Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-01-15

Of some amusement, concealed Lieu.
tenant Paul till midnight, when, hav-
ing chalked his face, tangled his hair
and daubed a wound over his heart
with berry juice, he made ready to ap-
pear to his friend. Harding had got
up his tent and was occupying it. The
tent flaps We're thrown back, the light
Of full moon streaming within the
canvas. To avoid mishap one of the Of
dcers accessory to the experiment had
during the evening gone into the tent
while Harding was not there and re-
moved Harding's pistol, replacing it
with another loaded with blank car
hidges.
An hour before midnight Harding
was lying awake thinking Of the
friends he had lost during the day,
especially regretting Paul, Of whom
he was very fond. He was sinking
into drowsiness when zephyr slowly
waited cloud like puff of smoke
before his tent, and in it and partly
concealed by it was the figure of his
friend. When the cloud drifted on it
left the apparition standing facing the
moonlight. 1t was looking straight
ahead on vacancy, white as death.
eyes hollow. hair unkempt and red
smudge on the left breast There was
not the slightest movement.
Harding raised himself upon his ell
bow and looked. He had long ago got
over any belief in the return of
those who have died, if he had ever
had any such belief, but this appear
ance of one he felt reasonably sure
was dead in this CHASTITY fashion stag
gered him. He felt no fear, though an
1ndefnable horror began to creep over
him, a sort Of paralysis. He would
have been relieved at the slightest
movement, sound, anything to break
the spell. 1t was the unexpectedness
Of the manner of his friend keeping
his appointment, if indeed such it was
He had expected Paul to look at him,
to speak to him. But here was a fig
ure turned aside, the face CHASTITY in
the moonlight, as impressive as a
statue.
Harding was simply lost in hor-
rible wonder. He had no desire to
speak to the apparition or whatever it
was. He would not have known what
to say If he had such a desire. All the
while something like a chill from a
sepulcher was creeping over him. If
any one afterward had asked him how
long the apparition lasted, he would
have said not less than fifteen or TWEEN
ty minutes by the watch. Yet up to
this point not more than ninety Sec
onds had been licked.
Then came the only change in the
figure that was made during it's stay.
The dawn of smile appeared on the
face. 1mperceptibly it broadened till
q CHASTITY grin extended from ear to
ear.
Paul heard a moan from within the
tent and Immediately strobe away to
some of his comrades who were wait
Ing and told them to go at once to
Harding. They found him cold as
death and insensible. One sprinkled
his face, another chafed him, while a
!! third poured brandy down his throat
Presently he revived. Paul did not go
near him till he had got the chalk of
his face and Harding had been in.
formed that he was alive and the
| whole thing had been intended for a
practical joke.
cts the way you did it that finished
me-" said Harding. "Men talking like
! ghosts IS all nonsense. You can't make
ghosts voice out of a human beings
You played your part well. But how
did You contrive the cloud?"
Burned a little powder and famed
the smoke past the face of your tent y
EBERT G. BENTLEY.
Leprosy.
That leprosy is contagious disease
ID unanimously admitted by the bes
authorities, but the exact manner Of
its contagion is certainly difficult t.
understand. There are many exam
pies Of persons living for years in thu
most intimate family relations witt
lepers and remaining uninfected. An(
often but one member of the famil!
will acquire the disease. On the othe
hand, the history of the disease in diff
ferent parts Of the world shows tina
! It never originates spontaneously, bu
that its origin can always be traced t
human Importation. There are also
very large number Of recorded case
where leprosy has resulted from a sin
gle contact of an abraded surface wit
some lesion or secretion of an infecte'
individual. These apparently contra
dictory facts must be explained on th
theory that some peculiar inherent pre
, disposition, which exists only in lin
tied number of individuals, is necesss
~ for the development Of this strang
. disease. There is no reason to believ
that leprosy is hereditary disease
Exchange