The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1901-06-14

MOST HORRIBLE OF ALL SENSATIONS.
New York journal.
In thoughts from the visions OF the
night, when deep sleep falleth on
men.
Fear came upon me and trembling,
which made all my bones to shake.
Then a spirit passed before my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
1t stood still, but l could not dis.
cern the form thereof; an image was
before my eyes. there was silence,
aud heard voice saying:
Shall mortal man be more just than
his God? Shall a man be more pure
than his Maker?-Job w., 13 to II.
Thus vividly the old prophet de-
scribes the terrible passion Of fear
and its effect upon men.
What man or woman or child has
not known, and known with deepest
suffering, the pangs Of fear?
The child who has committed
fault suffers far more from the fear
of being found out than from the
punishment that follows.
The condemned criminal suffers
not from the ak or the rope or the
deadly current, but from the horrible
fear that racks hin as the moments
pass and bring him near to death.
Does not every reader remember
horrible suffering from fear in child
hood? And how many have failed in
mature years to suffer the fear OF de.
lection at some time Of their lives SO
keenly as to regulate their conduct
afterwards.
Not all the ingenuity Of tOrturing
savages can make human being
suffer as he suffers through fear.
Most pathetic OF the insane Is the
horrible torment OF fear. DR.. j.
Crichton Browne describes thus the
agony OF an insane woman pursued by
terror.iaspiring hallucinations.
"When paroxysm seizes her she
screams out, "Ihis is hell!" "There
is a black woman" II can't get out!
and other such exclamations. When
thus screaming her movements are
those Of alternate tension and trem0r.
For one instant she clenches hel
hands, holds her arms out before her
In a stiff, semfixed position; then
suddenly bends her body forward,
sways rapidly to and fro, draws her
fingers through her hair, clutches at
her neck, and tries to tear of hel
clothes. The streno.clied0 mastoid
muscles (which serve to bend the head
on the chest) stand out prominently,
as II swollen, and the skin In front OF
them Is much wrinkled. Her hair,
which is cut short at the hack OF heI
head and Is smooth when she is calm
now stands on end; that In from,
being disheveled by the movements OF
her hand. The countenaDce ex
presses great mental agony. The
skin Is flushed over the face and necl
down to the clavicles, and the vein!
of the neck and forehead stand Uu
like thick cords. The lower lip drop
and Is somewhat everted. The mOutl
Is kept half open, and the lower jay
projecting. The cheeks are hoIlov
and deeply furrowed 10 curved line
running from the wings Of the nOstril
to the corners Of the mouth. Th
nostrils themselves are raised an
extended. The eyes are widely oper
ed, and beneath them the skin appear
swollen; the pupils are large. TIL
: forehead Is wrinkled transversely |
! many folds, and at the inner extrem
ties Of the eyebrows II Is strongl
furrowed 10 diverting lines, produce
!, by powerful and persistent contra'
4 tion Of the cerrugstors.'
or all the benefits derived froI
!. progressive civilization and from tru
: religion, the greatest, perhaps,
. gradual emancipation from the to'
ture OF fear.
q The old and false religions were r.
r lIgions Of terror. Poor savage
. worshipped the evil spirit and neglec
ed the worship OF God, declaring tbs
0 God was good and would not hui
i them. But they must propitiate tf
? evIl spirit, who would hurt them.
{ Primitive Views Of rollGlon, ne
Z essavy possibly 10 naae peimitt'
: condition, laid muca eovhasis
threats Of punlshmeot