The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1902-02-27

At five O'Clock the house was shaken
by the combined thunder of the eight
alarms. The man, reused out of a
sound sleep, sat up in bed in aston
ishment. He glanced down to the
floor, where the eight clocks were
still in active operation. Then he
rubbed his eyes and looked again.
There were certainly eight clocks in
line. He had heard of men seeing
double, but the idea of multiplying
everything by eight was new and ter
rifying to him. He looked to see if
there were eight windows. No, there
seemed to be only one. Finally he
climbed out of the other side of the
bed and jumped into cold bath.
Perhaps that would clear the cobwebs
out of his brain.
While he was in the bathroom his
wife came up and removed the eight
clocks, SO that when he returned from
the bath and looked again at the place
on the floor where the eight had stood
in row there was nothing to be seen.
As he stared at the vacant place the
assurance came to him that he was
certainly a victim of an optical hal
lucination, produced by an overindul-
gence in alcoholic stimulants.
He went down and made his regular
evening report and came directly
home without tasting a drop. On his
return he again looked for the clocks,
but they were not in sight. This
made his conviction certainty. He
carefully concealed the awful fact
from his wife.
Next morning he reported at the
city hall and again came straight
home, still refusing to take a drink
of any kind. Again he lay down to
sleep, but he was too much ashamed
and too badly frightened to say a
word to his wife about waking him
up. She, however, with womanly de-
votion, brought up the eight alarm
clocks again and put them in row
on the mantelpiece after setting them
for joint discharge at five o'clock.
At the fated hour they sounded, and
the frightened politician sprang up
in bed with horror written on his face.
The worst was true. He was certainly
suffering from n bad case Of alarm
clocks. 1t was new form Of delirum
tremens, and, he feared, a dangerous
one. With appraised hand he care
fully counted them again, and noted
the exact places on the mantel where
they were sitting. He could even see
the eight second hands moving and the
combined ticking Of the row sounded
in his Mortified ears with awful dis
tinctness. Surely he was going mad.
Out of bed he jumped and rushed
again to the bathroom, where he
plunged into an ice cold bath. That
would be the final test. If, after his
return to the bedroom, the alarm
clocks had disappeared he would have
absolute proof of his alarming condi-
ton.
As she had done on the day before
his wife had removed the clocks dur
ing his absence, and his most dreadful
fears were realized when he came
back into the room. The mantclpiecc
his hand along the marble. There
was nothing there. He felt faint and
weak.
Dressing hurriodly. he went
straight to a doctors Office. leaving
the city hall job to take care of itself.
and made clean breast of it.
Doctor" he said, I'm in awful
shape. For the last year I've been
drinking hard and now I'm up against
the d. It's. Every night at five o'clock
when | wake up | see eight alarm
clocks in row. Sometimes they are
on the floor, sometimes on the man
teIpccc. And they are always all Of
them ringing, Then | go out of the
room for moment to take my bath
and when | come back they are all
gone. It's an awful feeling, doctor"
Have YOU seen any red rats or pale
green devils yet?" asked the physician
cousolingly.
No, ! never see anything but the
alarm clocks, and | always see eight
of them"
llldl lbbhS b8H, SdlU the doctor.
when dclusion recurs in that way
and always remains the same it indi-
Gates that something serious is the
matter"
Cant you do anything for me, doc
tori pleaded the terrified man.
"Not much. Iou'll have to do most
of il for yourself. All | can do is to
give you something for your nerves,
and if you keep on drinking that won't
do you bit of good"
"I'll swear off, doctor, and III never
take another drink in my life"
"Ii you do that you may recover
but if you don't keep your pledge
you'll be in the insane asylum in six
months"
That was five months ago, and dur
ing all that time the politician has
not tasted liquor. The doctor told his
wife all about his confession, and She.
like wise woman, keeps the eight
alarm clocks carefully put away,
where they will be available in case
OF an emergency.-Chicago Tribune.