THE COURIER.
X
A WOMAN'S WHITE HAIR.
BOW SBX CAME Br IT.
"1 have beard of persons whose
hair was whitened through excessive
fear, but, as I never myself saw auyone
bo affected, I am disposed to be incredu
lous on the subject,' The above remark
was made by Dr. Maynard, as we sat on
the piazza of his pretty villa, discussing
the different effects of terror on dissimi
lar temperaments. Without replying to
me, the doctor turned to his wife, and
said:
"Helen, will you please relate to my
old friend. the incident within your own
experience? It is the most convincing
argument I can advance."
I looked at Mrs. Maynard in surprise.
I bad observed that her hair, which waB
luxuriant, and dressed very becomingly,
was purely colorless; but, as she was a
young woman, and a very pretty one; I
surmised that it was powdered to
heighten the brilliancy of her fine dark
eyes. The doctor and I had been fel
fow students, but, after leaving college,
we had drifted apart; I to commence
practice in an eastern city, he to pursue
his profession, in a growing town in the
West. I was now on a visit to -him for
the first time since his marriage.
Mrs. Maynard, lo doubt reading my
supposition by my look of incredulity,
smiled as she shook her snowy tresses
over her-shoulders, and, seating herself
by her husband's side, related the fol
lowing interesting episode.
It was nearly two years ago that my
husband was called on one evening to
visit a patient several miles awayr Our
domestics had all gone to a wake in the
vicinity, the dead man being a relative
of one of our serving women. Thus I
was left alone. But I felt no fear, for
we never had heard of burglars or any
that; the step was too soft and cautious
for anything less wily than a cat. As I
listened again, my eyes fixed on the win
dow blind, J saw the slats move slowly
and cautiously, and then the rays of the
moon disclosed a thin, cadaverous face,
and bright, glistening eyes, peering at
me. U horror! Who was it? Or what
was it? I felt the cold perspiration
start at every pore. I seemed to be
frozen in my chair. I could not move;
I could not cry; my tongue seemed
glued to the roof of my mouth, while
the deadly white face pressed closer, and
the great sunken eyes wandered in their
gaze about the room. In a few mo
ments the blind closed as noiselessly as
it had been opened, and the cautious
footsteps came toward the door. "Mer
ciful heavens!" I cried in a horror
stricken whisper, as J heard the key
turn in the lock, "the doctor, in his
haste, must have forgotton to withdraw
the key."
1 heard the front door open, the step
in the hall, and, helpless as a statue, I
sat riveted to my chair. The parlor
door was open, and in it stood a tall,
thin man, whom I never before beheld.
He was dressed in a lorn?, loose robe, a
sort of gaberdine, and a black velvet
skull cap partially concealed a broad
forehead, under which gleamed black
eyes, bright as living coals, and placed
so near together that their gaze waa
preternatural in their distinctness;
heavy, grizzled eyebrows hung over,
them like the tangled mane of a lion;
the nose was sharp and prominent; the
chin was overgrown with white hair,
which hung down in locks as weird as
the Ancient Mariner's. He politely
doffed bis cap, bowed, replaced it, and
then said, in a slightly foreign accent:
"Madam, it is not necessary for me to
stand on any lurtner ceremony, as your
husband, Dr. Maynard," here he again
Europe immediately after performing Quick as thought a heavy woolen
the operation on your breast," and be- piano cover was thrown over the head
fore I could make the slightest resist- and person of the madman, and bound
ance he had me in his arms, and was
carrying me into the study, where was a
long surgical table, covered with green
baize. On this he laid me, and; hold
ing me down with one band, with the
strength of a maniac, he brought forth
several long leather straps, which bore
evidence cf having been cut, and with
which he secured me to the table with
the skill of an expert It was but the
work of a moment to unloose my robe
and bare my bosom. Then, after care
fully examining my left breast, he said:
"Madam, your husband has made a
mistake. I find no necessity for my in
tended operation."
At that I gave a long-drawn sigh of
relief, and prepared to rise.
"But," he continued, "1 have made
the discovery that your heart is as large
as that of an ox! I will remove it so
that you can see for yourself; reduce it
to its normal size by a curious process of
my own, unknown to medical science,
and of which I am sole discoverer, then
replace it again."
He began to examine the edge of the
cruel knife, on which I closed my eyes,
while every nerve was in preemptible
tremor.
"The mechanism of the heart is like a
watch," he resumed; "if it goes too fast,
the great blood-vessel that supplies the
force must be stopped, like the lever .of
a watch, and the works must be cleaned,
and repaired, and regulated. It might
interest you to know that I was present
at the post-mortem examination held
over the remains of the beautiful Louisa
of Prussia. Had I been consulted be
fore her death, I would have saved her
life by taking out her heart, and remov
ing the polypi, between which it was
wedged as in a vise, but I called too late.
tightly around him. As quickly was I
released and the thongs that bound me
soon held the maniac. My husband
held me in his arms, .He had noiseless
ly approached, and, taking in the horror
of my situation at a glance, had, by the
only means at hand, secured the madman
who was the very patient he had been
summoned to attend, but who had es
caped the vigilance of his keeper soon
after the departure of the messenger,
who had now returned with the doctor
in pursuit of him. As the poor wretch
was being hurried away, he turned to
me and said: "Madam, this is a plot to
rob me of my reputation. Your husband
is envious of my great skill as a surgeon.
Adieu!" I afterward learned that the
man was once an eminent Burgeon in
Europe, but much learning had made
him mad. When he bound me to the
table, my hair was as black as a raven;
when I left it, it was as you see it now
white as full-blown cotton. From the
Argonaut.
KNOWLEDGE
sort of desperadoes in our quiet village, bowed profoundly, "has already acquain-. The king and I had some difference; he
then consisting of a few scattered
houses. The windows leading out on
thX piazza were open aa now, but I
secured the blinds before my husband's
departure, and lecked the outside doors,
all except the front one, which I left for
the doctor to lock after going out, so
that, if I should fall asleep before his re
turn, he could enter without arousing
me. 1 heard the doctor's rapid foot
steps on the gravel, quickened by the
urgent tones of a messenger who await
ed him; and, after the sharp rattle of
the carriage wheels had become but an
echo, I seated myself by the parlor
astral, and very soon became absorbed
in the book I had been reading before
being disturbed by the summons.
But after a time my interest suc
cumbed to drowsiness, and I thought of
retiring. Then the clock in the doctor's
office struck twelve, so I determined to
wait a few moments more, feeling that
he would be home very soon. I closed
my book, donned a robe de chambre, let
down my hair, then returned to my seat
to patiently wait and listen. Not the
faintest sound disturbed the stillness of
the night Not a breath of air stirred
the leaves. The silence was so profound
that it became oppressive. I longed for
the sharp click of the gate latch and the
well known step on the gravel walk. I
did 'not dare to break the hush myself
by moving or singing, I wsb so oppressed
with the deep stillness. The human
mind is a strange torturer of itself. I
bega,n ta conjure up vivid fancies about
ghostly visitants, in the midst of which
occurred to me the stories I had heard
from superstitious people about the
troubled spirits of those who had died
suddenly, like the man whom my ser
vants had gone to "wake," who had
been killed by an accident at the saw
mill. In the midst of these terrifying,
reflections, I waa startled by a stealthy
footfall on the piazza. I listened be
tween fear and hope. It might be the
doctor. Bat bo, he would not tread like
ed you with the nature of my business
here tonight. 1 perceive," he added,
glancing at my negligee robe, "that you
were expecting me."
"No," I found voice to stammer; "the
doctor has said nothing to me about a
visitor at this hour of the night."
"Ah! he wished to spare you, no
doubt, a disagreeable apprehension," he
returned, advancing and taking a seat
on the sofa opposite me, where for a few
moments he sat and eyed me from head
to foot with a strange, glittering light in
his eyes tbat. mysteriously impressed
me. "You have a remarkably fine phys
ique, madam," he observed, quietly,
one that might deceive the eyes of the
most skilled and practiced physician.
Do you suffer much pain?"
Unable to epeak, I shook my head. A
terrible suspicion waB creeping over me.
I was alone, miles away from aid or res
cue, with a madman.
"Ah," he continued, reflectively, "your
husband may have mistaken a tumor
for a cancer. Allow me to feel your
pulse," he said, rising and bending over
me.
I thought it best to humor him, re
membering it was unwise for a helpless
woman to oppose the as yet harmless
freak of a lunatic. He took out his
watch, shook his head gravely, laid my
hand down gently, then went toward
the study, where on the table was an
open case of surgical instruments.
"Do not be alarmed, madam," he said
to me, as I was about to rise and flee,
and in another instant he was by my
side, with the case in his possession.
Involuntarily I raised my head, and
cried, "Spare me!. Oh, spare me, I be
seech you!"
"Madam," he said, sternly, clasping
my wrist with his long, sinewy fingers
with a grasp of steel, "you behave like a
child. I have no time to parley, for I
have received a letter from the emperor
of the French, stating that he Udeslr.
owfof my attendance. I must-start for
I have known sorrow
therefore I
May laugh with you,
O friend, more merrily
Than those who never
sorrowed upon earth
And know not
laughter's worth.
I have known laughter
therefore I
May sorrow with you
far more tenderly
Than those who never knew
how sad a thing
Seems merriment to one
heart's suffering.
was German,! am French. I trust that
is sufficient explanation."
He now bent over me, his long white Theodosia Garrison, in August Century,
beard brushing my face. I opened my
eyes beseechingly, trying to think of
some way to save myself. "Oh, sir, give
me an anaesthetic, that I may not feel
the pain," I pleaded.
"Indeed, indeed, madam, I would
comply with your wish were you not the
wife of a physician of a skillful
THE AIM.
O thou who lovest not alone
The swift success, the instant goal,
But has a lenient eye to mark
sur- The failures of the inconstant soul,
geon. I wish you to note with what
ease I perform this difficult operation,
so that you may tell your husband of
the great savant whose services he se
cured, fortunately in season."
As he said this, he made the final test
of -the knife on his thumb. How prec
ious were the momenta now! They
were fleeting all too fast, and yet an
eternity seemed compressed in every
one. 1 never tainted in my lite, and I
never felt less like swooning than now, Neither my body nor my soul
as I summoned all my presence of mind To earth's low ease will yield consent,
I praise Thee for the will to strive ;
Consider not my little worth
The mean achievement, scamped in act,
The high resolve and low result,
The dream that durst not face the fact
But count the reach of my desire,
Let this he something in Thy sight
I have not, in the slothful dark,
Forgot the Vision and the Height.
to delay the fearful moment, fervently
praying hi the meantime for my hus
band's return.
"Doctor," said I, with assumed com
posure, "I have the utmost confidence
in your skill; I would not trust my life
to another; but doctor, you have forgot
ten to bring a napkin to stanch tho
blood. If you will have the goodness to
ascend to my sleeping chamber, at the
right of the hall, you will find every,
thing you need for that purpose in the
bureau."
"Ah, madam," he said shaking his
head sagaciously, "I never draw blood
during a surgical operation; that is an
other one of my secrets unknown to the
faculty."
Then placing his hand on my bosom,
he added, with horrible eepeglerie:
"I'll scarcely mark that skin whiter
than snew, and smooth as monumental
alabaster."
"O God!" I cried as I felt the cold
steel touch my breast; but with the
same breath came deliverance,
I bless Thy goad of discontent
Charles G. D. Roberts,
in The Criterion.
The Life Savers.
QuericuB How is it that your death
rate is lower than that of any other hos
pital in the city?
Medicus We have patent shutters
that keep delirious patients from jump
ing out of the windows. Town Topic6.
fiTiiiiriii
V And Dairy Go. J
Manufacturers of the finest qual- 3
ity of plain and fancy Ice Cream. 4
Tees. Frozen Pndriintrn Pmnn. f
and Sherbets. Prompt delivery
and satisfaction guaranteed.
133 SO- 1 2th St. PHONE 205.
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