The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-02-17

me- and I felt convinced that the only
way to meet him was to remain awake
waiting for him all through the night,
| and combat him in a naked condition.
Il therefore threw off all my clothing,
although it was a bitterly cold February
night and there awaited the evil one.
OF course. all this now seems absurd
and comical enough, but I cannot ex-
press to you the anguish and torture OF
mind that 1 then sustained l walked
up and down my room, to which mad
retired about eleven o'clock, in a state
of great agitation, entirely resolute as
to the approaching struggle,
Thus / marched about my little
room, growing every moment into a
state Of greater and greater exaltation;
and so it went on until the dawn began
to break about half-past seven O'Clock.
| 1t seemed to me very strange that that,
of which had such terrible and ire
sistible conviction, had not come to
pass.
II walked across toward the window
| in order to make sure that the feeble
| blue light was really the heralding of
the gray dawn, wondering at the nom
appearance OF my expected visitor. AS
l put forth my hand toward the window
a large black cat sprang forth from be-
hind the mirror!
persuaded that the foul fiend was
here at last in his own person, though
in so insignificant a form, darted at it,
as, the best thing to do under the criti-
cal circumstances and grappled with it
with both my hands, and gathering all
the strength that was In me / flung it
with all my might and main against the
floor. :" "
"a dull thud-nothing more, No ma
lignant spectre arose which pantingly
looked for--nothing happened I had
triumphed! Then, Worn out, my mind
racked with ecstacy and anguish, my
body benumbed with the bitter cold of
freezing February night, threw myself
upon the bed. all unconscious, and there
l was found later on in the morning in
state of prostration and bereft of my
senses.
II lay like that for fortnight, during
which was in state of wild delirium,
and when at last began to regain con-
seriousness the most fearful thoughts
took possession of me. Demons APP
peared to me constantly, coming out of
the darkiess and forming themselves
gradually into corporeal shapes, almost
too horrible to think of.
But even worse and more torturing
than these were the fantastic. malig /
rant and awful imps and devils and
witches that formed themselves out of
various articles in the room. The knob
on the top of one Of the bedposts of my /
little bedstead was continually turning |
into leering, gibbering witch and SO
forcibly did the likeness burn into my |
mind that 1 have since sketcher the Old |
Lady. 4t
There is a marvellous fact in con-
nection with my illness which believe
is common to all who have suffered
from the same disease; while all ugly
things assume fearfully and horribly
hideous forms, all beautiful objects APP
pear ten times more lovely.
Thus my Turner drawings, Of which
there is about a score upon the walls,
and which, absolutely perfect as they
are, seemed a thousand times more
lovely, the colors brighter, and they
looked in their splendor more like pic
lures of heaven than Of earth. The
same applies to pretty patterns In ma
terials, such as.the borders on my win
dow curtains or the wallpaper"