St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-09-22

ued, Rnu then sdduehly ehe heart the
clank Of chain being dragged along
the Aoor.
"The thing reached the corner of the
wall and paused there for a moment.
Then it emerged and began to creep
slowly along the base of the second
wall, which would bring It within q
yard or two of the post of the bed. The
young woman got as far as to her
knees and remained there Watching its
progrees, There was no question of
shriekihg for help. She was locked IN
with the thing, whatever it was, with
the key of her door somewhere III the
housekeeper's room, and the house
keeper asleep. She knew, too, without
trying that she could get no sound out
of her throat.
"It shuffled down the second wall with
many pauses, but choking and gurgling
always. Once she thought 1t might be
some sort of animal, but az 1t passed
near the moonlight at the windows she
saw that 1t was not. It had rather
horribly grotesque resemblance to
man. Having reached the second cor
ner it began to move along the third
wall straight toward the foot of the
bed. The young girl stumbled out at
the head to the floor. The thing pulled
itself over upon the footboard and be.
gan to search through the bedclothes.
Finding nothing it tore the clothes
with teeth and hands furiously. The
young woman watched the process
from half way down the wall. She tried
to think what would have happened to
her had she failed to awake when she
did.
"By degrees it seemed to grow calm
er, and finally in turn crawled down
from the head of the bed. The young
woman could not tell whether it saw
her or whether it could see. As it ap-
preached, she moved softly along the
wall. When she reached the corner
she proceeded down the next wall, the
thing following, until, with many
pauses, they had made the circuit of
the room. Then the circuit was re-
peated. On this time round she heard
a clock in some distant part of the
house strike 12. The housekeeper ex-
pected to call her about seven. Later
she heard the same clock strike one.
Once she shuddersd at the thought of
fainting in the things path, but she
knew that she should not faint. She
thought of its leaving the wall and
making for her directly across the
room, but it stuck closely to the base
board, feeling its way along. The dis
tant clock struck two. Then it seemed
to the young woman that the journeys
around the room were being made at
a slower rate. The thing paused often
er, and longer at time. Finally il
must have stopped for quarter of al
hour, only to creep on yard or two
and stop again. After that it moved
no more. The young woman stood
watching half dozen yards further
along the wall.
''In the morning the housekeeper un
locked the door, looked in, and prompt
" tainted across the threshold. The
young woman still stood with heI
hands against the wall. She tiptoed
across to the housekeeper, dragged her
into the hall, locked the door behind
her, and went swiftly downstairs. In
the sitting-room she came upon her
aunts. When they saw her one of them
tainted as promptly as had the house
keeper upstairs. The other ran up to
her screaming:
Mildred, what has happened?'
"Then the young woman smiled and
began talking foolishness. They called
me in to see her within an hour. II
happened that had seen her on her
arrival the afternoon before, brown.
eyed, dark-haired, beautiful girl. II
was small wonder, therefore, that I
was a bit shaky when 1 had been
brought into the presence of my pa
tient. In one night her face had been
scared and furrowed as with the cares
and sorrows of three-quarters of CEN
tury, and her hair was as white as
snow. incidentally she was suffering
from an ugly-looking case of brain
fever, and for two months reason, and
life itself, hung in a balance that would
have turned for hair. But four
months later, when she went back
home under the care of her mother,
her mind was as good as it had ever
been, and the lines and burrows had
been rubbed out of her face. and the
plumpness and color of youth was re-
turning fast. But her hair was never
anything else but white as snow.
what was the thing in her room?
Nothing in the world but horrible
example of public savagery and official
carelessness. There was a poor-farm
some eight miles from our town, and a
miserable pauper, having gone violent
ly insane. they knew nothing better to
do with him than chain him in an out
house and treat him like dangerous
animal. You can imagine, or rather,
you can't imagine, the effect on both
his personal appearance and on his dis
ease. One afternoon he escaped, carry
ing part of his chain with him, and in
his wanderings reached the elderly
aunt's house, which stood open in the
midst of house cleaning. Attracted by
the GOODNESS inside he had crept up
into the old wing, where he had en-
tered one of the chambers and hid
den in the great fireplace, and gone
to sleep. The light of the young wom-
ans candle that night had reused him.
and his journeys round the wall were
mere animal instinct searching for an
exit.
"They called for him the same morn
ing, and saw the poor devil when they
found him lying up there in the room.
It is q solemn fact that his CANNES
projected an inch below his upper lip.
He didn't have on enough rags to cover
the backs of a mans two hands, and
his hair and beard and skin had been
indescribably misused. and the poor
wretch was in the last stages of con-
sumption. But his nights adventure
proved not such = bad thing for him,
for he died two weeks later in compar-
alive comfort. But the manager of
that poor-farm had no such easy exit
from the troubles which overlook him. !"
IN. Y. Sun.
Spain's Great Palace.
The magnitude of the escurial, the