The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-03-10
THE CARFAX CURSE
The altar CLOTH"

Yes, famous relic, said to have
been brought into England by Edward
the Confessor, and reputedly of great
sanctity. The priors are supposed to
have taken it away with them. 1t was
never found. But now, you see, il the
prophecy has been fulfilled since 1916,
what hope has Arthur"
What do the doctors say is the
matter with him."
a gesture of helplessness. The doc
tors!" he repeated. ''Why-they know
They know that the hereditary curse
has descended upon the boy. Six
months ago he was taken sick with a
wasting disease. There Is nothing or
ganically wrong with him; he is just
wasting away. Day by day he grows
weaker, and his death seems now to
be matter of few weeks only. And
the tragic thing is that he knows; he
knows that he must die; and his only
pleasure Is in sitting before the dis
mantled altar in the old ruined chapel
and dosing there. He has been affiict-
ed with somnambulism since child
hood, and whenever his attendant
misses him from his bed he knows
where he will be found; before the al
tar, fast asleep, and talking to him.
self"
The automobile swung off the high
road and into the grounds Of a stately
park, through whose vistas of leafy
trees could be seen herds Of faAow
deer, peacefully browsing. The road
swung to the right between two rows
Of ancient elms, and now we could
see the square stone towers of Carfax,
with the dismantled, ruined stone
chapel upon a knoll a little to the
right Of it, The chauffeur and butler
were waiting at the door; the former
took the machine to the garage,
while the latter respectfully received
our baggage.
"How is Mr.. Arthur" asked Sir
John.
HE seems to be better today, sir,
the butler answered. He was reading
in the chapel a while ago. Here he
comes now, sir"
A tall, slim, gracefully built young
fellow was coming slowly across the
lawn and, seeing US, he stopped shyly.
His father called him.
Come here, Arthur" he said. DOC
tor Imamnuel, this is my son about
whom we were speaking" He intro
duced the boy to me also. How do
you feel today?' he asked, anxiously.
Better, father" said the boy in an
odd, emotionless tone. AS he walked
slowly into the house his father looked
after him and then turned wistfully to
us.
HE knows" he said. "And he
doesn't seem to care. That is the trag
edy of 1t. They all go like that. re.
member my poor brother Walter-he
died in the same way. And yet the
doctors can find nothing wrong with
him."
Suppose I examine him at once
and let you know the exact condition,
said Emmanuel cheerfully. IF we
can't beat the curse together, with all
the resources of modern science,
shall be greatly surprised. What
treatment is he receiving?'
"The usual thing. Tonics, beef ex
tracts, iron; the physicians have Ia
ken his blood count and call 1t PERM
cious anemia. But they don't say how
it arose. And there is nothing organ
icaIly wrong" The poor fellow seemed
to cling to that one hope.
There Is a new solution Of arsenic
which is used very successfully fol
that" said Emmanuel. Then again
there is hypnotism. l don't know
which is better. Perhaps we win try
both"
"Hypnotism!" exclaimed Sir John
els that the secret Of your cures?"
1T is not exactly a secret" an
swered the doctor. ut is in very com
mon use among physicians today and
based upon known laws and not EN-
pirical."
"You mean that you can hypnotise
him into thinking that he is well?"
Eyes. But any other fool could dc
that-onIy it wouldn't make him well
No, sir, the principle is simply this:
The greater portion of the body func
lions automatically, that is to say
without the consciousness of the
brain. The stomach, digests whether
we ask it to or not, the heart beats
the liver secretes, and so on. Now
take the spleen, which seems to be
behaving badly in your sons case. We
can't make our spleens come to order
no. But under hypnotism we can
get deeper; we can get down to the
consciousness of these half independ
emit organs and tell them to be good
And then, sometimes under hypnotism
we find ourselves on very interesting
trails which / cannot persuade othei
physicians to follow up. We find Other
personalities at work, lost memories
| fiourishing like fungus growth under
smooth MOSES and grasses-it Is al
very interesting, and some day the
world will come to recognize 1t. bu'
suppose we go In and win examine
the lad before dinner"
We were led to our apartments In
wing of the old place: two rooms side
by side under low, sloping caves IRON
which rain drops We're falling dismal
| " upon the slate roof of the garage