Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1892 — He Could Not Take It. [ARTICLE]

He Could Not Take It.

The bicycle champion lay dying. The grand physique seemed no abler to cope with the chill grasp of the dark angel than the fiagile frame of an infant. His great muscles were wasted with fever. He was conquered at last. The victor in hundreds of contests was bowing his head. Beside the bed sat a minister of the gospel, come to cheer the last moments of the expiring athlete, to lighten the pain of the body with balm for the departing spirit. He held the big, bony hand as he would that of a child, and stroked with delicate touch the hot brow. “Thou art going to a realm of ineffable bliss,” whispered the clergyman. Only a gentle pressure of the fingers told that the words of comfort had entered the soul about to take its flight. • “To a beautiful city” The preacher was eloquently impressive. “Whose walls are of pearl and whose streets” The champion moved uneasily and opened his eyes. “Are paved with pure gold.” The man was sitting bolt upright, glaring wildly. “Gold pavements” His hands clutched the air. “And I can’t take my pneumatic.” Long after death a pained expression lingered on his countenance. The newly discovered moon of Jupiter is said to be only a hundred miles in diameter. It is uncertain whether Jupiter himself discovered it until he read about it In, the American papers.