Year: 1870




child, and put her into bed then made
myself comfortable, and got my Bible,
and sat by the fire--it was very cold for
the season, and kept fire In my room
and after had finished my chapter,
knelt down to my prayers; my position
as | knelt was with my back to the fire,
and my face toward the bed. had scarce.
ly got on my knees, when | caught sight
OF something unusual under the bed on
looking more attentively could see that
1t was mans foot My first impulse
was to scream, but fortunately restrsined
myself; and, the first shock over, was
able TO think. had no doubt that IL was
a robber, and that if he found out that he
was discovered, he might not stop short
of murder. / dared not go to bed, and
pretend did not know he VAS there and
yet, how to get the child and myself out
of the room without exciting suspicion,
could not imagine. These thoughts pass
ed through my mind in half tho time /
have taken to tell you; and was about
to rise from my knees, when / suddenly
recollected that my doing 80 at once
might in itself excite suspicion for
aught l knew, it might be some one who
knew my habits, perhaps even my own
man servant, though had no reason to
suspect him. At all events, determined
to remain some time longer, as If engaged
in my devotions l need not tell you
that could not give much heed to my
prayers, but did ask for protection and
guidance You know, dear, that 1 am a
slow, methodical old woman, and l sell
dom get through my prayers in less than
a quarter of an hour, 20 | now deter
mined not to stir for at least ten minutes
What an age those ten minutes seemed
| never took my eyes off the foot until
just before l arose, when it was slowly
withdrawn out of my sight. When | saw
it move, l felt faint with fright, for ]
feared lest the man had suspected, and
was going to come out however, he re-
manned quiet, and then got up from my
knees. The next thing to be done was to
get the child out of bed without causing
any alarm. Speaking as calmly as l was
able, | asked her if she was awake she
answered in rather sleepy tone, but
aroused herself as l continued speaking.
Fanny, DEAR" l said, 81 have left my
keys below stairs ii felt little uneasy
at the falsehood, but hope l was not
wrong" and l cannot undress without
them don't like going down by myself
would you mind getting up, my love, and
coming with meS" She jumped out Of bed
in a moment and, having wrapped a
shawl round her, pushed her before me,
then, when opening the door, l managed
to take out the key and put 1t in on the
other side. l then shut the door and
locked it; and then, my dear, could no
longer control myself shrieked several
times at the top of my voice, and tainted.
After all, poor Joseph, the coachman, was
faithful, for one of the maids called him
in, and, armed with pitchfork, he Sc
cured the robber, who was trying to get
out of the window"


Here was an instance of retention of
presence of mind in the face of apparent
danger, and the loss of selfcontrol when
the danger had passed. Habit has much
to do in the preservation of the cerebral
equilibrium, as we see, for instance, in the
sailor who goes aloft without feeling any
inclination to come down "by the run"
and in the matador in the "bull ring"
whose fate depends on his coolness Edu-
cation, also, no doubt, assists in keeping
the brain in order. Yet here, again, we
have numerous instances of presence of
mind in the humber and less educated
ranks in life. One example-also' true
story-though it has appeared in this very
journal in another form, and in the guise
of fiction, and has besides been made use
of en- the stage-Will suffice. Caroline
c., good looking, finely pIoportioned
young girl, lived as lady's maid with
fashionable widow, rather pIsse. One
evening, after having assisted at her mis-
tress' toilet for dinner party, she amused
herself, before putting away the various
articles scattered about the room, in try
ing on pair of silk stockings and dress
shoes belonging to her mistress, and, hav-
ing done so, she viewed her well turned
limbs with complacency, saying aloud
"There's leg for a stocking, and
there's foot for shoe. Hav-
ing satisfied herself as to their
symmetry, she divested herself of her
borrowed plumes, put the room to rights,
and awaited the return of her mistress,
whom she saw into bed. That was the
last time she saw her alive. She was
found In the morning murdered in her
bed, the jewel-case and plate-chest broken
open and robbed. The robber and muir
derer had left no trace by which he could
be captured, and, in spite of the most dill
ligent search, escaped. Three years after,
Caroline was engaged !. in a similar ca
pacity by lady who took her to Paris
She had almost forgotten the murder, and,
if she thought of it, it was not with any
hope of discovering the criminal. IL hap.
pened that she was walking in one of the
public promenades one afternoon, when,
as she passed group of men, she heard
these words; "There's leg for stock
ing, and there's foot for a shoe" In
moment the events of the evening before
her mistress was murdered flashed on her
memory. And now for her marvellous
presence of mind. Pretending not to
have heard anything, she glanced side
ways at the group OF men. She saw there
were three, but she could not tell which
of them had spoken. She walked
slowly past them, then stopped in
an undecided manner, and final
ly turned back, and, walking
up TO them, she asked to be directed to a
certain street. AS she expected, all of
them had a word for her, and amongst the
voices she easily recognized the one that
had Just spoken. Their language and
looks were both very free, but she only
told them that they were very impertinent,
and that she would get the information
she wanted from the irst gendarme. She
thus averted suspicion if they watched
her speaking to policeman. The next
difficulty was how to inform gendarme
what she wanted she had been only
fortnight in France, and scarcely knew a
word. of French. She, however, carried
a pocket dictionary with her, to assist
her in making purchases, and as means
Of acquiring a little French. Going over
to bench, she sat down, and, searching
through the dictionary, found the words
she wanted, and she then wrote them on the
fiy-leaf of the dictionary. The sentence
ran thus GenddTme, je GUOir 6es0in VOus
Grreter un nturtTier. The grammar was
not very correct, as dictionaries do not
teach syntax, but the gendarme under
stood it, and in another minute held the
murderer in his grasp. He was afterwards
convicted, and hung on the girls tes-
timonY.


In this example we observe kind of
presence of mind not usual in the female
sex. First, there was the natural impulse
to express astonishment, subdued the mo-
ment 1t was felt, and then the rapid con
centration of thought in conceiving a
strategem. In such case as that OF Car
oline c., ninety nine women in hun
dred would have betrayed themselves by
an "Ohl" or a little scream.


Intimately connected with the retention
or loss OF presence of mind, are those con-
ditions of the nervous system which con