The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1911-02-17

make use of them, found that l pos
sessed unusual faculties for curing
ailments of consciousness and reviv-
Ing lost personalities by hypnotism.
One day woman called on me, in
company with a little girl.
THE child suffered from some
slight nervous ailment, common
among girls of that period of life
listlessness, blue studies" as the
laity call fits of abstraction, and nerv-
BUSINESS. prescribed some child's
remedy. But when l came to look in
to her pupils for the examination, for
just one fleeting instant the eyes of
Marion seemed to look back at me.
Could 1t be anything but hallucina-
ton? Marion's eyes were the most
beautiful l have ever seen in their in.
teiligence, their gray and liquid soft.
ness. Fearfully l looked again. But
only the sleepy pupils of tie ailing
child looked back at me.
81 see, you do not remember me,
DR.. Brodsky,' said the woman, when
my investigation was ended 'Neverthe-
less, l know you well, and l came to
see and consult you partly out of
interest. Do you not remember Mar
ion Strickland?'
Il started involuntarily. Yes, that
was the name of the man whom she
married; this was a Mrs. Strickland
who had brought the child to me. She
was the second wife of Marion's hus-
band, and this was her daughter. My
heart leaped in my throat Thank
God, in this new marriage he had for
gotten Marion; at last l might now
have the right once more to turn my
thoughts upon her; she was as much
mine as his!"
"'Her end was curiously sudden,
poor thing said the woman in gos-.
siping fashion. She died quite unex-
pectedly, you know
Eyes, l murmured, though l had
been told nothing. :
1--WE thought that it was nothing
but congested chill until she died
in Florida. Strangely, too, her last
words seemed to be about you. We
fancied that she tried to leave some
message for you, but we could not
understand her. 1t was some phase
of the delirium, suppose
"A new phase of my life opened up
on that day. Marion had thought Of
me at the end; then she had always
loved ME. l might have known her
better than to have doubted that her
love could change That her married
life had been neither happy nor run-
happy l had suspected; clearly this
was not one of those unions that
seem to transcend the limitations of
our mortality, that are not severed
by death. And at the end her
thoughts had turned back to me.
Thence forward / had new impulse
of Joy in my work; from that time,
too, I began to look forward to the
| day when much that is hidden from
us will be revealed and death will no
longer sever. That was the begin.
ming of my psychical work.
"rhe years slipped by and found
me still steadily at work, with an in.
creasing amount of patients and of
reputation. l had sought in vain to
communicate with Marion through all
the recognized mediums. Though her
inspiration remained with me, once
again her outward memory had grown
weak. One evening a young man
called upon me in my consulting room.
81 do hot see new PATIENTS in.
formed him, for at that time l had
already begun to withdraw from &C.
tive practice in preparation of the
professorship which had been offered
me for the succeeding year. But he
was insistent. 1t was not for him.
self, he said, that he wished my serv-
ices, but for his financee, a girl of rs.
Always liable, since childhood, to
nervous attacks of obscure origin,
these had developed, during the past
three months, into fits of imbecility,
during which she became almost an
automation and manifested the most
extreme aversion for him. Her
friends and family had even spoken
of the necessity of placing her in
some institution unless she could be
cured. He happened to have heard
Of me; would I assist him?
"The young mans earnestness, his
solicitude for the girl impressed me,
and l consented to take her case in
hand. To my surprise found that
my patient was none other than Ethel
Strickland, the girl whom had treate-
ed some dozen years before. looked
long and l fear unprofessionally to
discover whether / could discern Mar
IONS unforgettable expression In the
eyes, but the heavy pupils discern
Marion's back at me listlessly and in
| dolently. They were not Marion's.
/ AS the young woman was at that time
in the enjoyment of normal health /
left instructions that she was to be
brought to my Office Immediately that
crisis occurred and went away.
| ut must have been two weeks later,
| just as was about to close my Office
and go to bed, that loud peal at the
bell startled me. The servants hav-
ing retired, opened 1t in person, and
ushered in the young woman. It had
been raining hard and her outer gar