Year: 1867

y
black and luxuriant hair was whitened in
single night under the impression Of a
dream -


M. C, when inspecting certain
mineral tracts in Brittany, stopped one
night at little roadside inn few hun
dred yards distant from a mine which he
had never seen, but which he proposed
visiting the next day. Having walked
many miles in the course of the day, M.
C, on reaching the jim, felt very
tired. lie accordingly went TO bed early,
fell asleep at once, and dreamed, he as-
serts, the following dream lie thought
that he had just been appointed to the
managcrship of the mine in question, and
he was busy experimenting the work Of
the miners, when the owner of the mine
appeared on the ground. This man, rough
and i'll bred, addressed the new manager
rudely, reproached him with his inactiv-
ity, adding:


"Instead Of standing there, with your
arms folded, seeing other men work, you
would do better TO 90 down into the mine
and draw the plan Of it, as you engaged
to do"


81 will 90 down and begin the draw
ings at once" replied the young engineer,
hurt and annoyed at the manner Of his
employer.


Placing himself forthwith in the basket,
he ordered the men at the windlcss to let
him down into the mine. This was done;
the basket reached the bottom; and then
summoring couple of the workmcn to
precede him with their lamps, he explored
the various galleries of the mine, and,
having made plan of the workings, re.
turned to the bottom Of the shaft, got into
the basket, and gave the signal for ascent.
AS he placed himself in the basket lie re.
marked the great thickness of the rope
which served TO hoist it, and calculated
that, the mine being unusually deep, the
ascent could scarcely be accomplished in
less than quarter of an hour


lie had been ascending thus for two or
three minutes, when, CHANGING to raise
his eyes, he cspied what seemed to him to
be an abrasion of The rope, by which he
was being drawn up. Startled by this
appearance lie fixed his eyes on the portion
OF the rope which had attracted his at,cn-
tion and saw distinctly that the rope wa4
cut few feet above his head, just OUT Of
reach of lis hanl. Ills terror at the dis
coycry was such that he nearly tainted.
housing himself by force of will, from tho
m tI,,t
overcomo him, he compelled himself to
calmncss, and set himself again to examine
the rope. Perhaps he was mistaken; he
wonld look again. But no, he was not
mistaken. The rope had rubbed against
some projection of the rocky walls which
hcmmed him in, and its strands were un-
twisting slowly but visibly. At tho
injured point the massive cable was
already reduced to less than an inch.


The unfortunate mar felt that his doom
was sealed; the conviction of the utter
hopelcssness of his position chilled him to
the very marrow OF his bones. lie tried to
call out, but his tongue seemed fruzen.
Moreo, er he felt that if he could make
himself heard, (Which was totally ;mpos-
sible as he was now halt way up, no
human aid could reach him. Looking
up he could sec the daylight at the mouth
OF the shaft, bright but distant, like star.
Gazing downwards, over the edge of the
basket, at depth that made him dizzy
and sick TO look down to, he could see.
like so many glow-worms, the lamps Of
miners. And the basket, meantime,
mounted higher AMI higher every instant,
the rope cracking audibly under the in
crcasing strain OF the ascent The uDfor-
tunatc engineer saw clearly tha; there was
no possibility of escaping III, horrible fate
awaiting him, and could almost count the
seconds that would clapse ere the bre; k.
ing OF the rope must precipitate him into
the fearful void below. Such was the
intensity of his anguish that he was
tempted to abridge its duration by throw
ing himself down at once, instead Of
awaiting any longer the inevitable instant.
AS he hcsitated, longing yet fearing to
take the fatal leap, the basket reached
the mouth OF the shaft. lie was saved
With loud cry he leaped from the basket,
awaking as he felt once more the solid
earth beneath his feet.


The horrid adventure was only dream;
but NJ. c. was trembling, exhausted,
bathed in perspiraiion, and incapable Of
making movement or uttering sound.
Alter time he recovered his self com
mand so far as to ring for help. The
people Of the inn fastened TO obey the
summons, but could not at first recognize
their customer Of the preceding evening,
for his luxuriant raven hair had become
perfectly gray. And, stranger than even
this physical evidence of the violence of
the emotions he had undergone during his
troubled slumbers, there lay upon his bed,
evidently drawn by his own hand, plan
of the adjacent mine he was TO visit on
the following day, but which he had never
seen, and of whose internal arrangements
he had no idea; and this plan, so unac-
countab,y produced, proved on examina-
tion Of the mine TO be absolutely correct
in every particular.


So much for the story vouched for Ly
one of the five Z" leading Journals" of this
capital its explanation | leave TO the in .