The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-02-24

F oI the mental peculiartleS of my
 Friend, MT. Sherlock Holmes, l have
 been struck by the difficulty which haNe experienced in picking out ex-
 emples which shall in every way an tswer my purpose For in those cases An which Holmes has performed some -four de force of analytical reasoning. tand has demonstrated the value of fhiS peculiar methods of investigation, Ethe facts themselves have often been lso slight or so commonplace that l <eould not feel justified in laying them
 Tt has frequently happened that he shas been concerned in some research twiaere the facts have been of the most remarkable and dramatic character, but where the share which he has
 hin1self taken in determining their scauses has been less pronounced than 1T, as his biographer, could wish. It tInay be that in the business of which II am now about to write the part which my friend played is not sufi- icienty accentuated; and yet the whole train of circumstances is so re- markable that cannot bring myself to omit it entirely from this series. It had been @ close, rainy day in fOctober. Our blinds were half-drawn, Eand Holmes lay curled upon the sofa, treading and re-reading a letter which - had received by the morning post. IEor myself. my term of service in In- ldia had trained me to stand heat bet fter than cold and a thermometer of {s0 was no hardship. But the paper Twas uninteresting. Parliament had
 
 Band I yearned for the glades of the sNew Forest or the shingles of South ..sea- A depleted bank account had scaused me to postpone my holiday, tand as to my companion, neither the icontry nor the sea presented the fslightest attraction to him. He loved s3o lie in the very center of five mill Hfons of people, with his filaments Sstretching out and running through tthem, responsive to every little rumor tor suspicion of unsolved crime. Ap- fnfT ion, r.f NTlHI TNIn samong the many gifts, and his only tchange was when he turned his mind tfrozn the evIl-doer of the town to strack down his brother of the coun- .try. | Finding that Holmes was too ab- tsorbed for conversation, had tossed kaside the barren paper and leaning Eback in my chair, I fell into brown kstudy. Suddenly my companion's svoice broke in upon my thoughts.
 "You are right, Watson" said he. f.'It does seem very preposterous way of settling a dispute" Most preposterousH' I exclaimed, l sand then suddenly realizing how he i Ehad echoed the inmost thought Of my soul. I sat up in my chair and i stared at him in blank amazement &What is this, Holmes?" I cried. |
 '-This is beyond anything which I could have imagined"
 He laughed heartily at my perplex-
 SYou remember" said he, ''that
 some little time ago; when l read you the passage in one of Foes sketches, in which close reasoner follows the unspoken thoughts of his companion, you were inclined to treat the matter as a mere tour-de-1orce or I the author. On my remarklag f onat the same thing you expressed lncred-
 uility-''
 E tOh, mol"
 "Perhaps not with your tongue, my dear Watson, but certainly with your [; eyebrows. So when I saw you throw 5 down your paper and enter upon Strain of thought, I was very happy to have the opportunity of reading it off, [ and eventually of breaking into it, as 1 a proof that I had been in rapport ! with you.''
 ], ssIn the example which you read to | i fme" said I. '+the reasoner drew hls ' TconcluSionS from the actfonS or the hman whom he observed. If remem- | ' her right. he stumbled over a heap of E stones looked up at the stars, and so | Eon. But I have been seated quietly ] Sin my chair, and what cleWs can : ssYou do yourself an injustice The { features are given to man as Ine 1 means by which he shall express ms < emotions, and yours are faithful ser ]: Do you mean to say that you read i my train of thoughts from my fea- tures?'
 
 I eyes. Perhaps you cannot yourself ! recall hoy your reSerle commence ! ed?'' i .aTben T will tell you. After | : throwing down your paper, which was l the action which drew my attention | ito you. you sat for half Ei,r, a lnlnuIe 1olIII1 seyes fixed themselves upon your new 1lv-A-arasd picture Of General Gordon, l sand I saw by the alteration m your x~F& bon h s9 n started. But it did not lead very ] Ifar. Your eyes turned across to the : unframed portrait of Henry Ward | Beecher which stands upon the 19 toP unst the wall, and of course your pysaning was obvious. You were kfhinking that if the portrait were [ tefrar,ed it would just cover that bare snace and correspond with Gordon's | spicture over there -, S "You have followed me wonderful "So Ear could hardly have gone kastray. But now your thoughts went | i back to Beecfrer. and you looked hard i across as if yon were studying tha ;eharacter in his fesTu5es. r5Ear ,,,,+ ln,n Ron i [ continued 20 look across, and your cace was thctsgittfui- You were re- calling dl1e incidents Of heecners ca ca could not .Io this without thinfing of the mission which inc undertook | on behalf of the North AS the tlrne l of the Civil Wt.r, fer rerneInbe: you ] exrrassi.c yo5,r passionate in6t5Zla- !! firm n. the way in which he was re- l ' raiysss py the more turbulent of o.i- | people. You fzlt so strongly about | it that I knew you could not think | 5 of Reecl,er without t,.icktng Of that | also. When rnoIcept later I saw | vos,r eyes wander away from the pie i sf f,1re | suspected that your mind had !! < now turned to tine Civil War, aud i when I observed that your lips set, | your eyes sparklc-i, and your hands Sclfuched. I wcs positive that you | were indeed thinking of the gallan- | frv which was shown by both sides | ] fr, that desperate struggle. But then l