Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1903-11-03
BEFORE THE MIRROR


my friend and ledger, AleXia les
TRANCE. To be sure, it is in my hand-
writing, and l sometimes walk in my
sleep.
After all. who knows how it happen
ed? l had decided to publish it, think
ing that it may remind careless people
of their duties to others and how soon
the time for doing those duties must
end She is better off, no doubt, but l
miss her as | never thought to miss
| stranger:
One evening | sat brooding over
memories of happier days in my faroh
home before poverty overlook me.
cried out passionately that l could no
longer endure this starving existence,
stripped of all the pleasures that were
80 keenly appreciated by me in the
past. l determined that ] would escape
somehow.
| Suddenly l recalled a Hal'"ween ira
dition that if one stood, candle in hand
before a mirror at midnight and called
ones name aloud three times something
wonderful would happen. Was this the
way to escape from my troubles! de-
termined to try the experiment.
When it was nearly II l crept softly
down the stairs and entered the parlor.
Holding lighted candle, stood before
the old mirror. whose furnished gilded
frame cleaned family in the Pickering
light. :,
AS the last stroke died away l called
my name aloud. The stately syllaDles
echoed in my ears with unfamiliar ca
dences. AleXia rEstrange. Again l
| called. this time with greater effort
and the mirror reflected only sketch
of = face in tintS us faint as those OF
dissolving rainbow. For the third time
| | strove to call my name. n hoarse
murmur, scarcely Ineligible, passed
my lips. while the face in the mirror
| faded 10 Il misty shadow.
| For moment was UNCONSCIOUS, anu
| then Il silvrry radiance seemed slowly
| to fill the room and fall on something
| lying prone before the mirror. Gradu-
| ally realized that | was still III the
same place and that the mysterious "a
dance was the light of the autumn
moon. But what was that PROSTATE
form whose clear cut, pallid features
woke fleeing. tantalizing memories!
| NV mind seemed to wander amid q
host of vivid life pictures, and through
them all fitted one figure, the double
| of that lying still and cold before me.
| Suddenly with q sickening shock came
the conviction that it was my body.
lis it Il" was the cry wrung from
my angushed heart.
| No sound disturbed the sudden still
ness, but in some ineXplicable way L
felt that | had asked that question ana
knew that it would be answered,
though could not tell whence the re-
ply would come.
Still the silence was unbroken. The
chill of the unwelcominS breast made
my spirit faint, and the childish face
| stiffcned into a sternness that drove me
! shuddering to the farthest limit Of the
room. At last | realized that l was
dead. and a strange indifference sue
ceeded the tumult Of hope and fear.
What did it matter?
Presently the door opened, and my
| landlady entered the room. | saw the
shock that | had felt reflected in her
face and heard her expression Of SYM
pathetic sorrow At least knew these
things somehow, though my eyes and
ears were forever closed.
Still the time passed. People came
from the church, the undertaken came
with his assistant, brief service was
held, and they carried my body away.
| Again l murmured in fear and sor-
row, What will become Of me?'
Restlessly | wandered through the
house 1t was night, and my good
landlady had retired.
| Suddenly | remembered that she was
subject to attacks Of sleepwalking,
, and the thought occurred to me that |
might control her body while in that
condition.
Here, then, was the tool ready to my
hand. In an instant l was beside her.
She stirred uncasily in her sleep and
murmured. Poor girl"'
| | willed that she should write my
strange. sad story as warning, for
my heart cried out to all my fellow
beings, from whose presence l was
fading. BE kind to each other while
you live"
concentrated all my thought on the
woman. and my will moved her I'M
| conscious body.
She descended the stairs, entered the
| parlOr and sat at the secretary. Me-
| chaniCally she took pen in her hand
and slowly this strange story grew be-
meath her touch.
Once more stand before the mirror.
slender. shadowy shape, and wistful-
| ly take my last look at the familiar
| face therein. Brown and wavy locks.
scarcely more substantial than puffs of
smoke, frame pallid oval face. The
| lips are faded to faint rose tint, and
the melonphOly dark hlup ewes seem