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< HOW I DIED. I

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< HOW I DIED. I T was very sick. I had laid for days that I teemed years upon the rack of such pain as j only strong men, suddenly broken upon the 1 wheel, may know. Every bone in my body, I every nerve, every minute gland of corporeal j tissues had been like electric wires and cells surcharged with ethereal agony. At last there had come a benumbed feeling that j thrilled like the vibration of harp strings suddenly stilled. I could hear the hum f voices like the far-off drone of bees, and the sound seemed soothing me into a strange peace. I was aware that somebody passed a light i before my eyes, and after repeating the j! action several times replaced the night lamp on the stand without the shade. I knew also that somebody stepped to the window and threw it wide open, while a voice, seemingly borne beyond the confines of II space and gathering force as it approached the boundaries of auricular demonstration until it boomed like the deep bass of the sea, uttered these words,— The poor fellow is going fast. Give his spirit a chance to free Icself. Do you beliefs in that old woman rot V asked another, and from the region of enchanted drowsiness where I seemed to  linger I caught myself listening for the third voice, which I seemed to know would speak next. And I did not listen in vain, for even while I struggled with the unseen forces that were hurrying me away a I woman's voice, clear and strong and sweet as the notes of a bell that was forever ringing in my ear, said— We believe in God's mercy, and we be- lieve that this poor pain-racked body is about to throw open the door by which the spirit goes free if a closed window hinder its going, we will throw every window in the old hospital as wide as the sky." I And give the rest of the poor devils in the ward a chance to catch a mortal chill," j responded the second voice. You are as consistent as the rest of your sex, Miss Brady." Whilst the echo of the head doctor's voice beat the air in circles of receding sound, I suddenly oeased to think, to hear, to feel, to be. And yet I was. I knew by some newly- developed sense that I lay mute and white upon the cot which had supported my body so long, and that the fragance of a prayer floated through the awful stillness of the room. It had no form nor sound, and yet something within me perceived it, as the languid senses perceive the fragrance of newly-mown hay upon a serene June morn- ing. A continuous pageant of the most seraphic j vision unfurled in endless progression before me. I saw the green hills of my childhood's home lift themselves like emerald bubbles in a haze of enchanted air. I saw the sapphire of the sea in a rim of violet dawns and daffodil noons. I saw the stretch of desert sands like drifts of snow within the compass of a lonely land. And in the midst of their bewildering vision I suddenly saw I a gleaming slab within a windowless room, where something long and white and still was lying. Drops of ice were forming on the edges of the slab, and a death-cold stream was purling across its shining sur- face. Something that was not a voice, and which made itself manifest to me through other channels than the ear, spoke lightly of the grave wherein I should soon lie. We will bury him to-night," it seemed I co say, H there will be no friends to inter- fere, and there are too many dying these few days past to keep 'stiffs' over half a I day." "But the law grants even a I stiff, its rights," responded the womanly voice I had ¡ learned to know, we have no right to bury him with such indecent haste." Rig°ht or no right, law or no law, he'll I have to get out of this to-night," replied the first voice. The contention had no effect upon the I something within my ice-bound frame which .still held its mysterious connection with sentient life. That filament, fine as the gossamer shred by which the spider binds together the, ether and the rose, seemed an electric wire charged with messages from an onseen world. I could hear the rise and fall of angelic choruses, like the dip of songful seas, and clear and sweet and distinct above chem all, 1 heard the woman's voice I learned irom out the cold em brace of death to note. He shall not be buried to-night, nor yet to-morrow, if that nush continues on his face." What flush are you talking about?" re- sponded the doctor, bringing the light he carried nearer the face that lay upon the marble slab, where the ice droos were form- ing, crystal by crystal, like the beads one threads upon a growing strand. "Why, the Hush we have both noticed since we stood here. I knew by the intent gaze you bestowed upon what generally de- mands but a passing glance, that you dis- covered it when you did, and I demand that the body be removed to the ward until we investigate the case." The flush is only the reflection of your red dress," laughed the doctor. You are wasting time," said the nurse. I shall call a stretcher to carry this living man out of the mortuary. Afterward we may resume our conversation." You shall do nothing of the sort, re- sumed the doctor, placing his hand as he spoke upon the outstretched arm of the nurse with compelling force. You have made a fool of yourself over this fellow from the first. Not a hanger-on in the ward but what noticed your interest in his handsome face. You are bound to me by ties you can- not break, and racher than see you under the enchantment of this fellow again I simply will smother the feeble pulse of life shafe lingers in his veins and make a surety of his death." You may be a villain, but you are not a toward. Doctor Ware," replied the woman, whose hand he still held. To refuse to give this man the chance to live would be the most despicaible act of your life, and, so help me God, I will denounce you as a murderer before the first justice I can find if you do not instantly summon assistance and remove this body from this place." Not so fast, my dear. Every moment's delay extinguishes more and more the chance for life, and if the attendants we shall summon find a dead man on the slab who will believe your hysterical story in the face of my statement that no life existed ? Women ncrses are not in favour just at present with the board they are too sensa- tional, too er.?otional, too indiscreet. Your bravado will eventuate only in your own disgrace. With the "bound of a cat the nurse, while he was yet speaking, broke from the doctor's detaining hold and reached the door. Quick is thought -she opened it and flew down the lon corridor. Shall thf? future eternities hold for me another m oment fraught with such pain as "•killed m v torturec1 li-nb^ when the doctor's xeiu iiiyboii unaole to move the lightest member or lift, by a single hair's weight, the closed lids. I felt his fingers press the delieate anatomy of my throat, and I knew that he was seeking to throttle the little life left m my body. Every drop of brood became a spear of flame to thrust my -quivering flesh, and the effort I made to -Iroan started what seemed to me to be Showers of hot blood from every pore. The sound of hurrying feet and clamouring voices stayed the doctor's hand before its iull purpose was accomplished, and raising simself from his sitting posture he greeted he new comers with a brisk,— Hurry up, boys I thought Miss Brady aad fallen asleep on the way. Lift -this bellow up quickly and carry him to the ward. 9e is good for a long lease of life yet." I never knew how the doctor and Miss Brady adjusted their quarrel. Both retained their respective positions for some time after my recovery to health and removal to a Western city, where a stroke of long delayed good luck re-knit the ravelled edge of my finances and placed me above want. Miss Brady finally resigned her position at aiy suggestion and joined me in my Western home as my beloved wife. Of the doctor's "Yell farings or ill farings we neither of us fcnew aught from that day onward and for- ever.

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