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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1907-12-06, Page 3riL9iN4L9L9i9i9L4Z9L9L4X4Z9LMI89Z9L9L4L91Q? 0 The `=sue and T a F � ase Meanwhile, what was the great states- man about? There is usually nothing that astounds a popular idol so much as a sudden reaction in "popular" senti- ment, and a decline in "popular" favor. Not so Daniel Hunter. He always knew that just such a reaction would some time or other ensue, and for awhile pre- vail—that the idolatry of the people would be followed by the detestation of the people, as surely as a surfeit is fol- lowed by sickness, a feast by a fast, day by night, or autuann by winter; only he did not expect it just now—just as, after an absenee of seven years, he set his foot upon his native shore. There- fore, after the first moment of surprise, and almost of incredulity, he turned to his wife, hanging upon his arni, and said: "The hour has conte—somewhat sud- denly—somewhat inopportunely, lovel— but the hour has come; the tide of popu- lar favor is turning, and we must bear it as we may. Be calm!" He had need to say to her, "Be calm," for there she stood like an outraged em- press, her imperial form drawn up to its haughtiest height, every limb and fea- ture instinct with pride and scorn; her chest expanded; her fine head thrown baek; her delicate lip and nostril quiver- ing; her full eyes blazing, blazing! One burning word burst in bitterness from her indignant bosom—"Ingratesl" and then the woman remembered herself, and her cheek crimsoned. Daniel Hunter led her to the carriage waiting to receive them, placed her in, directed the young lady and gentleman of their party to follow her, closed the door, and ordered the coachman to drive of, while he himself remained to face the storm. It raged furiously now! Hoots and howls, yells and curses, and brickbats and cudgels fell like hailstones! Daniel Hueter oast his eyes around for a favorable point from which to com- mand the multitude. His glance fell upon a heaped-up pile of merchandise in boxes. Stepping from point to point,,he reached the top, and stood with his feet at the levelof their heads. He folded his arms and stood perfectly still, 'a target for all eyes and missiles, waiting calmly to take advantage of the first transient hill to address them. And then his voice rang its clarion notes over the multi- tude, commanding silence. And all eyes were turned on him, and as at the presence and voice of a demi- god, the infuriated mob became the lis- tening audience. Yes 1 The fiery young Falconer O'Leary could, by fierce elo- quence of passion, at any time excite the mob, but only Daniel Hunter, coming down upon them with his massive power of mind, could quell one. They listened —his friends with deep respect for his words, his enemies "out of curiosity," they afterwards explained, to hear what the d—d renegade had to say for him- self." At all events, they listened be- comingly while he spoke to them for more than half an hour, at the end of which time he dispersed his enemies, and, what was much more difficult, his friends, quietly to their homes. And then he called a hackney coach, entered it, and directed to be driven to his hotel. There he found another crowd awaiting his arrival, but, coming as he did, he passed unknown among them, and entered the house, every passage, hall, parlor, reading room and dining room of which was filled with people waiting to greet the 'great statesman. Muffled in his cloak, with his travelling cap drawn down over his eyes, he passed through these also, apd. gained his pri- vate apartments, where 'Mrs. Hunter, Miss Honoria, Sir Henry Percival, and several chosen friends remained to re- ceive him. Their welcome, indeed. was cordial and heart -strengthening. Supper was placed upon the table in an adjoining parlor, and he sat down with his family and some half dozen intimate friends. And the meal was discussed in cheerful en- joyment, until the crowd outside, who had learned, in some manner, probably 0 0 from the hackney -coachman that brought him thither, that Daniel Hunter was in the house, became vociferous. And the landlord entered the parlor and besought Mr. Hunter to come out and show him- self upon the front balcony, and speak to the people, that they might separate and go Bono. Daniel Hunter arose from the table, and, attended by his young English relative, Sir Henry Percival, and several political and personal friends, went forth upon the balcony, before which, in the crowded street below, were assembled several thousand persons, the one-half of whom received him with shouts of welcome, and the other half with hisses. And here was enacted a repetition of the scene on the pier, and furious antagonism and rival party yells of "Daniel Hunter and Demo- cracy!" "Falconer O'Leary and Free- men's Rights!" raged for some minutes, before even the mighty presence of the great statesman could enforce the silence and order necessary to make himself heard. Then he addressed them in a speech of some twenty minutes' length, and dismissed' them to their hones Lastly, he retired to his own apartments, where his more intimate personal friends, perceiving his fatigue, considerately bade him good -night, and left him to his much• needed repose. Repose? No! For scarcely had the door closed behind the latest departing visitor before it opened again, and one of the hotel waiters en- tered, and laid a card upon the table before him. He took -it up with a wearied air, and read: "Dr. James Ross, resident physician to the M— Institute for the Insane, pre- sents his respectful regards to Mr. Rum. ter, and requests the honor of an imine -s diate interview, upon business of the greatest Importance, that will not admit. of delay." Conquering his impatience, he went to meet his visitor. "Mr. Hunter," said Dr. Ross, "I have been for the last month waiting for your return with the most feverish anxiety. I should most certainly have written to you, had there been a possibility of my letter reaching you, or hurrying your arrival" Daniel Hunter listened with surprise and attention. "Yet now that I sit before you, sir," continued the physician," "1 scarcely, know' how to open my business—it is co strange—so unaccountable --so =exams; pled in real life." "Pray proceed, sir." "It is really so astonishing—so in- credible—that I hardly know how to go on in this case; it really makes one feel. like being taken for an impostor." "Take courage, doctor! It is not like- ly that I shall suppose you to be one," said Daniel Hunter, smiling. "I know. 13ut really, this ease—how- ever, it is best to plunge into it at once, 1 believe. Mr. Hunter, do you remember the name of O'Learys" Daniel Hunetr changed color, exclaim- ing; "O'Leary! What of him?" And then recovering himself, as with another less painful recollection, he said, gayly: "Oh! you allude to the young mob -orator, idticon O'Leary, wltuse name certanily found its way to me through the papers, even across the ocean? les, certainly, his name is not new to me! What of hint?" "Nothing of him. I know little, and, with deference, care less about that young stump orator, But you remember during your first administration as gov- ernor of M—, some sixteen years ago, a man of the name of William O'Leary, who was convicted of the murder of Burke, and for wnom great exertions were made to procure his pardon?" "And which I refused to grant—yes, I remember that," said Daniel Hunter, with the sanne dark, troubled look coat- illr'' "+'t "Well, sir, it was one of those inevit- able errors for which imperfect laws are alone accountable. We all understand that—the man died a victim to cit•en 414024100600014440000 000 Gaapgse or Influenza, whichever you like to call it,. k one of the most weakening diseases known. Sicott'9,3' Liadj' kir which is Coe? Liver Oil cid HypDphosphnt:es in easily die gested form, is the greatest strength -builder known t© medical science. It is so easily digested that it W h tks inito the system, is making new blood and new fat, and strengthening nerves and muscles. Use SCO%ce,r Efin el.a1011 after Influenza. Invaluable for Coughs and Colds. ALL DRUGG11fiTS% 91Oo. AND $1.00. 404403404010/0 44000 4 /0'6Z 040, . p 0 0 stantial evidence.. Too late his guilt- lessness was made manifest. But, sir, you may also remember that the poor fellow had a Mother --a woman of strong passions, high spirit, and violent tem- per?" emper?" "Yes, I remember her perfectly, and her interview with myself distinctly:' "Youdoubtless, then, recollect that when you disregarded her tears and prayers, and refused to grant the pardon of her son, she called clown upon the head of you and yours a dreadful curse, and bound her soul by a vow of venge- ange ?" `No, I do not remember that. If she did such a thing, probably I disregarded it as the mere raviag of a poor, mad old woman." "She remembered it, however," said the doctor, solemnly. "I do not understand you, sir." "I say that that "wretched woman re- membered her vow, and accomplished it." Daniel Hunter fixed his eyes in stern inquiry upon the face of his visitor, who continued: "Some months succeeding the execu- tion of her son, you lost your only child, as it were, by a sharp and sudden stroke of fate." "Our child was lost—drowned in the Severn. You do not mean to tell me that that wretched maniac destroyed her!" asked Daniel Hunter, in a toneof almost supernatural steadiness and com- posure. "No, sir! Heaven forbid! I do not mean to say that she destroyed the child, or that it was destroyed at all. Mr. Hunter, your infant daughter was not drowned, but stolen!" All self-restraint, all composure, was gone now! Daniel Hunter started up. and seized both hands of the doctor, and gazed in his face in a very agony of speechless inquiry. .And when he found his voice, he asked, huskily: "Stolen? Where is she now? Does she live? and how? where? Oh, Augus- ta! oh, my Wife! Doctor, why don't you answer me?" "Mr. Hunter, my dear sir, I do not know if your daughter be alive now; let us hope she is, and that she maybe discovered." Daniel Hunter threw himself into his chair, and, having completely mastered his emotion, said: "I beg you, sir, to inform me how you came by the knowledge of the facts you have just imparted to me, that I may be the better able to judge of then" "Assuredly, sir. This woman, Norail O'Leary, has been an inmate of the asy- lum under my charge for the last fifteen years. .At, intervals she has returns of reason, but never for a sufficient length of time to warrant her discharge. I always imagined that there was remorse, as well as sorrow, at: the foundation of her malady, for she would often rave of a crime committed, and of a sweet and noble lady whom she had bereaved, and of a stolen child;: but in her lucid inter- vals, if this was alluded to by me, for 'the sake' of drawing Oa- the truth, she would laugh in a most malignant, defi- ant„ triumphant Manner. Within the last six months, however,, her bodily health has failed very rapidly; and, as is often the case in similar circumstances, as her physical strength declined her mind recovered its tone, cleared and set- tled. From time to time she has drop- ped words that, put together, have re- vealed to me the fact of her theft of the child. But she refuses to give me any connected account of the crime, and inquires piteously for Mrs. Hunter. I am convinced that from some idiosyn- crasy or other, site finds herself unable to confess to any but Mrs. Hunter. Within the last month she has failed so rapidly as to make it certain her death is near, I dreaded it would take place before your arrival. To -night, one of my young students, happening to be walking with nee in the lobby near the door, chanced to speak of your arrival, and of the crowd that had gathered to receive you. She heard the news, and became so excited that I was obliged to admin- ister powerful sedatives. She prayed that Mrs. Hunter might be brought to her. And, sir, it is for that purpose that I left her to come to you, late as it is, fatigued as you are; for I do not think the wretched invalid has many hours to live." Daniel Hunter grasped the -doctor's hand in silent emotion, and arose with the purpose of going to break this to his wife, but the connecting door opened, and Mrs. Hunter entered, pale as ivory, and holding out her ]lands like one blind and in danger of falling, until she met and threw herself upon her husband's bosom, exelainting "Oh, Mr. Bunter! we have heard it all! Oh, don't you know who it is? It is Syl- via! 1t is Sylvia! I always felt it, but never knew it! Oh, why was it we never knew our angel child?" Daniel Tinnier pr,•ased her to his bosom in unuttert!de miction, avid sit her down in a Iuangir,g chain. Then, turning, he rain; th,' bell trod ordered a carriage. And lei: 7; inutes after. late as it was, lir. and Nils. Hunter and the doctor entered the vehicle, and were. driven to the asylum, CIT 1 L;'11 It XIII. A rapid drive of twenty minutes brought th,'m to the lunatic asylum rh.y alighted and entered its glou,,y portals, a::d, led by the doctor, passel[ up its lone; passages and di.•.iy-Iightod itaircaees to an upper hall, flanked on both sides by' roti': of cells. :111 was very quint in this d io •. t •+'.tt —the tow inmates of the calls :7e a.slcep, and the shaded l- it hung from flee oiling shed a •t•.+rful lit.nt over the twle, cd before one of the do.os, ,t+;ted it •elution:ay, and beckoned sour .•i :i out. A hospital nurse appeared at his sum- mons, "How is your patient?" "In one of her deathlike al: "How hong has it lestiel ?" "Upward of two hams " "i'he will awake. be!. • the doctor, and then, turning to Mr. and firs. Hunter, he said: "1'1'e can enter." "Brit should she suddenly awake and find us by her side, might not the shock e danger" "':�'o, madous?am; she has been led to ex- pect you; besides, you need not appear :+'tddhfem " The physician held open the door and allowed Mrs. Hunter to pass in, and then fclloweel with Mr, Hunter. It was a fair-sized, comfortable apart- ment, better deserving tate name of chamber than cell, The doctor placed chairs at the foot of the bedstead, and quietly motioned his companions to be seated, while he himself took his station near the head. Daniel Hunter and his wife poked upon the patient extended before them. She lay stretched out at full length upon hey back, with a white quilt. spread over her, like one dead. Her head was bare, and her grey hair cut close for coolness, though the night was so sold. Mrs, Hunter gazed upon the body with a shuddeiof horror, of incredulity, that a thing skill breathing should be such an inconceivable wreck, should look worse than an Egyptian mummy. As she lay, all her joints were prominent, al- most pointed, beneath the coverlet, as those of a skeleton might have been, and her sunken eyes, and the dark, livid skin clinging closely round the bones 'of her forehead and jaws, made dark, cavernous hollows of her cheeks and eye -sockets. Mrs. Hunter turned, sickened, away. "She bad a powerful, a wonderful con- stitution. The disease has fed upon and consumed almost every atom of flesh, and yet, you see, her brain acts, her lungs still breathe, her heart still beats —it is stupendous," said the doctor, in a low voice. "But hush-h—she wakes— turn a little further aside, dear madam, if you please. I will speak to her," he added. But it Was too Iate. Norah had seen and recognized the lady at the foot of her bed. "Ah -h -h! you have come at last!" she murmured, in a hollow tone, and her voice sounded like a far-off moan from a graveyard. Augusta turned again, and met her fiery eyes fixed upon her, and glowing like two live coals in a skull. Yes, all the life left in the body burned in those terrible eyes! The lady shaded hers with a shudder. A hollow, dying laugh followed the movement, and Norah said: "Oh, you needn't shrink now! The time has passed! the arrow has been sped! it transfixed its victim long ago! Come to rue; I can draw it out; it was never meant for you." She held up her skeleton arms to the lady, and then, prostrated, dropped them. Mrs. Hunter came around to the side of her bed. The doctor made way for her and retired. The lady bent over the dying Woman. ]3ut the poor wretch looked up at her with an expression in which ,cli.abolical malice still struggled with -remorse and fear .and compassion, until t4,.t.'":cotintenance grew frenzied, The lady lti'd her calming hand, and fixed her pitying eyes upon the patient, and said, in her sweet, gentle voice: "Norah, if you have anything to say to me, say it now. You will have peace when you have said it." - "Ha! ha! ha! Ain't you glad the spirit will make me tell? Ain't you glad it maddened me? It killed are?" "God knoweth that I ani not Norah. I am profoundly sorry for you. 1 shall be happy if, by penitence, you can ob- tain peace." "Penitence!" cried the dying woman, with kindling eyes. "Penitence for the only thing in which I rejaice! Yes, re- joice! ha! ha! ha! Penitence! and with that man in the room! Take him out! Take him out! If I were on the thresh- old of heaven, and 1 saw that man go- iter on before me, I should turn back and go to—" "flush-sh-sh! You nruttn't say that, my poor woman!" interposed the doctor. "You mustn't say such dreadful things as that! You must forgive your ene- mies, you know!" "Forgive! IIa! ha! ha! Oh, you fool- ish old man! That anybody should live sixty or seventy years in this world, and get lint -white hair on their heads, to talk such arrant nonsense! There's a man who knows better! Ask him if now my heart can be changed, and I can forgive, forsooth. IIa! ha! ha!" "But, my clear sour, ?eau must forgive! You know that unless we forgive men th.,i.- ++•expos es, neither will our heaven. ly Father forgive us ours," said the phy- ien, "Fot::rgive! Forgive him! I tell you, old titan, that if Cod never forgives me until 1 forgive him 1 shall go straight to everlasting fire, ani •--.-eu" "..h-sh-sh-sh! lip dear lady, you nut't not say such shocking things! Conscience alive! you make one's hair bristle up!" i;a! ha! ha! I tell you there's a man who knows T cnunot forgive! Ask hie, if my heart ca.; change at this hour! And takes hint +'at? 1 toll you he stifles me! I tell yon 1. cannot breathe tltr a.ir he bi it,trrc!" «'it h i !onl r.f d ,at cn nmtiseration, Daniel Ilut t:.r heel stand near the foot of the bed. Now he 111•rued to leave the not mind her, sir; she raves," Raid the p'tycirian. . Tlut Daniel Hunter nniy replied by an inclination of the head, RA he retired. and clan •rl t'..'i door behind him. "(lo with him, doctor. You are a well-nv':'ning uitl rr,•nllsnttn, only silly out of the lino of your profession, Aro you goimi? I tell you, 1 Wunt to be aline o tb the lolly." The physician, with a deprecatory t. rot up, beckoned the nurse, and, f•rilnwed by her, stumped out of the maga. left alone, •t•hia dying woman turned her burning gaze upon Augusta. Thr Indy tb+night best not to open to rnnveres thin. She contented herself with h -•Ing 1,,+r lined upon the darkened fnrc'!''eu. am! looking kindly in the 11 DOES NOT PAY TO DIE NOW. Doctors to Charge Five Dollars in. Future For issuing Burial Certificates. Five dollars for a burial certificate has been announced as a part of floc programme for an all-round increase of doctors' fees, as proposed by the Ontario Medical Council. Thousands of people have found it a very heavy tax on their resources to pay their doctors' bills at the old rate. The increase would be a very serious mat- ter to many people were it not for . , the fact that there is within the reach of all that wonderful remedy that, after the most severe conditions, has proven that for all forms of run-down sys- tems from almost any disease or cause, especially from those diseases affecting the throat, lungs or stomach, Psychine is a safer, surer and more dependable deliverance than the untried and ex- perimental prescriptions of nine out of ten of the present-day doctors. Psy- chine, in addition to being concen- trated life work of several of the world's most eminent medical special- ists, has a sixty years' record of un- paralleled and unapproachable tri- umphs riumphs over disease and death that has brought light and joy to tens of thou- sands of homes every year. And it is steadily going on to still greater triumphs. It does not pay to die now. Take Psychine and live and enjoy life. It is a great system -builder. Fifty cents and $1 per bottle at your drug- gist's, or at Dr, T. A. Slocum's, 179 Icing street west, Toronto. "Several years ago my wife was so seriously ill of lung trouble as for months to be unable to walk, at whop time a noted physician told me that the next dress that I would buy for her would be a shroud. She used Psychine and is now reasonably well." Rev. C. E. Burrell, Forest, Ont. harassed eyes of the sufferer. Norms was too far gone, too exhausted, too confused to attempt anything like a con- nected narrative; her speech would have been incoherent to one not possess• ed of the clew; her emotions and ex- pressions were often contradictory and inconsistent. She fixed her fiery eyes upon the lady, and drove their piercing glances deep into her very soul; but reading there nothing but pity, love and sorrow, she dropped her lids, sheathing their burning gaze. and said, calmly: (To be continued.) THE BRAIN. A Wonderful Organ That is Yet Little Understood. Thediscovery of a special speech re- gion in the brain furnished a key for un- locking one chamber after another of this mysterious physical organ of the mind. Even as regards the faculty of speech itself, it was soon revealed that it had three separate anatomical seats in the brain—one for hearing words, another for seeing and a. third for speaking them. How separate and distinct from this uttering centre the brain place for read- ing is was illustrated by a lady patient of mine, who was astonielied one morn- ing at finding that she could not read a word in anything, whether newspaper or book. She thought something must be wrong with her eyes, but she saw every- thing about the room as well as ever and could sew and knit. I tested her speech carefully, and found that she could hear every word addressed to her, and could talk remarkably well. Her reading brain centre, however, had been destroyed in the night without her wak- ing by a plug in the little artery which supplies that place, and she forthwith became as illiterate as a Paupan savage, nor did she learn to read again, succumb- ing to apoplexy two years afterward. Generally more than one speech centre is injured by an apoplectic hemorrage in the brain, as was the case with a pa- tient of mine, a gentleman who one morning lost not only all power of utter- ance, but also all ability to read. He could, however, hear words perfectly, and strange to tell, he proved that the place for arithmetical figures is in a dif- ferent brain 1 orality from those for words, because he could read and write figures and calculate every kind of sum in large business transactions which he successfully conducted for seven years afterward, without once being able to speak a word, or even to read his own signature.—Dr, William Hanna Thomson, in Everybody's. The Degrading Tip. "These cusohined habits wo have acquired have brought us Into groat waters. Every- body from r he insurance man, who writes the policy on your life, to the hell boy who brings your Ditcher of ice water, wants some ralte-off, some fee, that he °barges in pro- portion to your ignorance. All these bring us further into the great waters. T behave it i3 bight time such things were protested.