The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-01-17

reached the surface it was chilled by the
cold hand of death. Nearer and nearer the
cold approached my heart, until II seemed
as if | could measure the distance. l
knew that in a second more all would be
over, but in that second l lived thou
sand lifetimes. My boyhood days all
swept before me, and thousand details OF
my daily life long since forgotten passed
before my mind. Ny young days spent at
the pillow, and the many hours | ran about
the fields Juggling at my mothers apron,
as she led from the fold slckly lamb or
went to pass CHEEKY word with the hay
makers-al this passed through my brain
at lightning speed; and when all was
over and the last second of my long dream
arrived realized that l was just about to
face my Creator. T is was the only sense
of relief | had ] had no fear, for the con-
viction of the goodness OF the G d on high
was so firmly stamped on me that it was
reality.
Throughout the long strange scene l
saw the people by my bedside. | watched
their tears and listened to their means OF
grief with an acuteness that | had never
felt before. 1t seemed as if | could not
help hearing them, and my eyes were fixed
with rigidity that could not be described.
Then the end came. With a clutch
like that of thousand cold steel vises,
my heart was grasped in the firm embrace
of death, and all wassover.
l say all was over, because this was the
first moments respite | had had, and it
was until some time after that that l
realized my situation, and the reaction set
in. The first thing that then impressed
me was that some one leaned over the bed
and bursting into fit Of violent sobbing.
said: "He's d cad my God he's dead"
Then a thousand voices seemed to take
up the words, He's dead. he's dead, he's
dead" until their echo throbbed on my
brain like the beating OF a shop hammer
that was the beginning of my second
horror l realized that | was dead, or at
least thought so. Then l began to won
der if | was really dead. 1t had occurred
to me as strange that l did not see heaven
or the other place. These thoughts gave
me monentary shock, but nothing to
the horrors that followed. My reason
gradually returned, and just as If some
one had struck me a violent blow came
the full realization, II am not dead-I am
in trance"
Then the weeping of those about my
bedside was heard with redoubed force.
1t seemed as if they stayed there for days
and every tear they shed was only binding
me firmer in my living tomb. My eyes
saw everything that went on. | tried to
move, to speak, to blink my eyes, but |
was fixed, held down it seemed by a
thousand grinning devils. Then l was
alone, that is the people left the room. l
could hear the tick of the clock aud
counted the seconds flying by. Soon l
must be buried, and | felt convinced that
no power | could summon would ever
break the spell. My imagination led me
down a million lanes, each one leading TO
the very verge of the hereafter. l fancied
that | was placed in coffin and lowered
into a tomb. There were half dozen
other collins on shelves, round the place.
Suddenly the lid of my casket was raised
and 1 realized that / could move. I rose
from my coffin, and finding myself
ntombed, began to shout for help. No
help came, and after a long siege of tor
ture. began TO go almost insane. | re-
member with cearness too horrible TO
dwell upon how l laughed and shrieked
in my insanity.
| This frightful vision continued. The
door of my room opened and several grave
| looking men came in. / thought that