Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-09-02

than by pursuing an investigation so
vitality important.
In the spring of the year 1881 1
consulted three of the most noted
physicians in the city of Boston, DIR.
Ward, DR.. Wendell and DR.. Humph-
rey. i attended interviews, submitted
TO examinations and furnished statis-
ties and all kinds of information in
regard TO the case in the form OF long
sheets or columns Of tabulated facts
for consideration and comparison,
covering n period of several months.
On the one side such and such atmos-
pheric conditions, on the other such
and such mental and physical accom-
paniment and data-similar causes
always producing similar effects, re-
CARELESS of the date or time.
Then | called upon these men for a
professional opinion, but they had
none to give except what any old wo-
man would have furnished me for
nothing.
Two of them, indeed, agreed that /
must travel. L must change the scene,
the atmosphere, the surroundings.
must bury the past and start anew in
some foreign country, counting per-
petual excitement and adventure.
GO TO Africa" they said; hunt
lions and elephants, dig for gold, shoot
Kaifirs if convenient, live with nature
in its widest and most savage forms
for two or three years, and then you
will surely be cured, or killed." They
might have concluded in the words of
Hamlet: "A consummation devoutly
to be wished"
However, l made up my mind to
follow their advice, because it coin
cided with my W opinion.
But the other fellow, DR.. Humph-
rey, disagreed with his learned coll
leagues and sen in a minority report,
over seal and signature, very much
as follows:
Dear Sir-I have given your Pc
culiar cases great deal of study and
anxious thought. | find distinct
traces of hallucination, mental aber-
ration and delusion in very aggravat-
ed forms. Having made q speciality Of
such cases, i have no hesitation i'm adj
vising you to fall in love Immediately
with the prettiest, wealthiest young
lady of your acquaintance. Follow it
up to the end fearlessly, devotedly,
and, believe me, that in the grand pas
sion alone you will find relief from
your distressing infirmity."
To which communication / replied
as follows:
You Old Fool-The only grand
passion of which l am capable pos
sesses me at his minute, as | pen these
lines. Would you have me make love
TO a girl in the morning, disown her
at noon, reyile her at night, and begin
all over again the following day at the
direction and the sweet will of the
clements? Here is your check, but
DON'T you think such professional stu
pidity ZONES pretty high? Great
Scott! When a man is hanging be-
tween life and death and crying aloud
~piteously for the shadow of a straw
upon which to hang the skeleton of a
hope, at such a time, ! say, commend
me to a tedious old doctor like your
self"
That particular afternoon was very
sultry and partly cloudy. | arose,
consulted the barometer and the
chart which hung vertically alongside.
The reading was as follows:
"Cantankerous, without the slight
est consideration for the feelings of
others"
Exactly" ] said to myself, and, had
| been human, | might have laughed;
but as it was, | merely ground my
teeth together and sent the letter
upon its errand.
What is time or space to me? My
destiny hinges on the weather. /
have already travelled thousands of
miles and the sun is now setting on
a typical African Gene. / have start
ed on a hunting trip through the
Transvaa! and the Kafir lands and
we have ~out-spanned the oxen for the
night on the banks of the Umgeni
river at Howick, which is about ten
miles north Of M~aritzburg, in Natal.
For a guide and companion / have
secured the services Of a man named
Hans Botman. He is half Dutch, half
English, a man of infinite knowledge
about routes and Kaiirs and every
thing else, for that matter, but to my
mind his chief glory is his title of
champion story teller of the colony"
The air was bracing and chilly and
| was enjoying myself reclining at
my ease with my back against the
wagon wheel. L could see the river
romping and sweeping over the rocks
in the valley below, and to the right
/ could hear the roar of the falls, the
celebrated Falls of Howick, which are
the pride of the village and The won
der of travellers. The scene at the
time was magnificent, for the vegeta-
ton around was at it's best, and while
/ was watching the clouds of spray
and mist rising dreamily and beauti-
fully out of the chasm, Hans inter-
rupted my reverie rather abruptly.
Fill your pipe again." said he, "and
take a drink of this foaming Kaffir
beer which Pando, the KafHr driver,
has just brought fresh from the
kraal, and | will tell you a story about
these falls. You see, Mr.. Clipper, we
have no literature of our w in this
country, and very few monuments to
remind us about strange events and
remarkable people, but for all that
there is hardly an inch of the road be-
tween here and Pretoria that has not
some legend, romance or adventure
connected with it.
Somehow the people expect me TO
hunt up these things, and as story
telling is second nature with me, well,
| do my best to entertain them. The
tale | am going to relate now / call
WHITE LOVE AND BLACK MEM
DRY
Over the way there, near the Falls,
and half hidden by those silvery pop
lar trees, you can just see the home Of
the Lynn family-that is to say, Mark,
his wife and their charming daugh-
ter, Dorothy. In his youth Mark had
been a miner, and after saving a little
money ne took to farming in this