LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
WAS IT HYDROPHOBIA ?
[To THII EDITOR or TRY .131.ECTATOR.']
Sin,—Allow me to relate to you an experience, unique, as far as I know, in the annals of railway adventures.
I, in my husband's unavoidable absence, crossed alone in the middle of that dreadful weather we had about a fortnight ago from Dublin to Holyhead, and, having had a rough pas- sage, I sought and found the solitude of an empty second-class carriage. After the usual delay, we started, and as the train moved, a gentleman, for he had every appearance of one, jumped in. I looked suspiciously at him, wondering why he should have delayed getting in till the last moment, and remembering that, for better or worse, I was compelled to enjoy or endure his society for a considerable time, as the train
was an express, and stopped but seldom. He was a man of perhaps thirty-five years of age, and from the few surrep- titious glances I was able to give while he was arranging him- self and his rug, I decided he was mild and harmless-looking. Not many minutes had, however, passed, when a dog's bark in the carriage alarmed me not a little ; but, Sir, you can well imagine that I felt frozen to my seat with an indescribable terror, while my hair seemed to rise from the roots and stand on end, when I became aware that it was the man in the corner who was barking like a large angry dog ! No words can convey to you the horror I felt as the horrible thought passed through my mind,—" Hydrophobia ; he will tear me to pieces in a minute !"
But, paralysed as I was, I yet remembered that I could stop the train, and, afraid even to move my eyelids, tried to recollect on which side the communication-cord was. On mine, I thankfully perceived. But if I did stop the train, how could I account to the guard for my action ? What proof should I have to offer that the gentleman in the corner had been barking ? Good heavens ! he was barking again, more angrily and furiously than before, growling and snapping. Terror-stricken, a horrible fascination nevertheless compelled me to look him in the face, and oh ! blessed reaction of feeling, I saw he was asleep ; yes, Sir, sound asleep, and barking as he slept. Stealthily I watched him for nearly an hour,—was he indeed only dreaming, or would he wake to fall in dog-like fury on his fellow-traveller? I, however, became convinced that he was sleeping like a child--or rather, like a dog—he snored loudly, and groaned from time to time ; and at last (terribly anxious moment for me) woke with an audible shudder, and, looking decidedly dazed, turned towards me (as if to see if I had observed the shudder), and remarked quite sanely : "What bitter weather for travelling!" And he slept nor barked no more till I left the train.
Now, Sir, have you ever heard of a like experience (for no fancy-tale is this, but literally true from beginning to end), or that human beings ever dream they are animals ? And yet, if not, what was it P—I am, Sir, &c., A. D. C.
[Strangely enough, we.bad not received this letter two hours when we heard of another case. The sufferer, this time a labourer, barked so loudly and so exactly like a dog, that his comrades, believing him to be in some way uncanny, struck. His employer threatened to send for a doctor and have his throat out open for examination ; and the unlucky wretch, frightened to death, ceased to bark for a few days. His disease was, in fact, a rare nervous affection.—En. Spectator.]
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