Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1915-01-07
A Result Of
Interference With
A Natural Law
By JOHN Y. LARNED

home in Heidelberg, where he had al
ways lived, to settle his estate. In
overhauling his effects came upon
the following curious manuscript, writ
ten and signed by the deceased:
1 see this morning by advices from
America that an eminent scientific in
claims to have discovered a
serum for destroying the destructive
element that produces decay, or, in
other words, old age. have conclud-
ed to place my grandson, to whom
bequeath my effects. in possession Of
facts to show that the discovery which
this American now claims as original
was made by me some years ago. l
shall not give the process by which l
preserved youth. The reason for my
not doing so will appear from the ex-
perience am about to narrate. Ishall
simply give the only case which ac-
complished.
After having succeeded with the low
er animals l naturally sought an op-
portunity to apply my process to man
kind. l happened about that time to
fall in with a lady who was desirous
of marrying man much younger than
herself. She was Fraulein Bishoff. for
ty years old, and the man was Adolf
Beutner, aged twenty. They were cous-
ins and heirs to adjoining estates,
which would be much enhanced in
value if they could be united. Besides
this fact, Fraulein Bishoff seemed to
love the young man.
/ told her that had discovered
serum by which could keep her
1t would be long process, for it would
require twenty years for him to ar
rive at the same age as herself. Beut-
ner, realizing that match with his eld-
erly cousin would be to his interest.
would have gladly married her if she
had been Of suitable age for him.
The fraulein asked me to propose my
plan to him. which did, and he
agreed to marry her, trusting To- me to
keep her young till he had caught up
with her.
The marriage was delayed at my
suggestion till | felt assured that my
serum was producing on the lady the
effect expected, but as soon as had
evidence of this the wedding took
place. The groom Immediately after
the ceremony set out to spend good
| deal of time in travel, being desirous
of getting rid of the interval which
separated him from his wife without
seeing her. He was gone five years,
| but when he returned was still too
| young to make a companion of a wo-
man so much older than himself. He
went away again for another five years.
when he returned with the same re
suit.
Meanwhile the lady. in the matter of
age, stood stock still. | had no fear
that | might not keep her from grow
ing older, but there was one trouble
in the way that had not thought of
in the beginning. A man of forty is
not likely to be satisfied with a wo-
man of forty. He prefers a young
girl.
The matter between Herr Beut-
| ner and his wife went on very much
in the same way till he was thirty-nine
years old; then he wrote her from
South Africa that he had become in
terested in diamond mining there and
was growing rich. He In time wrote
that he was tired of nomadic' life
and on the day he was forty would re-
turn to her and settle down.
Feeling responsible for the relative
conditions existing between these two
persons, viewed the approach of their
real nuptials with soicitude, fearing
something might occur to mar the re-
suit. The lady who had waited twen-
ty years for husband was also get
| ting a trife anxious. | did what
could to encourage her, but she seemed
to have presentment that what she
had been hoping for would not be
realized.
Three months before the time set for
the return of her husband she had
got herself into such a state of worry
that | found my serum was not acting
properly. told her that If she did
not throw off her dependency we
should have bad failure This had a
counter effect from what / had ex-
pected. 1t frightened her, and she lost
control of herself. The result was a
hysterical condition. which rendered
my hypodermic injection absolutely in
effective.
Within week from woman of
forty she had become one of sixty,
and. not being used to the presence of
the youth destroying animalculae In
her system, she had deteriorated far
more than she would have done under
ordinary circumstances. Indeed, she
was shriveled far beyond her years.
Then came the most distressing fea-
ture In the affair. Herr Beutner ar
rived suddenly, full of anticipation Of
settling down with companionable
woman as well preserved as himself,
and stumbled into the very room
where she was. Seeing an old crone.
he asked her where he would find his
wife. The poor woman. realizing the
situation. pointed TO a room across the
hall and as soon as he had left her
locked the door. She never saw him
again.
! AS for my discovery, have kept H.
secret all my life. as kept 1t for
those twenty years that I treated Frau
Beutner.