Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1909-12-29
THE DEAD
MUSICIAN

ready noticed ut dinner.
Beautiful evening" he said.
yes" replied. very beautiful. In
deed"
do you intend to land In Alexan-
dria?"
EYES,"
I'VE shall arrive there tomorrow
at daybreak," he continued. The
Egyptian CITY," he added, looks real
ly wonderfully handsome from the
sea- l have Travelled all over the
world and have never seen such q
beautiful spectacle in my life as that
offered by Alexandria as seen from
the deck of steamship. There Is
Dnly one thing on earth superior to
Alexandria Do you know
Parish"
Eyes," / replied, II am coming
from Paris now, and am Partisan
myself"
Really? How glad l am. ! adore
Paris. The great capital is always
before my eyes, and yeti will never
see it again. Isn't that terrible?"
"Are you an exile?" ventured.
Something worse" he answered,
II am dead"
I looked at him in establishment.
He added:
"Do not fear, my friend. for l am
not insane. l am the best mentally
balanced man on earth. My history
will demonstrate it to you at once.
Can you spare five minutes?"
81 can give you all my time" I an
swered.
WELL" said he, leaning leisurely
on the rail, "have you ever heard
anything about Saint-Me?"
what Saint-Me?" | replied. do
you mean the famous composer the
author of such operas as 'Salome,
Marie 'Patrie,' etc.,"
Eyes"
"Why, sure, have heard of him.
He was one of our most illustrious
musicians and it is too bad he died
SO young and without being granted
the privilege Of witnessing his own
triumph"
The mysterious passenger looked
at me smiling, and said:
"In that case, my friend, you are
mistaken, for Saint-Me is not dead"
~How's that?"
Very simple" he said. "SaintMe
and l are the same person. Do you
understand now?"
Realty"
upon my word"
He lit a cigar and sat comfortably
on an armchair and related the fol.
lowing history Of his death"
"Ten years ago I was in misery.
All my musical productions had been
failure, and commenced to enter
tain very serious fears about the
future, when one day-while In Bre-
tagne, where l had retired owing to
my lack Of resources-I read In q
Paris paper telegram from the Ha-
vas news agency, giving details about
my death. This dispatch said that
had persisted In a shipwreck near
Oussant. l have never been able to
find out the name OF the correspond.
ent Of the Havas agency who sent
the telegram, but the fact is that this
dispatch about my death decided my
future in favorable way"
"Hcw's thatY'
Listen and you viii easily under.
stand.
It w. NY irst intention to tele-
graph to tAe newspapers a denial Of
the statement, but 10 or Is telegrama
represented . price too high for me
to pay, and then, besides, felt q
great curiosity to know what people
would say of me after my death. I
must admit that ths newspapers IA
vored me more than l had expected.
Some of my friends published the
most sensational articles about my
private life, IN which the most ex-
traordinary things were said. be-
came popular hero. Someone went
as far as to say that had been q
musical genius and that my operas
1.-THE same that had bee. rejected dur
ing my life) were simply wonderful
Marie was again produced at the
opera. and this time 1t met with en-
traordinary success. Salome.' which
had been refused, was accepted and
applauded to the echo. 20.
81 continued in Bretagne and fully
realized that, in view of my post
norton success, it was not wise to
resuscitate, so decided to remain
dead.
Protected by disguise, | visited
In Paris a. nephew of mine-my only
living relative and heir-and author
lied him to manage my interest
keeping for himself one-fourth of the
income and handing three-fourths to
me. | warned Linn. of course. of my
decision to resuscitate the moment
he would try to cheat me out of any
money.
Under this agreement. which he |
had faithfully kept. have made mil
lions after my death. My only regret |
Is that / will never be able to see
Paris again. Henry Kistelnaecker.