenelles.
a little village some leagues distant
from St. Quentin. her mother being the
wife of a mason, who abandoned her
soon after marriage
Besides Marie, there were two other
children, both girls, one older, and the
other little younger than Marie.
with the three children the mother
! hVed IN her little cottage her chief
friend being well-to-do farmer, who
visited her often, and seemed much
attached to the little ones.
So the years passed, and in time the
home was broken up. The eldest girl.
on reaching Womanhood, entered a con-
vent She was of dreamy nature
and was subject to fits Of hysteria
Marie and the younger sister had no
taste for religious life. Rather come
~ they were, and, in Sunday attire.
quite attractive.
A child was born to Marie in May
1883. The babe died a few DAYS later
and the rumor at once spread through
the village which is noted for its Cos
sip mongers, that she had murdered it.
The police heard the story and deter
mined to investigate. Marie, mean
while, had heard nothing of the village
tattle and was attending to her usua
work as though nothing had happened
But as she sat knitting in the cottage
one day a neighbor rushed in and ex-
claimed:
Marie, the police are coming to az
rest your!
Straightway to the ground she fei1,
as though bullet had struck her.
Hardly had her mother aud neighpors
succeeded in reviving her when she
was seized with a terrible attack OF
hySterta-so terrible that half a dozen
strong men were required to hold her
This crisis also passed, and, weakened
by her great struggle, poor Marie grew
calm and soon sank into a quiet slum-
Der. DR.. Charlier, who had been sum-
moned. believed that all danger was
now over and that the girl would
awaken as we'll as ever He erred
Marie has not yet Weakened from that
slumber into which she passed on May
81, 1888.
White as statue and fragile as II
withered flower, she lies today in the
gloomy Thenelles cottage on the bed
which has been her sole resting place
for the last thirteen Years Round her
on the walls hang crude pictures of the
saints and through the small windows
comes glimpse of blue sky.
Dead she seems at first view, for her
eyes are closed, and on her shrunken
face is an ashen, corpselike pallor.
The body, too, is that of q skeleton.
The bones are covered with parchment
instead Of skin, and the limbs are
strangely attenuated Touch the sleep
er's forehead and Immediately you feel
as though you had laid hands on
mummy. Raise one of the dry, bony
hands, and straightway the conviction
seizes you that this girl is not sleeping,
but dead. Suddenly, however, while
still holding the ice cold hand, you feel
the pulse beat beneath your fingers, |
anu Inen you KNOW Iudt 1lLS Ids uOt
yet left this rigid body.
WHAT THE NEIGHBORS SAY.
Any one can study this poor girl at |
his leisure, for her mother, dull, |
heavy, yet high strung woman, Is glad |
enough to exhibit her to any one who /
will pay small fee for the privilege |
The neighbors say that she makes |
her living in this way. and seem rather !
to envy than to commiserate her. They |
have to work hard in the fields for
mere pittance, and all she, the lucky |
Mother Bouyenvil, has to do is to show /
curious strangers her bedridden sleep |
ing daughter and tell them how she |
came by her misfortune.
So they envy Mother Bouyenvil, and !
the malicious among them even whis- /
per that the whole business Is a fraud, |
and that Marie Is frequently seen wan |
dering about the fields after nightfall |
.Her mother say the village COS /
sips. SIS witch in her way, and she |
magnetizes Marie whenever she sees |
strangers approaching the cottage"
All this is manifestly absurd Even !
If Marie were awake. it would be ply |
sieally impossible for her to leave her |
bed. Living skeletons Go not promen-
ade after nightfall. and Marie Is moth /
ing but q living skeleton.
But there is abundant testimony that |
the girl has been asleep for the last |
thirteen years. DR.. Charlier, who lives |