The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-06-19
A GRIM
VISITOR
BY r. A. Mitchell
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation. 1871.

/ | was sitting IN restaurant In Ma
| pies with several American friends
talking about the cholera.
This cholera business Is merely a
scare" said one. Besides. why fear
death? we must all die some time"
THAT for death" said young Thorn
ton. swapping his fngers. I'm going
to live to be hundred"
A singular looking fellow came into
the restaurant and sat down az an adj
joining table. | could not make out
that be was Of any especial age; he
might have been thirty or 6fty or a
hundred and tfty. Yet there was
something about him that made him
look prematurely aged. His eyes were
set very deep In bis head and gIistened
like those or a wild animal 10 the dark.
He was SO thin that one could almost
see the functions of the bones of bis
face, and his clothes hung about him
in huge folds. He had evidently heard
Thornton's boast. for be Fixed his eyes
on him in way that made my blood
run cold. Other Of the younger mem
bers OF the party who sat with their
backs 70 the newcomer perpetrated
foxes about death. Every word on
that subject seemed to excite the stran-
gers ire until be was lashed into
fury.
My friends be said presently.
you who condemn death do not real
tie what you are talking about. You
should have seen such sights as have
seen. Were any Of you In battleT
We all stared at the stranger. tongue
tied. No one OF us claimed TO have
seen anything Of war.
Il was at the battle of GraveIotte,"
be said. "and advanced with an at
lacking party OF Prussians. II you
had seen that white pail that | threw
over the faces of those who were
struck you would not laugh at death. "
tFou threw over their facesT" | ask
ed. puzzled.
Then at New Orleans" the man
went on without noticing my remark.
''you should have seen the Britiss COM
ing up In perfect formation against
the Kentucky hunters. Here. there.
everywhere the redcoats sank down
In their tracks,
do You refer to the battle OF New
Orleans. STRIP interrupted one Of our
party.
Eyes, sir. do But battles are moth
ing. Take the great plague that swept
London. Two men were walking be
fore me on Cheapside. | touched one
by way Of attracting bis attention. He
paled and sank down III bis tracks. A
party were drinking In an ale hease
without the town limits. As | looked
at one OF them be threw up his hands,
with a groan, went out into the
street and saw the people burning bar
rels Of tar. laughed at them"
DO you mean. sir" | asked. that
goa were in London at that timer"
my friend. where have | not been
when men and women and children |
were struck down by this something
you call DEATH In the days Of ancient
Rome whole communities of Gauls who /
rebeled against the Roman authority /
were butchered They bad been: they /
were not"
Ii was evident to most Of US that the
man was a Iunatic But we did not
communicate the thought TO one anoth
err Each of US was spellbound no
less by bis strange talk than his weird
personality.
"But even these stricken barbarians,
so far as numbers are concerned, were
but few In comparison With those
this thing you sometimes call the
reaper has cut down at one time,
There have been portions of the earth
that have sunk into the sea swallowing
up hundred times the number of the
greatest butchery."
"When?r | asked.
when? What knowledge have you
of the little planet on which you live
beyond few thousand years. The
time of which | speak was forgotten
10000 years ago."
Tell u.s., I asked, your nationality. II
Fou speak English as If you are Anglo
Saxon"
English. ! speak every living and
every dead language. am a citizen
of the world. | am always busy. At
this moment | am resting preparatory
10 q great work
When did you come to NaplesT
Yesterday at noon.
We all shnddered. At u o'clock the
day before the hrst cholera patient had
died
"will yen remain longY