Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-02-26
Continued.


the telling; that is to say, very few of
the outward incidents which most men
count as the waymarks of their lives,
but his feelings, his researches, his
discoveries in the regions of thought
and emotion. The last study he had
taken up, and to which he devoted
himself with his usual fervour, was
mesmerism. He looked upon it as
the yet unrecogniZed power which
would, in score or two of years, re-
generate the world. AS he held forth
on this subject to me, however, tossing
back his long hair, looking out with
glowing enthusiasts eyes to the sky,
wilder nonsense than | have heard
from many a pulpit and many a plat
form, while his kindly eyes shone with
faith in humanity and in his own
pure wishes which would have ex-
cused man futile harangue. Mes
merle force, he said. was the articu-
late voice of the soul, by which one
spirit called to another with irresist-
ible power, the strong spirit stimulated
and upheld the weak, and by which,
when it became recognized and de-
veloped, the whole world, rejoicing in
it's new awakening, should be per
manently raised out of the slough or
mere bodily desires and mind-knowl-
edge, through the cultivation of that
nobler part which each new religion
as 1t sprang up could only stimulate
for time.
at was at this point of his commune
cation" continued the doctor, that |
asked my friend, the head of the estab-
lshment the reason of the musician
detention in this place, since his fan
cies were of so harmless a kind. But
then | learned that these fancies had
resulted IL experiments upon his wife,
whom he had subjected to mesmeric
influence until she lost all control
over her own will; and her parents,
who had regarded the marriage with
dstaste from the first, had never rest
ed until they got the imprudent mu-
stefan put under the mild restraint of
my friends establishment. The
astonishing part of the whole affair
was his entire comprehension of the
situation, and his happy acquiescence
in the arrangement
They think | am mad" he would
say, struggling his shoulders with the
easiest good-temper, so they put me
away in this nice house. full of fresh,
sweet air, where | can play-play and
read-read from morning till night
with nobody to disturb me. | have
known want, have been without
bread; here | live like a prince.
have been turned out of two stuffy
roms in London for playing my violin
till four o'clock in the morning: here
| play all night They look in and
say, smiling, He plays all night 1t
will keep him from a paroxysm.' In
the meantime write my opera, and l
am not bothered by the people they
call sane. Oh. oh! they may keep me
here as long as they like. | shall
not complaint
This opera was To he the great
work of his life. He had had it in his
mind for years; had written the libret-
to. and was now busy with the music.
heard many portions of it. | used to
sit with him in little front room on
the first floor, where the ivy peeped
in at the window, "-Armathwaite
started, remembering Alma Crosmont
and her dream-music-"while he play
ed me his beloved melodies on his
violin or on an American organ which
had been put up in this room specially
for his use. Then he would tell me
the story. dwelling lovingly on the
character of his heroine. the most flaw.
less creature that ever poet raved
about, pure to unearthliness sweet as
morning on the mountain, fair with a
soulfairness that shone in her eyes
and cast veil of reverence between
her beholder and her own loneliness
attractive with the attraction of a
spirit that repealed creatures who had
willfully degraded their own souls
These words, or something like them
are not mine, need scarcely say;
they are his
Armathwaite was listening almos
breathlessly; he began to see the out
come of the story.
THE libretto of this famous opera.
continued DR.. Peele. was founded OIL
a classical story and was to be Gale,
Psyche The work was to be reve
lation in art, musical and dramat,
The strains sung by the heroine Will
prosecuted and forlorn. she roame'
the earth in search of Love, We're L
show the divine gift of harmony
emancipated at last from the sensuou
thraldom in which for ages il had beel
bound: while the heroine herself, in
stead of being the conventional VIE
tim of commonplace passion and In
trigue. was type of ideal purity an,
innocence. in her sorrows unmarre'
by bitterness. always merciful, Away
holy. Men looking into her chast,
eyes, were attracted by somethin,
higher than themselves; but IT, b,
mean, sordid lives. by dishonour or b,
vice, they had stifed their own souls