The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-09-25
HIS BRAIN DRIED UP.
WEIRD FATE OF THE BRILLIANT
WRITER, MORTIMER STARK.
How He Lost His Vast vocabuIary-One
by One All Words Left Him Until He
Knew Only Three. and They Were Hate,
Hope and Horse.

by One All Words Left Him Until He
Knew Only Three. and They Were Hate,
Hope and Horse.
Will explain first little about Nor.
timer. Stark. He lived by his pen; not
entirely-for he was possible creature
but he was young fellow, with a
good literary reputation, and wise and
discerning people saw in him the buds
OF power that would produce greal
things with the proper training. A
story of his appeared now and then in
the well known magazines, and he had
book on the market that reached its
second edition in fair time
His power was an unusual use of
words. He was never conventional.
HIS sentences stood out in bias relief
His vocabulary was rich and varied.
Words seemed a gift. They formed his
thoughts ahead of him He was never
at loss TO express the subtlest emo
lions. He was delicate writer, but
strong one. Now, TO revert to his own
story as he told it TO me one evening
when the moon shone on the porch and
made acute shadows on the lawn
Il first noticed the malady year
ago. was writing at full tilt. pounc-
ing at my page like knight with lance
outstretched. OF sudden it seemed as
though my courser had stumbled.
came TO full stop | wondered What
had made me stop? A few moments
thought convinced me that the meaning
OF the word glum has escaped me-
"A little thing | thought. There
was the substitute gloomy, quite as good
word IL it came to pinch, so | used
it, and once more raced at the white
page. Suddenly there was another stop
The word yellow had ceased to have
any meaning | knew it was word,
and probably good one, but what
meaning it conveyed escaped me. 1t was
as though all meaning connected with
the word had been wiped off my brain
as "a wet sponge cleans off slate The
next word that failed me was smoke.
l saw myself face to face with the loss
of three important words 1t was as
though they never had been
''Soon l noticed the loss of other
words; knee, weapon. swallow-these
went, passed out of my experience |
knew what knee was only in IL vague
way. L knew where it was and used TO
feel Of it, but, somehow or other, 1t
conveyed no meaning.
Next l found myself using words
that | felt to be correct without any
idea of their meaning was sham
Soiled, west and temporary were the
next words to go. l felt their loss keenly
l at last began to realize that my word
capacity was being erased in spite of
myself, that my words were migrating
to other minds, sailing away from me
to nest in other brains. 1t was fright
full thought. In vain l tried to stem
them. -
He felt all this acutely. I could see in
his face deep harrows-lines of bitter
ness. But will continue as he told me-
Il do not know where this will end, -
he said, "but end it must. / feel my
words dripping away from me like mist
Ah that's it! l feared it, too, had gone.
Some day shall be incapable of ex-
pressing the slightest thought. Should !
L lose propositions and conjunctions-
ah, how precious are the minor parti- |
Giles of speech-should / lose them | !
should lose all continuity. l would be |
lost. What the end will be no doctor |
can say, but slowly see the breach |
widening and my precious stock of |
words becoming squandered. 1t is fright
full, horrible. -
saw him year after that He lost I
many important words. He did not
know what street meant. He had to
have guide to walk. He talked slowly
and hesitatingly, but there was moth
ing Of madness about him; nothing
whatever. He was rational in every 9TH
er respect save his words
saw him as the time went { ID. He
grew worse and worse. Sometimes he
would ask the simplest questions-ques-
tons that child might ask, you know.
And then, as he saw your face and un-
ierstood that he should know, a terri
BILE look of pain shot over his. 1t was
frightful to watch the decay of such a
mind, decay like unto his. His knowl-
edge acquired by books lasted longer
That which should be almost innate
went rapidly. He at last forgot how to
to crawl about ON the floor
and yet he could converse learnedly,
with the limitations of certain words,
IN the early fathers of the church and
most points Of gnostic philosophy. The
spectacle Of such contrast as this was
abnormal, fearful.
AS he crawled over the floor, to hear
him take up a fine point dwelt on by
Thomas Aquinas and expand it and ap-
ply it to modern thought was the most
,itiable thing in the world. He could
lot dress himself He could not do any
hing He was monster, fabulous
,east of disarranged mentality. AS he
at ON the floor and played with dog,
'eating it and cutting it and rolling
ver it. and then popping up to ask for
volume Of Walter Savage Lander, the ,,