New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-24

Now, you know how frequently we think
during a conversation, Il have heard that be
fore" or on visiting a scene, it suddenly strikes
us that we have seen 1t on former occcaSiol E
You know all that? Well there IS a Sclentnc
explanation When the intelligence is alert the
sound of words IS convey ed lnSIdntdheouSlS "
the consciousness: the lobeS of the brain grasp
the meaning of words at the very moment their
sound strikes upon the drum OF the ear. But let
one lobe of the brain be tagged and weary,
the attention tagging, and there IS DELAY
albeit infniteSimal. that delay, that fracuon OF
a seconds interruption in the normal WORKING
of the mind is sufficient TO produce these wan
dering delusions- I have heard that before
we excaim, believing it to be years and years
ago: and quite truly, we have heard 1t before
the thoUsandth part of a second ago.
This explanation l apply to the case OF Eliza
Fuham. She told me that on the second day
as he sat by the bedside talking to her OF TINS
past it suddenly struck her that she was tamil
lar with it, familiar with the very words ne was
addressing to her, and that somewhere IN the
mysterious past she had threaded the ways VI
which he spoke She reused herself to see II she
were not dreaming. Then she checked her
thoughts and brushed the theory aside. She was
herself Eliza Chambers. daughter of a Canadian
farmer and now the second wife OF 1hoindS
Fuham, the man who had lived beside her dead
father in the far-off Canadian days
II was battle between memory and the pres
emit On the one side recollection of her
past on the other the live and active present
which told her she was Mary townsend You
may imagine the conflict.
DAYS went by, many days. and still he kept
her a prisoner in bed, nursing her with engaging
with the alacrity of a lover. They were IN d
measure the best days she had known, Tor the
pretty little creature had long been sick for love,
md now the hero of her romance was ShoWerllS
upon her a thousand tendernesses. But they
were DAYS of struggle-the conflict OF memory
and present-and every day found her memory
weakening in the strife. She could not tell me
definitely when she abandoned her personality.
The transition must have been so gradual, she
thought that no actual date could be assigned
to it; but when she rose from her bed it was
with the full and complete conviction that she
had been Mary Townsend that she had hVed IN
Oregon, and that it was in the Ola toWn OF
salem she married Thomas Fulham Eliza
Chambers was forgotten.
She was weak in health, and her weakness m
creased The greater part of her day was passed
on the sofa. her husband in the closest attend
ance. In brief, she had become a complete IN
T,hree years after this when she had almost
forgotten her belief in the existence OF Eliza
Chambers her husband came to her room one
morning, in a state of great excitement WIN "
MARY" he cried, Il have bad news for you,
and good news, too. You remember your uLclS'
Zachary Townsend, the ironmaster? tie IS DEAD
and he has left you fortune-a big lortu
He came to the bedside put the hutterln$
sheet in her hands, and as she read II ne placeu
his arms tenderly about her and Kissed her H1ir'
Well when she had received that fortune she
believed herself to be the dead VIE 1hat Is
her statement-that IS my answering conVIc-
+io0 You can guess the sequel After some
months of great wealth, other heirs in the states
heard that Mary Townsend had died proofs OF
her death were Forthcoming; evidence zoo 81
Fulham's second marriage with EIIza ChiliHDeIS
was speedily prOduced-and then the newspapers
here got hold of it, and rumors of "A glgahuc
swindle' were in the air.
the papers the conviction returned to Eliza
Fulham that she was not Mary the daughter OF
Auberon Townsend.
RewiIdered and all confused-for her mind,
fully believe, was affected-she hurried to her
husband
Read this" she implored. 1T is all about US,