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on the Water
A Story of the Borderland
of Immortality
By F. A. MITCHEL
The day of witches, vampires, fairies
and the like is over. We re id of the
Lorelei of the Rhine and pel use such
poeuis as Keats’ "La Belle Dl me Sans
Merci” (the beautiful woman without
mercy) or Heines water fay, not be
cause we believe either the woman
or the fairy to have existed, but be
cause of the sensations aroused by the
weird pictures drawn.
Nevertheless there is a class of peo
ple among us who are not disposed to
break down the barriers between the
natural or the supernatural. And have
we not societies for psychical research,
composed of earnest and many of
them extremely intelligent persons,
who make it their business to gather
information about supernatural ap
pearancesV
Personally I am neither convinced
nor unconvinced as to the feasibility
of such investigations, though 1 have
bad an experience calculated to throw
me on the affirmative side. That ex
perience I will give just as it occurred
or. rather, as it communicated itself
through my senses, leaving each read
er to make for himself or herself an
explanation to tit the case.
During the spring I worked hard in
order to get ahead with my office
duties that I might enjoy a vacation
during the summer. Nevertheless
when I left home about the Ist of
July 1 never felt better in my life. 1
mention this because the state of one’s
health is an important factor in com
ing to an explanation of such happen
ings as the one that came to me. it is
a well known fact that persons suffer
ing from bodily ills are more apt to
see ghosts than persons in good health.
The scene of my outing was on the
coast of New Hampshire. 1 stayed
at a hotel where there were a great
many young ladies and but few young
men. 1 thought at first that I would
be in clover, but since I knew no one
to introduce me 1 was obliged to see
them going about in each other’s com
pany. ignoring me completely.
I was told afterward that there was
scarcely any of them but would have
been glad to meet a marriageable man,
and I considered myself a fair speci
men of a bachelor. Why I should
have been so completely ostracized I
don’t know. I am of opinion that it
was tne spirit of clique so strong in
these girls that it overpowered their
natural disposition to mate.
After trying in vain to break
through the shell that kept me away
from them I undertook to amuse my
self in other ways. I was fond of
boating'and spent a part of my time
on the water. I took long walks. I
did not bathe, for the water was too
cold.
A few miles up the shore from my
hotel was a cliff a hundred feet high.
A path led around its edge, fenced by
a rail over which one could look down.
Immediately below was a flat rock
surface against which the waves roll
ed, then deflected, pushed off in an
other direction, surged in through a
cleft then out again. All day long
this process continued, and as I watch
ed it I could not but wonder why.
And why was I there looking down
upon it? All was query, no answer.
Nevertheless the place was fascinat
ing to me, and I went there often. One
evening, when at twilight the great
globe of the moon was rising out of
the water, I thought I would like to
go to the cliff and see it as it would
appear under the different light The
young ladies of the hotel were walk
ing in couples and platoons, with their
arms around each other's waist, back
and forth on the piazza, and as they
saw me start off. evidently for a moon
light walk, I thought I could detect
wistfulness in the faces of some who
saw me depart If any of them would
have liked to be my companion she
was obliged to restrain her desire, for
she had not been introduced, and even
if she had I did not belong to the set
of her associates and she would have
been shocked at herself to become in
timate with any other.
The distance to the cliff was about
three miles, and when I bad traversed
it I approached the rail cautiously, put
a hand on it. then stood looking over.
The moon was exactly in position to
cast its rays into the recess In the
rocks below. Slowly a wave, resem
bling for all the world a leviathan
of the sea, would sluggishly lumber in.
roll against the rock, seem astonished
at having been stopped, swim over to
a perpendicular surface on the other
side, glance and move on into the cleft
But what is that red spot on the wa
ter beside the rock? Is it an afghan. a
shawl or some other wrap that has
fallen from the cliff, or has it been
washed in from some boat out on the
shadow the red spot was not visible:
then when tlie moon struck full upon
it it was like blood.
1 was suddenly conscious of the pres
ence of someone beside me. Why 1
know not. for 1 beard no sound, not a
footstep nor even a person breathing
1 drew back and turned my head
There, leaning upon the rail in the
same position as l, was a young girl.
It occurred to me that she must be
one of a party that had come—probably
from the hotel where 1 was stopping—
for a moonlight walk. I looked quick
ly over my shoulder for her compan
ions. but saw no one. There were only
the rocks here and there covered with
verdure, the trees standing back, the
path winding on eastward, the girl be
side me. all bathed in the soft light of
the moon I was embarrassed at this
being standing so near me at such an
hour without the slightest appearance
of reserve. I was trying to think of
some remark, some question that would
not sound brusque, wben she broke the
silence:
“Isn’t it beautiful?’’
“Beautiful, but ,somehow Just now
there seems something awful about it
What is that red thing floating below?
In certain lights it; looks like blood.”
“It is blood! Come away. It affects
you unpleasantly."
She turned and walked back a short
distance from the verge of the cliff
What could 1 do but follow her? She
sat down on a rock surface that form
ed a convenient seat and such position
as to make room for me beside her
Wouderiuglv I asked:
“Are you from the hotel where 1 am
staying?"
“No,” she said, but offered no word
as to where she came from.
“I cannot imagine,” I continued,
“any of those young ladies coming
here alone and at this hour.”
"There is not sufficient to tempt them
to break through the conventional
forms that bind them. Perhaps it is
well that they do not. 1 stayed at one
of the hotels hereabout one season and
was bound by the same code as they
are bound I pined for freedom. 1
came here alone. 1 have been coming
ever since.
"Why?”
“I cannot keep away."
There was silence between us for a
few moments while I wondered. Pres
ently 1 asked:
"And why can you not keep away?”
"Something happened. If I were to
tell you what it is it would shock you
It would have shocked me had I known
that it was to happen For a brief
space it tilled me with horror. Then”—
She paused.
”No,” she continued. "1 am not here
to increase your burden of life. I
know that you have been looking for
ward for months to your outing and
now that it has come you are disap
pointed. You see about you that com
panionship which would enable you to
enjoy every moment of it, but between
you and me it is that hedge of conven
tionality which you find impossible. I
know what it is. for I was once fet
tered by it myself. Now it is nothing
to me. I can go where I like, express
what I feel. I am disenthralled. And
to prove it I will tell you that tonight
I come here to meet you."
"To meet me!"
"Yes. You do not know me, but 1
know you. Often I have seen you
leaning over the rail looking down into
the chasm. Every thought that passed
through your brain vibrated in my be
ing. You are nearer the line that di
vides the finite from the infinite than
one mortal in millions, and when you
look over the cliff down upon that
scene, the sluggish waves following one
another in never ending succession,
you feel within you that which is akin
to the infinite."
She paused while I looked at her in
wonder, then added:
“And why have I romp to yoti to
night— I who have seen you so often
here? Why have I made myself known
to you? I will tell you. and 1 am not
ashamed to tell you. for 1 am abso
lutely pure. It Is because I love you ”
I have a dim remembrance of her
rising and going to tee cliff, of my
following her and leaning on the rail
beside.her and looking down Into the
chasm Then I was alone. The scene
below was beautiful as before, and the
red spot was gone.
I stood gazing on the water where
it bad been, now limpid, like the rest
while an awe crept over me. Then I
cast glances about me for my com
panion and shuddered at the vacancy
she had left. Then I was seized with
a desire to get away from the place as
quickly as possible.
1 walked back to the hotel filled with
emotions of which it would be impos
sible to afford the slightest inkling.
Ail I can say is that they were such as
I had never experienced before.
At the hotel 1 found no one to tell
me anything about the cliff, but on one
of my walks, stopping at a house for a
cup of water, an old man told me
there had been a special reason for
placing the rail at the verge of the
abyss. Years ago, when the region
first became a summer resort, a farmer
saw a girl standing there. He turned
away his glance, and when bg_ looked
gation it was discovered that the girl
he bad seen had fallen over the cliff,
had struck the rock surface below and
bounded off into the water It was her
blood that appeared to him like a red
garment.
Until writing this 1 have kept my
secret. First. 1 have shrunk from re
vealing it: secondly, 1 have not dared to
do so for fear of being considered of
unbalanced mind. 1 have never since
visited the cliff, nor would I do so for
the world That which prevents me is
having felt, while looking over it when
the apparition led me back to it after
telling that she loved me. an almost
uncontrollable desire to throw' myself
down into the chasm.
While I do not pretend to assert that
my experience may not have been the
result of a temporary mental aberra
tion, I cannot refrain from thinking
that some mortals may have in them
certain leanings toward the infinite to
which the greut mass of humanity are
strangers.
To Prevent Blood Poisoning
apply at once the wonderful old reliable DR.
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His Name Was Georg’e.
The next-door neighbor scorn
fully surveyed the bride of two
weeks chopping firewood in
the back garden .
“I should have thought it was
your husband’s place to do that
chopping,” she remarked, and
forthwith proceeded to give the
young wife a lecture on the way
to “keep husbands down.”
“But. Mrs. Morgan,” .stammer
ed the newly-wed, proudly de
fending the absent one, ‘‘George
has more important things on his
mind than chopping fire-wood."
“And haven't you?” snapped
the women's rights advocate.
“Why, no,” rejoiced the bride
blushiyig a little, “All I have
on my mind is George.
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I shall be clean today, in body
mind and soul.
1 shall be kind today, for my
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1 shall be honest today, not
for policy’s sake, but for princi
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—! ' 1
1 shall he patient today, be
cause it is the swiftest way to ac
complish results.
1 shall obey today, because it
is the only way I can learn how
to command.
1 shall learn some good .thing
today, because I must either pro
gress, or retrogress.
I shall do some useful thing to
day. and 1 shall do it as well as
I can, for true contentment comes
only in the doing of honest work
well.
I shall try to appresiate some
new thing of beauty today, be
cause I desire to get the most
pleasure out of lif<j, and the
great pleasures come from' know
ing new beauties which are but
outward manifestations of eter
nal truth,
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A horned frog walked into
the sanctum of the Luverne
(Ala) Journal, stood on its hind
legs, and winked at the editor;
and yet some people believe
that prohibition prohibits —
Washington Post.
Naturally, an actress thinks
she’s a star when she is praised
to the skies.
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