Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-01-09
,uch rot. / tell YOU that"


Look here. Hare-Lip. you believe in
lots of things you can't see."
Hare-Lip shook his head.
You believe In dead men walking
about You never seen one dead man
walk about"
II tell you I see EN-, last winter,
when was wolf hunting with dad"
well, you always spit when you
cross running water" Edwin chal-
lenged.
That's to keep off bad luck" was
Hare-Lip's defense.
"You believe In bad luck?"
Sure"
AN you amt never seen bad luck"
Edwin concluded triumphantly. You're
just as bad as Granser and his germs.
You believe in what you don't see. Go
on, Granser"
Hare-Lip, crushed by this metaphysi-
cal defeat, remained silent, and the old
man went on. Often and often, though
this narrative must not be clogged by
the details, was Granser's tale inter-
rupted while the boys squabbled
among themselves. Also, among them.
selves they kept up a constant, low
voiced explanation and conjecture, as
they strove to follow the old man into
his unknown and vanished world.
"The Scarlet Death broke out in San
Francisco. The first death came ON a
Monday morning. BY Thuxsday they
we're dying like flies In Oakland and
San Francisco. They died everywhere
in their beds, at their work, walking
along the street. II was on Tuesday
that saw my first death--Miss Coli
bran, one Of my students, sitting right
there before my eyes, In my lecture
room. | noticed her face while was
talking. II had suddenly turned scar
let ceased speaking and could only
look at her, for the first fear OF the
plague was already on all of us and we
knew that 1t had come. The young
women screamed and ran out OF tho
room. So did the young men run out,
all but two. Miss Collbran's convui-
sions were very mild and lasted less
than minute. One Of the young men
fetched her a glass OF water. She
drank only little of 1t, and cried
out:
"'MJ feet! All sensation has left
them
After a minute she said. I have no
feet. | am unaware that | have any
feet. And my knees are cold. | can
scarcely feel that ] have knees
"She lay on the floor, bundle of
notebooks under her head. And we
could do nothing. The GOODNESS and
the numbness crept up past her hips
to her heart, and when 1t reached her
heart she was dead. In fifteen min.
utes, by the clock-I timed it~~she was
dead, there, in my own classroom,
dead. And she was a very beautiful,
strong, healthy young woman. And
from the first sign of the plague to her
death only fifteen minutes elapsed.
That will show you how swift was the
Scarlet Death.
Yet In those few minutes | re-
manned with the dying woman In my
classroom, the alarm had spread over
the university; and the students, by
thousands. all Of them, had deserted
the lecture rooms and laboratories.
When / emerged, on my way to make
report to the president of the faculty,
! found the university deserted. Across
the campus were several stragglers
hurrying for their homes. Two of them
were running.
President Hoag | found in his Of.
fee, alone, looking very old and very
gray, with multitude of wrinkles In
his face that had never seen before.
At the sight of me. he pulled himself
to his feet and tottered away to the
inner office, banging the door after
him and locking It, You see, he knew
/ had been exposed, and he was afraid,
He shouted to me through the door to
60 away. shall never forget my feel
ings as l walked down the silent cor
ridors and out across that deserted
campus. was not afraid, had been
exposed, and | looked upon myself as
already dead. 1t was not that, but a
feeling of awful depression that inn
pressed me. Everything had stopped.
1t was like the end OF the world to
me-my world. | had been born with
In sight and sound OF the university.
It had been my predestined career.
My father had been a professor there
before me, and his father before him.
For century and half had this uni
versity, like splendid machine, been
running steadily on. And now, In an
instant, It had stopped. 1t was like
seeing the sacred flame die down on
some thrice sacred altar. was
shocked. unutterably shocked.
when ! arrived home, my house
keeper screamed as | entered and fed
away. And when rang, | found the
housemaid had likewise fed. | inves.
tigated. In the kitchen / found the
cook on the point Of departure. But
she screamed, too, and In her haste
dropped suitcase of her personal be-
longings and ran out of the house and
across the grounds, still screaming.