The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-04-02


the Prophet jeremiah. Once, soon aft
er nv arrival in Chatham, took the
Jeremiah down from the shelf, but
speedily put it back and made VOW
never to take it down again, and never
did. It remained in view on the little
shelf for 10 years while I sat there
| watching it rot away. The dictionary
| is a good book, but grows tiresome at
| times.
I thought in my enthusiasm I should
never tire of the Bible, but after 10 or
10 years I began to grow weary Of it
and grew hungry for other mental food.
I wanted Shakespeare, for with him to
keep me company could no longer be
| in the desolation Of solitude. At last
determined to get my friends to try for
me. had learned the Bible almost by
heart. The smallest incidents in the life
of the Prophet jeremiah were much
more familiar to me than the history of
the civil war, and Anathoth took on
proportions which made it as real as
| New York and far more important The
desperate efforts had made to keep my
self from falling into the condition of
SO many I had seen dropping to idiocy
and death were, felt, successful, and
any occupation which kept alive the in
tellect could not but be beneficial I was
hungry, starving, for mental food New
er had books appeared SO attractive,
never was kingdom SO cheerfully offered
| for horse as would have offered mine
for an octave My friends had written
for me to the government, but with no
success. At last they had interested the
American minister in London, who
promised to write to the home secretary
for me, but year had slipped by, and I
had heard nothing.
jeremiah continued with me, and it
seemed he was to remain with me to
the end. But change was coming.
Can ever forget the day it happen
ed? Can ever cease to remember the
delight, the incredulity, the astonish
ment of that happy day? I had come in
at night hungry, cold, wet and miser-
able. I made my way little depressed
to my cell. AS I was about to step
across the threshold saw book lying
| on my little wooden bed. Amazed and
astounded, hesitated to enter. Small
as such circumstance appears, the very
sight of the book brought on weak
ness. feared to pick it up; a horrible
dread seized me that it might be new
Bible, and J. was unwilling to risk an
other disappointment. The footprint on
the sand was not more suggestive nor
more awe inspiring to Robinson Crusoe
than the appearance Of that book was to
me. In mood as lonely, in plight as des-
perate as his, there lay before me sight
as unlocked for and, as it seemed, as
full Of meaning as the footprint was to
Robinson.
At last I pulled myself together, de-
termined to end the suspense and know
what was before me. I picked up the
book, and who can understand the de-
light, the joy, the rapture even, with
which I read on the title page, "The
Works of William Shakespeare In an
instant I became new man. If ever
one human being felt gratitude to an
other, felt it at that moment for the
American minister. To him I owed it
that henceforth new light was to
stream through the futed glass Of my
window, that henceforth new world
was opened up for me to live in, and
the world seemed lighter to me- Many
a month and year afterward my cell
was filled and my heart cheered by the
multitude Of friends the divine William
provided for me.
About the time received my Shake
speare another piece Of happy fortune be-
fell me- A smallpox scare was existing
outside, and all hands in the prison
were ordered to be yaccinated: When
the doctor came around few days aft
erward to examine the effects of the
operation, he found my arm so swollen
that he directed me to be taken to the
hospital.
For rs days had full opportunity to
learn what the girl in Dickens "Little
Dorrit" meant when she called the hos
pital 'eavenly" place. It was the
first time had ever been admitted, and
the change from the horrible mudhole
to the rest and comfort of cell in the
hospital was indeed almost " 'eavenly."
With nothing to do but to read my
Shakespeare, the cravings Of hunger for
the first time since my imprisonment
satisfied, I was tempted to believe
did partly believe-that the world had
few positions pleasanter than mine.
Goodness with contentment is I'M
doubtedly great gain. Contentment
alone without the godliness is no poor
thing, and was I not content? Few in
deed of all the thousands who have toll
ed in that torturing prison house have
ever been or are likely ever to be so
content as was.
How true it is that happiness is al
together relative, and that it is divided
much more evenly among men than we
are willing to believe! A mere respite
from an intolerable position, single
book to keep the mind from cracking,
transformed gloom and misery into light
and at least comparative happiness.
After time I began to watch the ef-
| feet Of the unnatural life unon others