The pilot. [volume] (Baltimore [Md.]) 1840-1840, 1840-04-23

lJeW, hauloE nedr0 nlu1 ouI, GUY tNtf0' -
he could lend no monies on a chih-It was no
good pledge. L.-6-
With bitter excavations on the usurer's hard
beartedness. poor Bolt rushed from 1lS door,
| vhen. to aperavate his situation, the trSt Stow
Of the season began to fall, and that so thick
and fast, that, in : short time, the house tops
presented a single field of white. Immersed III
| his grief. he missed his way across the market
nace. and, when he least expected sucn u
thing. found himself in the front oil the cathe-
dral. The great clock chmed three quarters
it wanted quarter to twelve: Whefe was
| he 10 look for assistance at such an hour-of;
indeed, at any hour? He had already aPpiied
10 the rich prelates, and got from them ell That
their charity Hss likely to give. Suddenly, a
tbouoht struck him like lightning; ne saw hist
little Maria CRYING for the food he could no
olive her: his sick wife, lying in bed, with tie
1 infant on her exhausted bosom; and then Ade-
tlside in her spleEdid cofSin, and her hand gilt
! tey;nr with Jewels that il could net grasp. "Ol
| what use are diamonds TO her ROW.! said he
| TO himself. ''Is there any sin in robblDg the
dead to give 10 the living? would not 40 such
thing for myself if 1 wereSSsrVing-n aea.
ven forbid But for my wife and chld-ah
that's quite another matt er.
Ouietinr his conscience ae well az ne could
| with this opilate, he hurried home to get the
! necessary implements; but by the tune he
Preached his own door, his resolution began to
waver. The sight however, of his wite'S dis
tress wrought him up again to the sticking
place; and having provided himself with DARK
lantern. the church keys, and a crow TO break
open the coffin, he set out for the cathedral
On the 1ay, all manner Of strange fancle5
crossed him, the earth seemed to snake be-
meath him, il woc the tottering OF his own
Iliub.z figure seemed to sign him back; 1t YVES
the shade thrown frora some column, that wa
we'd to and FRO as the lamp light h!cker,d in
the night wind. But still the thought ofhome
drove him on; and even the badness of the
; weather carried thia conSoation withii; he was
; the more Hklye to find the atreels clear, and
escape detectiol.
| He had nov reached the cathedral. For .
moment he paused on the steps, and then, ia
king heart, put the huge key into the lock. -
To his fnney, it had never opened with such
readiness before. The bolt shot back at the
sieh touch of the key, sud he stood alone IN the
church, trembling from head TO foot otllt II
was requisite to close the door behind him, esi
its being open should be noticed by a2y one
passing BY, add give rise to suspicion; and, &C
! he did 20, The story came across his mind OF
the man who visited church at midnight to
sho;y his courage. For sign that he had re-
allv been there, be was to stick his bile into a
coffin; but, in his hurry and 4repldation, he
stuck it through the skirt Of his coat without
being aware oft, aad cuppoaing himself he'd
Il bsck by come supernatural agency, drop down
dead from terror.
Full of these unpleasant recollecticns, he tot
tered Up the nave; and 80 the light success
sively flashed upon the Sculptured marbles, il
sened az if the pale figures lrowned ominously
upon him. But desperation supplied the palace
of courage. He kept on his way to the choir;
descended the steps-Passed through the long
nsrrew passage, with the dead heeped on Ell
Their side-opened Adelaide'S chapel and stood
at once before her coffin. There she lay, stiff
and pae--tbc wreath in her hair, and the jew
els on her 6ngers, cleaning strangely in the
dim lights of the lantern. he even fancied
that he already smeit the presidential breath OF
decay, though il was full early for corruption
to have begun his work. A sickness seized
him at the thought; and he leaned for support
against one Of the columns, with his eyes fixed
on the coffin; when-was it real or was il ilIu-
sion?-a change came over the face of the
; dead! He started back; and that change, SO
ndscribable, had passed away in an instant;
leaving a darker shadow on the features.
off had only time" he said TO himself-"if
, had only time, would rather break open
one of the other coffns, and leave the lady Adj
eIaide in quiet. Age has destroyed all that is
human in these mumnlies; they have lost that
, resemblance to life which makes the dead so
, terrible, and should no more mind handling
them than 80 many dry bones. It's all nom
sense, though; one is as harmless as the other;
! and since the lady 4delaide's house is the cas-
lest for my work, must cen SET about it,