The Holly chieftain., 1901-07-12

menceu the study OF medicine, and,
with proud heart. peeel ~ n4ae
upon the books Of - College. had
heard much Of the vagsriss and mad
cap escapAdss OF medical students,
but. to my surprise. found myself
among 9 quiet and intelligent set Of
young men. who seemed much more In
TENT upon mastering the, mysteries Of
The divine art of healing than upon
wrenching OF knockers. and who
seemed more inclined to mend bones
than y break them, Al j. WAS -studi-
"usly disposed also we got on well to-
eether.
But we had an original character
AAeng ts-a den6AitfatSS 'bf KSafD-
/ !qy. who ~ai Ii ths nMss fg.saday
a dark, silent. unhappy looking man,
~ho seemed to have a most. singular
and unaccountable repugnapce for all
the details Of the profession he had
chosen. He would shiver II by chance
he touched the skeleton IN the lecture
hall; he would turn pale over opera
sions. and often faint In the dissecting-
-oom. scalpel In hand. No one could
Imagine why he had chosen to study
medicine. We often discussed the
question among ourselves; and one
night when he entered the hall soon
after we had been exhausting conject-
ures, an inquisitive student asked him
rolnt-blank the very question we all
'onged to hear answered.
"Dr. Lee. why do you dislike these
'hings so?' 1
He was smoking; but he laid down
his cigar. looking very pale, yet seem
'ug willing to answer.
Il will tell you why" he observed.
Long aftec had mastered the SCI
epce Of ana tony, received an invita-
lion one e.'ening to attend q private
meeting at the rooms Of classmate
"a meeting where a fine subject
would be dissected by the students
alone. I went gladly. The corpse lay
face downward on the floor. and they
we're tryint; to lift 1t on the frame 1
had placed In readiness. I assisted
hem; and. as l did SO. fancled l felt
. slight pulsation of the heart be-
meath my hand. But when we laid 1t
on the board, saw only cold, pale
face and stiff and rigid form. It
Sas the face of a man some thirty Ave
years of aSe-dark and cold and proud.
Even the heavy hand Of death could
not erase the naughty curl Of the lip
or the settled frown upon the brow.
Ills hair was long and dark, but slight
" spnnkled with gray; so were the
thick mustache and beard. His eyes
were half-unclosed. and through the
long lashes could see that they had
heea black as night. The careless
.hough rigid attitude In which he lay
1.-THE strong hand clenched, a II in
rome spasm after death. and, those
large eyes half revealed. filed me with
nameless terror. 1t seemed as II,
though dead, he yet had the power to
watch and understand our motions.
tad never seen a corpse that gave me
such feeling before. Upon his breast
aad face was the stain Of blood. !
pointed 1t out to my companions.
!" Buried alive. most probably said
one Of them, carelessly, as he handled
! the scalpel. He must have struggled
hard, for he is q powerful fellow
"'Look At his hand said another,
slinins 1t frciA ASsS bsleh. II ia
scIsReAed so ttat ts sinS htstnb the
palm below. Buried alive! It u as
tonishing how people can be 10 caro-
less now. when they have not even
ignorance for an excuse. There is
something in this face that unnerves.
Mr.. -, can you not close those eyes!'
Nonsense! let the eyes alone-he
can see the better that we do every
thing right exclaimed the third. Are
you all turning towards over dead
body? Give me the sponge. Who be-
gins?'
HE sponged the blood away. I
stood near, still looking at the face Of
the corpse. The sponge, by some
strange chance, had been filed with
iammd4jA instead a. water The oper-
ator n4nt 1t tsrelNaly uppp, ths board
close To the face of The corpse. In an
instant. as the subtle vapor found its
way upward, saw q quick shudder
pass through the limbs. The operator
started away In tsrlbr.
I 2 peod heay.a!sH y .atys!s he sex-
claimed. in how. 6bxrse ions. ;
y bent oyse him. bathed his pale
face with Wn4r, and poured q cordial
betwSeD his 3hut teeth. Life came