Grey Highlands Public Library Digital Collections

Flesherton Advance, 23 Jul 1891, p. 2

The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

* WIE OF MY ICE, CUAI'TKR I. Au American girl, Kate PenKeld, hail been reared and educated in the home of her uucle, William K. IVnfield, at Albany, in Mate of New York. A month before the opening of thii itory, Mr. I'entield, wulung to go to Chili, had enibarke<l at Sin Fran cico for the ocean part of the journey board the merchant veuel Severn, conunandeil by ,.,,,.,.1 they made ibeirway over a sand-blown hum mock, then aero*, a level .pace of ground, and thus reached i> lake, th. fresh waters of which hail begun to freeze in the fast lower- ing temperature The edge of the lake was iced solidly to a distance of a hundred feet out from the, .bore The psur lid not see that they were on this ice until they came to its very limit, and felt it cracking under their feet. They looked down, and saw the clear, sharp reflections of themselves in the dirk water. Then a strange phenomenon look place ' A psychological marvel ! A physical won- i: ion hail, some way, We cannot that it was so. der I Frank Kvans'i i.mli "If we Had firearms," -aid one, " we might" " Firearm* !" exclaimed Kriant, " there , are some at the quarter*. Let ns fetch them ! Don't !oae a moment !" In atuiut half an hour Kriant and the other loaded two tnnskeU and fired them. There was no reply, nor t he sound of gun or horn. It wan now half put three o'clock. The fog grew tiiicker a. the uniunk hehind the lake wa* invix f the the lave trade, then still existent in South ! America. Only two persons escaped the crew's butchery ; theae were Frank F.vaus, the first mate, and Kate Penfield, who had ' f ill. n iu low with each other. At least spare thin young lady," Kvans said to Hance Walston, the leader of the , mutineer., " you have nothing to fear from 1 her." " We will spare her, and you, too on one condition," wa. Walston'. reply. "It is t hat you navigate the Severn for u. until we touch some foreign port." Kvans had no reasum to rely upon the compact being kept, Imt to agree netine.1 to be the only chance of saving the girl he loved. The inannaere took place 200 miles from the Chilian coast. Kvans was compelled to lay the UOUIM thence toward- Cape Horn, ' with a view to crossing the Atlantic to the . -T coast of Africa. The S.-MTII had .n!. d a few days only whe.i n tire broke out on board, and it could not '..- ijuenched. The ten imperilled persons hastily launched the long luNtl , put n few provisions and weapon, i into her, and had only nine enough to sheer off l<efore the burning vessel foundered. Tl.. survivois wen- in a critical position. and toon tbeir peril was increased greatly b> i \ lulent sUjrm which drove the boat on i I ii. month was July, bin the place was far south of the equator where the northern summer is reversed into a southern winter. Noliody can leali/e tlnsantlpxl.il I union of tin. earth, if he ha-s grown up . t . 1. t of liters' 'it. in which July is described invari- ably as ven. il, ind has C\|HTICI, -e 1 only hot west), 1 1 in that month, until In jnurnie* down into the southern hemisphere. Wai- .ton and his companion, suffered so much from cold and fatigue that they were ah, ionl dead when the boat broke on the r (. Five of them weie swept out of il by a wave, and a moment later two other, were flung on the .and, while Kate fell on the opposite side ot the wreck. The two men remained senseleu for some tune, and Kate did, loo: and even after t'n- regained a sort of consciousness she ru iiiainediiiiiet and da/.d in a kind of trance, to which abnormal stalc.hc hod since i hild IIINM! been subject on rare occasions. It wat a M.iol 1 1 mn in which she was conscious yet immovable. Aliout three o'clock in the morning, she heard footsteps near the boat, md. with a mighty effort, she broke the spell that bound her, and took refuge be- hind a tree. Hance Walston and a companion cams close by, and Kate overheard their conversation uuneen by them. "Whsr rews'" asked Walstou's follow. named Kock. "I don't know," Mid Walstop. "It doe*n't mutter much. We mustn't stop In-rr ; we must go further iu. When day- light comes we can look almul us '" " Hiive you got the firearms?" " Yes, and ammunition all right,' said \Valstnn, who took out of the linker five .inn ..ml several packets of cartrul^is. "That is not much," said Kock, " in a wild country like tliis. Where is Frank Kvans?" "Osci there, watched bs I .,[>, Brandt .ind Cook. He'll have to settle with us, whether In- likes it or not ; and if lie resists I'll settle him " What has become of Kate ?" "Kate* There in nothing lo tear from lie. I saw her go overboard I eforo the Imat ran ashore, snd she n at the Imttom of the nea now. " That's a good job She knew rather too mi, h about us." " She wouldn't have known it long." Kate, w ho had heard all this, made up her mind to esca|iea. soon as tin- men went may. And a few minute, afterward. Wal.ton and hi. companion-, cat ried oil I he arms ami ammunition and wluil i.inain.d .if the provisions in the long boat's linker bat n. to nay, a few |>oiiiids of salt meat , a iltlr acco, and two or three bullies of Ihp girl ws. an invalid at b, HI I he 'itiiis and terror, uf the n, unity and .Inpme. k bad lender-). I her weak and ill. She hid no more than overheard the eon- seisati iiiut.il when deal lily faint, less overcome her. She .tAggere.l a lew paees in the d I reel ion thnt thetwomeii had taken, si. Idum to a vague hope ol belli. hel|>ed, esen by those murderous inihun . It w.ui at that moment that she, wa, join- ed b) Frank F.vuns, who I,.., I , -onlnved to -lip away from hi. captors, and n !,,,-, 'long arm. she found what seemed, fur the nil-lit, a afe refuge. Km tin snnse . ity i-ioild not last under (be .-m ,,, Can't we escape from them ? she asked. I hey mean to minder m*. | heard them \ o." Instead of rea B .unng icply from her .,v er, or any coheren t answer at nil, rhe aw that hi. eye. .tared in vacancy, and his hands went to Ins head, as though he were U wtl i|i II d "Tll< i 'luly, Kate isn't it?" he mill "Yes," sho answered. "What i. tin .ttii . I', inik ?" 1 I don't know. Here is .now ,ml i.-e n Inly." " We're in the southern liemi.|ihere dnii'1 son i. numb, i ' and so it i. wintet neis i>. don't give way, Frank don't go mad '" II. r appeal seemed to dispel the irrational 'i.aar fnun Kssni'i mind for tint time beiii^j, md In n id "We must hide from Idem K\fn if we starve or free;* in doing HO, it will IM better lo have taken the mengre i hsnre of eluding these cut throat. Come." "'" - ass "" Ut *. nc "> thing in the atmosphere of thi, island 1ml the , r , e " "" use '" ^Ojeclun. 'he certain thing to narrate is thut Lvans con.ciou.neM went down into the water, ** . that he W^W* bimlf to I* submerg- trol of the physical faculties of the figure by- Kale's side. Thi. soulless Frank Kvans str.nle away, like un automation, utterly heedless of her, and leaving her amazed by the desertion " Frank Frank !" she cried; "don't leive me ! " Hut he disappeared in the gloom, for it was still night, without looking b-tck at the abandoned girl, or slacken ing his rapid slid- ing pace over the ice. We know now that his soul separated from Ins body by the lay- er of ice, kept right along underneath, and his consciousness, all hi* mentality, WM down there in the water. Impossible ' Those may conclude to who disbelieve all that they cannot understand. Yet a phenomena) thing, as lo the reasonable ness of which there will he no dispute (.imp- ly because states of trance are well attested by physicians), occurred to Kate Penfield. | For a minute after tbe disappearance of Kvans she stood duinfoundeil and motionless. Then a famine* began to overcome her, and the symptom* of a cataleptic attack, such as she had experienced wveml I lines already in her life, became unmistakable. She lost consciousness, and fell to the ground lifeless, though not dead. Not the faintest bread, did she draw. Not a pulse dickered. Kvery I function of animate life wiw -u, p. tided ut- terly. She lay thus seemingly dead when, ,\n hour later, Walalon aud nis companion found lielieved her lifeless, and, with . IrsK'Rsd tody to thu edge of Uiv ice, "and slid it off into the water. ' 1 1. \PTKK II. The island upon which the mutineers aud Iheir Iwo honesl coin|iaiuons had U en ca. away was not wholly uninli.il.il. d A party >f young nun, niiiiihrrins; live, h\d been iilown to its shore in u disabled and flounder ing yacht, and for months had dwell in a naif cave, half hut, ,ub-i.s: mi; on Kild^mie, and anxiously waiting fora rrtcue. 1'heir place of temporary refuge was across the lake from the point whore the -nrvisors of , the Severn had reached that body of w i'ei. It was on the ensuing day lint the live , slanders, headed by lYicit loader, a young j f..n..i> named August Briant, started out as [ello skaters on the ice, which hail fro/en a un (iletely and solidly over the lake dunnc, the bitterly cold night. Their .skates had been cutout ol MHO.), even t ilbe bladeh. but they ersed the purposes of exercise and explor- ation very well Two of these castaways, nagau and Crou, had taken then guns with them so a. tube ready for an} shooting that m, K!I( turn up ilefore gmngthe signal to lie oil lirianthad called hi- . omradca logethei , ind said : " I hop. you will nol be templed into raahneas. If there I. little fear of the n-e ! iking up. there u always a risk .-I your bti iking un arm 01 a leg. So be c.,iefuf I lo not go out of sight (fans ..t \,.u t .. tar away rememlier that Cordon and 1 w ill wait for you here And when I gin. the signal, mind you all come back. " lint very soon IKinogan anil Croa. were hall a mile away in pursuit of the (lock of ducks that were Hying avnmsthe lake, and in their rapid rush Wame merely tw-. point. on the horinii, of the lake. Kven if they had time lo return, lot tbe day would last a few hours lunger, it was unwise to g.i away so iu At Ibis time of the year a sudden change of weather was always to be feared. A shift in the wind might at any moment menu a galu or a fog. About twooYlock Hrinni saw with dismay it the In. ii/on hail dHvpiie.il. -d in a thick Ixtnk of mist. Cross and UmaKan hud n. t rap|ieared, and the mint, gi owing thickei at i , ch mom, ni, i ami) up over the ice ai>! Ind the western slime rii.it i. what I feared," said Uriant. " And now how will |he\ know tin ir wnv I,,..,L Itlow the horn ! Cive them a blast on tin burn," said one of the jsirty nvi.od I iiirdoll. Three limes thu horn sounded, nnd the bin/el, not, 1,11, K out user the ice. I'erbaps It would Is- replied in by a report liom tVe guns the only means l>niiagan and i had of making their po-itnm known Kriant and liiirilmi listened. N. teporl re. lied I hen ears. The fog had Host iin're.tsed, .ind was within it <|u,ntcr i.i , mile of where they stood. The lake won! I .oiu lie entirely hidden by it. Hniiiit called t..1 l.o-n within light, nnd a I. w minutes afterward* they were all safe on the bank " \\ hiil in to lie done?" asked s. lord. m " Try all we us.ii lo It, id Cross and llniin- gan before they are lost in the fog. l^etonu of us IMS oil in the due. In. n they have gone, and try to signs.) them hack u ill, the hoi u." "I'll go," said .l.ick Kaxter, a resolute fellow. " I'lial will do," naid Hi i.ml " lie oil, .lack, and listen for the lep.ut of thu guns. Tnke the horn and that will toll them where you are." A moment afterwards .lack was invisible in the fog, which hud become denser than over. The others listened attentively to the notes of the horn, n Inch soon died away m the distance. Hall an hour elapsed. There wa. no news r.f tbe absent, neither of I'onagan and Cross, unable to find their Iwaringson the lake.no, of .lack who hail gone to help t hem. What would In-. -onn- of iill of them if infill fell before I bey re- turued I gi hill. The surface of Ible. For an hour a gun was tired every ten , minutes. That Dunagan, Crois. and Jack j could inisuiiilerstatid the meaning of thin' firing was impossible. The discharge, could be heard over the whole surface of the lake, for in fog sound travels farther than in tine weather, and the denser the fog the better it travels. A few more shots were tired. Kvidently if Jack wen: near he would have hoard them, and replied. But not a sound came in answer. Night was closing in and srknesx would soon settle down on th e sland. One good thing happened. The fog showed a tendency lo disappear. The breeze, ruing as the .un .el, began lo blow the mist back. With the glass at hi. eyes, Kriant was looking attentively. " I think 1 see something," he said, " something that move*. Heaven be prais- ed, il i Jack ! I see him ' " They shouted their loudest as if they could make themselves heard at what must have been al least a mile away. Itut the distance was lessening visibly. Jack wi'h the skate. on hi. feet came gliding on with the .peed of an arrow towariU them. In a few minute, he would I* home. " I don't think he is alone ! " said one, with a gesture of surprise. The I my. looked, and two other moving things could be wen behind .link a few hundred yards away from him. " What nthat?" "Men?" " No I ((easts ! " " Wild heasU, probably," atid Briant. He was not mistaken, and without a moment', hesitation he rushed on the lake towards Jack. In a minute he had reached the skater, and fired at the two pursuers, who turned tail and fled. They were two bears. Rut Jack was saved, and great wa* the general rejoicing .it his return. He hail been several mil". away when he heard the gun., and at once he set off full .peed towanla the point from which the report proceeded. Suddenly as the fog liegan to clear he MW the two bear, rushing in pursuit of him. Hi did nut, however, lose his presence of mild, and his progress was. wift enough lo keep the ani- mals at a distance, but if be had fallen he would have been lost. " But the bears were not Ihe strangest part of my experience," he continued. " When I tint saw lite beast,, they were in pursuit of a man, and would have very soon overtaken linn, for they were not a hundred yards behind him. The araa/ing thing wa. that he did not look liack at them, nor show by any sign that he was aware of them at all. lie walked fast, but wasn't running. I shouted to !uin, bul he tlidn'l seem to hear me The bear, gol closer and closer to htm. I skated right acroas his course, just in front of him, and I shall never forget the vacant, unknowing, deathly look in his face. He a. Ird like a somnambulist , and so he trust have been, or eUe -..me very unusual kind of nuuiac Sure 1 am that lit didn't know what he was doing. He .trade and .lid along the ice like an automaton, with no soul in hi. body." Jack hail observed and reported well, for tlio reader knows that he had seen the figure of Frank Kvans, alive but m. conscious, yet somehow controlled in it. movement, by it, separated soul down under the ice. " I knew that the bears would be upon the poor fellow immediately if I didn't divert them from him," Jack continued, "ao I kald around them in a way to draw- their attention to me. They followed me rather too vigorously, too, as von know, for I hadn't snother half nuU> in me when you drove the beasts oil " Aud the queer it ranger ?" one asked. " The last I i.\w ol him he wa* gliding way across the lake." "We must gi> to the rescue of Donagan and Cross." \nd of this mysterious stranger, too." The three castaways aw that night was falling f.wt. and that it would be suicidal folly to ifi out on the nn-nion before morn uijj .s.i they built a Uuitiie on the shore, and sit down by il to keep as wrn; as ptssPfbtstsimriBJ the night. However, tlie reader need not wait In know ivha i n- two muniiig members ol the parly en lining The\ louinl theuisulvxs on the liirihei ,,d.' of I be lake when thv fot; lifted. They hail lost their ln-ann^, completely It \ nnd the edge of the tre, - that liiiigcd Ihe lake was a beach a quarter of a mile wide, and on this the waves were lulling white with foam after hcmy, > Inn ned timing the breakers. Suddenly t'rons, who was a little in advance, came to a halt, and pointed to a dark mass on the edge of the short'. Was, it u marine ani- mal, some huge cetacean such as a whale, wrei-ked on the sound ? Was it not rather a boat, which had IMWII thrown ashore itter dulling through the breaker.* It was a Imat thrown on its starboard side Was tlieiiViny land neai by from ln.-li s U. il iimld ...me" U as there a ship that li.vl foundered in the storm ? All I lie l,\ polhoxes were admissible, and during thv ft-w lulls in theiiii>rm (In- (w.. \uung men ilmni-wed them. ' The night seen* I interminable. It seemed i though the d*<<.n w.'siid never come. If the) could only take some note of the tune In ontulling then wad'hes. lint it was nnpontiUc to litght :i m.ildi. CroHH died to do no, but had in give il up. Thru l>oiia^au hit u|Hii, another plan for finding mil the lime. Il took twelve turns of lheke\ t \iind his watch up evei \ t Menty-four hours. As he had wound il up at eight o'clock in the evening, he had only to count the nitin lier of turn, to ascertain the hour* that hail elapsed. Thi. is what he did, and having only four turns to make, he concluded that eight hours had gone by, and that it was now loin o'. 1 .. k il, the rooming. The day u.uild soon break. S,>i< afu-rwai'ds the Grot streak of dawn appeared in the oast. The storm continued, and u the clouds were low over the lea, rain was lo be feared before they could gel back to i|Uart*rs. I Jut before they started they iiiu-t seal ch for survivors of the wreck whici, had occurred. As soon as ths early morning light hail peiielialed the thick tnistn m the they went out on the lieach, tnig clnii; not withotit dimculty against the blasts n! tin- storm. Often they had to hold <\ach olhi't up to i\rthet,iseh e. 1 101,1 being blown ,i\ei. I!,.. l>...i> li 1 1 lii-ei, lull near u low ol sand, .mil they could wo by the line of weed that the tide hail risen and passed it. No trace of it. former occupant, was visible. " Where are they ?" asked Cros*. " Where are they ?" answered l> >nagan, p 'inting to Ihesca, whii-h was rolling in an- grily. " There, where the outgoing tide ha. liken them." 1* mogan crept along to the ridge of rock, and swept his glass over the wave.. Not a i corpse did he see 1 He rejoined his com- panion, who had remained near the boat. | Perhaps a survivor of the catast r ophe would be tound inside her. The b i was empty. Sh- wu the long-boat of some merchantman, decked forward, and about .'Ml feot on the keel. She was uo longer seaworthy ; her starboard side had beeu stove in below the water line when she was cast on the beach. A stump of the mast broken off at Ihe step, a few tatter, of sail caught on Vo the cleat, at the gunwale, and a few rope.' end. were all that remained of her rigging. Provision., utensil., weapons, there were none either in the lockers or in the little cabin in the bow. On the stern two names showed the .hip to which she belonged, and the. port ol register : " Severn San Francisco." Uonagan and Cton knew, by daylight, that they were clear across the lake from their quarter., and they at once started to skate " home," a. they called their island refuge. They had not gone far when they saw a trange and horrifying sight. Imbedded in the clear ice under their feet wa. the body of a girl. She wa. Kate Penfield, lying where the murderous mutineer, had thrown her but the water had frozen over and around, her, and ao it was that she was solidly encased in ihe ice. (TO BB CONTINUED). WHY -.Mill Lit A WA* swill IMftBl.r. All Mrthed. r II I. I V 111. 1-1. .1 A prominent physician who has made a .tudy of suicide said the other day : Why should a mi kill himself? The popular answer is, " Because he i. crazy '" Scientific men easily disprove that, bul are still somewhat at sea in devising a better answer. Was the philosopher -eneca crazy when be entered the warm bath and opened his veins ? Were all the hundreds of Roman, who made happy despatch of themselves insane ' Sutely not. The Greeks rarely committed suicide, but at one time it was quite the fashion in Rome. It is the raiestof rarities for a .lave to commit uicide, though a slave owner often does. Kxtensive in.|tn. > fails to develop a single case of an Amei i u, 'negro's committing sui- cide, though thre have been a few ease, among mulatto* and o.loroons. Shall it be aid, then, that the superior race i. the suicidal ? Surely not, for the Creek* were at least the equals of th" llonians. The solu- tion must be so.i^ht elsewhere. Perhaps religious belief b a, something to do with it, but it would be hard to provs it. One fact, however, gives us a clue : Among the lowest races of mankind and in the lowest intellect usl grades of any society suicide U practically unknown, and among the highest in race or culture it is extreme!) rare, while in the middle or lower middle classes it is most common. It is those who are midway on thejcourse, w hetheras races or individuals, those who are in the struggle, who lose heart and rush unbidden into eternity. This is only another way of saying there where the battle is fiercest there are the mosl wounds and sudden deaths ; (hose who have won the victory and inner lying idle in camp and designing no struggle are fairly well satisfied with ihe silualiou. The nlinied aud well-to-do Philadelphia!! i>, on the whole, as willing to live a. the naked Senegambian The cause, assigned lor .uicide are to the last degree curious. Iu many cases well-to- do. uicide. simply allege that they aro tired of life -the monotony of it is too much for them An Kuglish gentleman left a note t ih. i-i'e- i thai he was tired of " coming in and ^oiiigout, laying down and getting up, buttoning and unbuttoning" A Lon- Ion cabman wrote that he had exhausted all th>' (mature of diivmg in this world and wanted to ee Imw they drove in the other. Striii:i' to say, love and poverty furnish the Miiallctt number of cases, and mere liodils the grealest. Kut the aaddest cases are thnae in which a whole family dies together, and ol these tbe Stlford case, which IK'. -in-red some vcarx ago, was the most mournful of all. > ilford was a druggist's assistant, threat ened with the loes of |u>sitiun and poverty. He HII. -i ceded 111 gaining his wife's consent, us his letlei said, thai Ihe " whole family -hoiild go together," bul she did not want to know when the fatal dose was given. So he gave her and the youngest child prusaic acid in a cooling drink as they lay down for the night, and in a few minutes they expired without (win. Due bs .me he disposed of the other five children in the same way- - " all in peace and w ithoul pain, thank liod," he w n>te He then drew up hi. will, wont out ami obtained the signature uf SA it nesses, returned and wrote four let tern, and then swallostcil (lie poison, and waasoona . MI. b a case is beyond analysis by a heali hi '.,', mind. Yet we cannot say it was ins u, us It 1. scarcely poswible to conceive method of suicide nol already employed me one; but whenever one strikes. novel method l ie is sure to have a host of imitators. Hanging, drowning, ,*>isouing, stabbing, or other Jorm. of cutting. ing, andjinnping fiom hif>o ; . must common. Many women Have -.wallowed hoi coals, p,,.df-red ghuM, m.i oilier de- structive articles. Cleopatra applied an asp to her bosom, and il is worth noting that she has hud no imitators. \\ omen hue a horror ol sctiMtnls, ,u,d (lies are not easily obtained al the time desired Fiance leads all other nation- in suicides, as in the last year for which we have the nvord ill) per- .on. killed iti. -MI, else., ill oach I.OOO.IIUU of the population, md the increase is rapid. Of T,f>~'2 suicides in one ye*r one-fifth were in Paris, and .mothering by chat coal fumes is thu favorite method. In London nearly all .nicides are with the knife and razor, and it is plain truth th.it in this respect th* British are the worst "cutthroat." in F.u rope. Ground for Umbrage. " I detest that man Bangle," .aid the boarding liot.se keeper to her Star Board- er. " Why?" "A- he , i.i up from the breakfast table he s.u.1 to M, rivaweek, ' Now let's go to the restaurant and get a aquare meal. " ATTACKED BY NORWAY HATS. Three Children Almost D/ou ed at They Lie Asl-.ep rip Larkllr ArrlveilB Tine. Kxi:;tement i. running high in Temple, a village m I'enn.ylvnnia, and mother, have been filled with feclingu of horror ever since yesterday morning, when the citixeri. awoke to find that a family had been vieited during 1 1 e night by a moat iiniuual aod re- markable experience. The family was that of John Reubright, engineer for the Tempi* Furnace Company. Some week, ago a colony of Norway rat* wa. dicovered on the premises. They were suppowd to have their quarters in the .table, but uo nest, could r>e found. Whence they came no one knew, and their presence wa. nol sinpected until th entire colony wa. found. They were large and ferociou., ao much so thai they attacked the person who found them and would probably have bitten him had he not driven them otf with a club. For a whole week after they were discov- ered nothing was seeu of them and no trace, were found until yesterday morning. Wil- liam Renbright, aged 16, and Paul, a babe of eighteen months, son.ofJohn Reubright, and Willie LuU, aged 5 yean, hi. grandson, lept together in a room through which a large chimney passed. Shortly before daylight the other six member, of the family were awakened by one. and shrieks of pain and fear. They rushed to the room in which the three chil- dren slept jut in time to Me a dozen or more huge rats escape through a hole which they had dug in the chimney. A baity examination of the boy. .bowed that the ferociou. beasU had attacked and bitten them all. The finger, of Paul, the baby, were chewed to the first joint, and hi. hand, were severely biUen. Willie Lutz wa. bleeding from a dozen w muds on Uic face and ears while the feet and other portions of the body of William Reubright were badly injured. Dr. Huyett, the family physician, wa. ca led at once. The wound, were canteriz- ed and everything wa done to prevent blood- poisoning. The children are still in il pain and danger i. not paused, althougii the wound, have commenced to heal. They are being watched carefully by the Doctor, but he doe. not feel that they are out of danger. It appears from investigation, made that the rat. had colonued in the stables, and from there dug a tunnel to the house, where they entered the huge chimney, and from there dug through to the deeping room, where they attacked the boys. The rodent! are described by those who have seen them as being of nnui.'al size, over twice as large an the ordinary rat .-.;;,! arc said to be ao tierce and strong that no cat a* d uoue but Uie largest dog. dare attack ttici.-.. -i t > IM. i HI in M. or in i m. A Oil.la aid statist Me.u IMS r. r ..i,.. Colonel Henry Klsdale, of the Royal En- gineers, claims to have discovered a certain and rapid means of resuscitating person. from the effects of suffocation. A sapper among tbe men under bis command at Chat- ham wa. one day found c.s eloped in the fold, of a half-empty war balloon. The coal ga* with which it had been inflated had suffocated him, and to all appearance, he wa. a dead man. But efforts ere made to restore him, though the pulseless heart and cadaverous tace of the mai gave no encour- agement to persevere. In a moment of something like inspiration it occurred to Colonel KUdale to send for oome tube, of compressed oxygen which had beeu prepared for the oxy hydrogen light. Thi. pure oxygen, at a very high pres sure, was hurriedly conveyed into the mouth ot i lie prostrate sapper by mean, of insert- ing the no/irl of the valve between his t.- tli, aud the supply was " uenlly turned on " to the smallest extent. The effect was absolutely instantaneous. In an instant he opened his eyes and seized the uo/jle be- i ween his teeth In short, the sapper not only thoroughly revived within a few min- utes, but iu half an hour walked away, quite well, to the barracks, and refused to go to the Military Hospital, as was suggest- ed by his commanding orlicer. Of course, the objection will be raised that everybody has not tube, of pure oxygen at high pressure in readiness) to apply to such cases. Happily oxygen in quantiliesa. large as thonr administered i. not needed, ami it can be stored " in small, strong bottle. made of the finest steel, with a valve giving an absolute heruiitic seal. " Those vessels may be as small as a sods water bottle, aud may be made part of the medical stock of every doctor. Oxygen at any degree of compression required can, in fact, now be obtained, and the whole apparatus for re- stormy vitality can be packed in a .mall box ijuite portable Whal possibililies may not such . discov- ery a> that to which we have drawn atten- tion ps nis e It is equally available, we are a uircd, foi those person, who have I wen a-iplts <iat>d h) c'.nkc damp in coal mines, by ordinary coal gas. People apparently drowned, and those insensible from long ex- posure iu the riggini; of a .hip, might also be saved from an untimely end by what Colonel Klsdale calls " a dose of oxygen. " It would probably be invaluable, too, in case, of suf- focation from the fume, of charcoal, or in cases where Chloroform had operated injuri- ously on n weak Heart. Such a discovery should at on. e occupy the attention of the Royal College of Physician., with a view of ascertaining whether C'olonel KUdale has overrated the beneficent effect, to l.e antici- pated from the administration of pure oxygen. A Story With a Moral. The weather never nultcj Mr. .lone". If It WKM too hot. lie wauled nil hla utreniith in fill ile uroann : Iftt wa*not He said It frois the marrow of tux bonco. And Hworo a lot. Hat M r-i. lonw would never make complaint. It tswaiooM, 8ie shlvewAoit stood alike u *.iiiii In timex of old ; And.thoiinh 'twas hot enouuh I o make her fnlal. She'll never sculil. They're tiolhdiMtd now. Ihi^ wortl y pair il knew them well ', Ami Mr-, .loni-n i" vary happy where I'll, tiitf*)* dwell. When- Mr. fMMli 1 don't care Junt now to tell.

Powered by / Alimenté par VITA Toolkit
Privacy Policy