Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1903-04-15
Ha! The mouse! Like a flash cal


the recollection Of the mouse in the
chest. Immediately set to work to
capture it. This proved a. more difil-
cult feat than I anticipated. ! SIM
ply could not lay hold upon the nimble
fellow; and when finally it ran up my
arm and leaped to the floor my exas-
peration burst all restraint It, would
have been ludicrous sight, / doubt
not, could any one have witnessed 1t,
to see me, an aged college professor,
with my whole soul intent upon the
capture of a mouse; but then, no one
could have understood the terrible ne
cessity of the case / moved every ar
.icle of furniture in the room.
hurled book after book at the object
of my wrath, perspiration ran from my
face while time was flying, flying; and
that imagined voice, it was now Shrek
ing and bowling, like doomed soul
suspended over the fabled pit Of Ache
ron.
Victory was mine at last; book
hit the mouse and before it could re-
IicoversI had set my foot upon it. New
ertheless, was sorry the next mo-
ment, for now the tiny creature was
mortally hurt; its side was crushed.
But there was no time to waste upon
sentiment; the hour Of midnight was
drawing on apace I laid the wounded
creature on the table beside me, and
without another seconds delay set
about breaking the seal of the bronze
box.
With file and pincers cut and twist
ed with feverish hate, and at length
the tough seal parted, when-my God!
how shall / tell it? The instant the
seal was broken that mouse became
man, his weight overturning the table
and he falling with it to the floor. l
could scarcely believe the evidence of
my own eyes; but it was true; horri-
bly,, frightfully true! He was man
of great stature, with strong frame
and a fierce. face, but he was mortally
wounded, his left side being frightfully
crushed.
Oh! the horror Of that moment! I
would have screamed aloud, but my
tongue clave and l was powerless to
utter sound. The man glared at me
fiercely, striving to rise, and shook his
fist at me, clamoring in language
quite unintelligible, while / could only
stand and stare with very horror. Sud-
denly he caught up the bronze box
and hurled it at my head with all the
strength he could exert; but it missed
me and went through the open window,
falling into the river.
In a few moments more the man
expired. And I was-his murderer?
No. no; not that, not that. 1t was
the mouse I had injured; did not
know the bronze box contained the
soul of mana soul OF that name
loss foe of Godfrey, my ancestor, here
confined for 500 years. l do not know,
how could have known?
| must have tainted, for knew no
more till 1.-The sun was high in the
heavens, when i .awoke to. find the
rooms. filed with the faculty and stu
dents of the institution. !, endeavored
8, to explain. By they would not hear
lasa ntsarwise but they only tried to pae,- pS,Sa
othel"ias' ss thew might a willful chlla.
= The sad plight my room was ~, ~ had had
nlain enough; it was Wha' 'N''
p paaa evnecting, they said. ..
" became enraged and IS s'oT%yu 0nd' made de-
them, but they fell upon a1 me anu am con- con.
me aned a IN a madhouse, unheard. o1,a; Inf
h[,dv hodv was W regarded simply as C erue. ts,
G11s io%s played Jay upon me by some OF soms In'
where and placed in my room, Now.
Ah the fools!-New YORK Ne"'