3 o8 



RECREA TION. 



for the examination about to take place, 

 made no attempt to penetrate the veil 

 that masked the physiognomy of Olney. 

 I should, in the hurry and bustle of 

 college life, have passed out into the 

 world without further knowledge of 

 him, but for a peculiar accident which 

 threw me into his society considerably 

 for a few days following. 



You can conceive how naturally a 

 junior desires to induce a senior to enter 

 the dissecting room for demonstrative 

 purposes. On the day in question, I 

 had been inveigled by a student who 

 had made a strange find in the dissect- 

 ing room, which he wanted demonstrated 

 before Professor Weisse obtained it to 

 lecture on. 



The cadaver had been a young woman, 

 upon whom Olney was at work dissect- 

 ing an upper extremity, when we en- 

 tered. I had dissected another part, 

 laid my scalpel on the table, and was 

 proceeding to point out the arteries and 

 veins to my protege, when suddenly a 

 cry startled us, and, looking up, I beheld 

 Olney holding his hand, from which the 

 blood was oozing. It appeared that he 

 had become interested in my demon- 

 stration, and approached, unnoticed, to 

 observe the subject more closely. He 

 leaned against the table on which I had 

 lain the scalpel. As he did so, the 

 table moved under his weight, he threw 

 out his hand to steady himself, and fell 

 on the scalpel. 



We gazed a moment in horror at the 

 bleeding hand, as the subject we were 

 dissecting was " fresh," and had not been 

 " in pickle," nor treated with chloride 

 of zinc to render it antiseptic. We tied 

 a ligature above the wound and thor- 

 oughly washed it in a solution of bi- 

 chloride of mercury, after which it was 

 cauterized. Happily, nothing serious 

 resulted, although he was confined to 

 his room, by a general disturbance of 

 the system, until after examination had 

 passed. The accident gave me a long 

 wished for opportunity to become better 

 acquainted with this mysterious man. 

 At his request, I called several times 

 to see him, bringing, each time, 

 a few delicacies. At length my 

 visits seemed to break through his re- 

 serve, and he became more communi- 

 cative. At times he would fall into re- 

 trospection ; his mind seemed far away, 

 and he would become oblivious to his 



surroundings. Groans and sighs would 

 shake his powerful frame, while hot, 

 scalding tears would course down his 

 cheeks. 



I respected his emotions, and on these 

 occasions would softly steal from his 

 room. The night before commence- 

 ment, I called and found him reclining 

 on a lounge, still feverish from the ef- 

 fects of his wound. 



" Olney," I said, " I have come to say 

 good-bye. To-morrow I graduate, and 

 will leave the city. As you have not 

 accepted my invitation to visit me at 

 my home, I may never see you again." 



He clasped my hand warmly. 



" I congratulate you on your success, 

 boy," he replied, " and wish you the 

 prosperity the Almighty has denied me." 



" It was rough to miss your examina- 

 tion ; but it is only, I trust, deferred to 

 another year." 



" Another year, my boy ! This is not 

 the first examination I have missed in 

 this college. Nearly 20 years ago I was 

 about to enter upon my examination, 

 when an incident occurred that changed 

 me from a happy, careless boy into the 

 most unhappy wanderer on the face 

 of the earth. I will not, cannot endure 

 another year in college. I should go 

 insane, or commit suicide. No, no ; I 

 shall return to Ascan — " 



He paused abruptly, and after wait- 

 ing some moments for him to resume, I 

 remarked, "I surmise some passage has 

 occurred in your life that has greatly 

 troubled you ; indeed, you are regarded 

 in college as a man whose history would 

 be extremely interesting. 



" For yourself," he replied; " by your 

 kindness you have almost earned the 

 right to know my history. I have never 

 before unburdened my soul to any one 

 other than those intimately connected 

 with the events of my life. You are of 

 a sympathetic and trustful nature ; much 

 the same as mine, when I was your age. 

 It may be of service to you to hear my 

 story. Not that I seek to extenuate or 

 justify my conduct, but to show how a 

 man, not of his own volition, may stum- 

 ble over a straw and, figuratively, wreck 

 his whole life. I am a man, like Cain, 

 alone and unhappy, without a single 

 civilized soul to love, though I have 

 innumerable kinsmen." 



Upon intimating my desire to hear 

 his story, Olney pushed a decanter, pipes 



