Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-01-22

Oueleu 10 UeCune 10 commune my treat
ment if she wished it. but she told me
that, having acceded to her fathers
order, she would carry it out to the end.
Seventeen years passed. The baby
boy Wobel was nineteen. the fraulein
thirty seven and the guardsman forty.
The latter had never married. and his
love for the fraulein had grown to be
dominant passion with him. He was
getting gray and bald and showed 9TH
er signs Of coming old age. On the
contrary the girl he worshiped had all
the freshness Of youth. Her. beauty
had not been in the least impaired. 1t
was quite natural that a man who was
now too old for other girls of the frau
lein's age should cling to her. especial
ly as she had kept pace with him in
that experience which natures the in
tellectual powers.
Baron Wobel would not consent to
the marriage between his son and
Fraulein Schoffenholer till the former
came of age. The young man was
within a few weeks of twenty -one, and
preparations were being made fer the
wedding when 1 received a hurry call
to the Schoffenholer residence. 1 found
the fraulein very i'll. This was unfor-
tunate, for within a few days it would
be necessary for me to give her an in
lection of the serum, and in her weak
ened condition I did not know what
the effect would be. Indeed, 1 dare
not administer it
For a time the fraulein's life hung
in the balance. Then she began to-
mend. l left her under the care OF
the family physician and did not see
her for q month. When 1 saw her
again 1 was shocked. From a girl OF
twenty she had become a woman of
over forty, and her illness had made
her look ten or fifteen years older than
that. Her hair was almost white, her
skin yellow and wrinkled, her teeth
badly decayed and her figure bony and
angular. Indeed every feature which
would have decayed gradually without
my treatment had broken down with
in a brief period.
Here was an embarrassing situation
Young wobel had shown every willing
ness to marry the girl his father had
provided for him, not only on account
of her fortune, but because Of her
beauty, which was that Of a girl, and
her intellect, which was that OF a ma
ture woman. But now what would het
say when he should see her? Her ia
Their begged me to restore her youth
and when l told him that l had no
power to do so stormed at me for a
fool and an idiot.
young Wobel was not permitted to
see his f1ancee till few days before
the proposed wedding. When he met
a woman who looked to be over fifty,
and much broken at that, he collapsed.
There was no use in trying to induce
him to marry her. Indeed, at her age
a marriage would be fruitless and its
object defeated.
ct was placed in a very unfortunate
position. Every one seemed to consid
er me to blame for the affair, though
had done only what 1 had been re
Quested to do. I felt very sorry for
Fraulein Schoffenholer. for l was
obliged to admit to myself that had L
permitted her to grow old as nature
intended she would not now have been
suddenly plunged into her present dis
tress In order to make amends 1
wrote a note to her guardsman lover,
informing him that the lady he had so
long loved was now free TO marry him.
However, I thought 1t best to permit
him to observe her changed condition
for himself. he replied. thanking me
for the information, which he declared
had thrilled him with an ecstatic hap
piness'
HE called upon her. When the poor
woman saw his shocked expression at
her altered appearance she held out her
arms to him, putting or just such an
appealing smile as would be seductive
in girl of twenty, but was horrible in
a broken down old woman. He tried
to respond, but failed After a brief
interview he excused himself and has
never seen her from that day to this.
Recently / received his wedding cards
and have learned that he is to marry
a girl OF sixteen.
"As for the fraulein, who had It not
been for my Interference with natures
laws would now have been the wife OF
the guardsman and the mother doubt
less OF grown soDs and daughters, she
is withered spinster. can never for
give myself for being the cause OF her
misfortune.
This is the reason why have never
either prosecuted my discovery or given
II to the world. 1t remains for these
Americans who are upsetting tina ira
ditions of centuries to proceed in their
reckless course to defy natures laws
and to make themselves generally dis
agreeable to the rest of the world
would like TO get this fellow who has
made this 30 called discovery, keep him
young for a matter OF thirty or forty
years. then let old age come upon him
at once. to see how he would like the
transition. So long as they confine
! themselves to colonies OF bacteria or to
guinea pigs or monkeys there is no
haru. done, but when it comes TO jump
| ing a young girl into an old woman
! please excuse me. I've had enough of
I It."