about six o’clock in the morning
It was now the table or the chair that I was compelled to touch ; now the bell-rope ; now the handle of the door ; now I would touch the wall , and the next moment , stooping down , I would place the point of my finger upon the floor : and so I continued to do day after day ; frequently I would struggle to resist the impulse , but invariably in vain . I have even rushed away from the object , but I was sure to return , the impulse was too strong to be resisted : I quickly hurried back , compelled by the feeling within me to touch the object . Now I need not tell you that what impelled me to these actions was the desire to prevent my mother 's death ; whenever I touched any particular object , it was with the view of baffling the evil chance , as you would call it -- in this instance my mother 's death . ` A favourable crisis occurred in my mother 's complaint , and she recovered ; this crisis took place about six o'clock in the morning ; almost simultaneously with it there happened to myself a rather remarkable circumstance connected with the nervous feeling which was rioting in my system . I was lying in bed in a kind of uneasy doze , the only kind of rest which my anxiety on account of my mother permitted me at this time to take , when all at once I sprang up as if electrified ; the mysterious impulse was upon me , and it urged me to go without delay , and climb a stately elm behind the house , and touch the topmost branch ; otherwise -- you know the rest -- the evil chance would prevail . Accustomed for some time as I had been , under this impulse , to perform extravagant actions , I confess to you that the difficulty and peril of such a feat startled me ; I reasoned against the feeling , and strove more strenuously than I had ever done before ; I even made a solemn vow not to give way to the temptation , but I believe nothing less than chains , and those strong ones , could have restrained me . The demoniac influence , for I can call it nothing else , at length prevailed ; it compelled me to rise , to dress myself , to descend the stairs , to unbolt the door , and to go forth ; it drove me to the foot of the tree , and it compelled me to climb the trunk ; this was a tremendous task , and I only accomplished it after repeated falls and trials .