The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-11-05

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turned in quietly, "to sleep, perchanc
to dream" We are of that unfortunat
class who cannot at once sink into
state of unconciousness. We alway
have a job of thinking to do, and gener
ally enter dream-land by degrees. Or
this occasion we had almost gotten with
in its boundaries, when a sound as o.
far distant thunder stole upon our ear
We listened but all was silent again
Once moro We approached the land o
| Nod, and again we heard the mutter
| ings of thunder, but this time not sc
distant At first the sound was faint
and indistinct and then it broke forth
more loudly. There was no mistakipg
it now. 1t aoaS q Sn0re, and 1t came
frone the other bed! Sleep had depart
ed from our eyelids and we rose on our
elbow in the agony of despair. From
our earliest youth just such fellows
as this one had been our secret horror,
and now we were in for it without hope
of release. Our neighbor, as if aware
of our feelings" got worse and worse.
He seemed to warm with his subject,
and his snoring became almost eloquent
We came near forgetting the dreary
prospect before us in our admiration of
the artist. His snoring was the perfec-
tion of science. He drew in great guam
titles of air with snort, and then sent
it out again like an engine blowing off
steam. His inspirations were like a
flute; his expirations like an ophicleide.
Sometimes his breath grew short, as if
he contemplated dying in fit, and then
it became long and sonorous like the
whistle of a locomotive. He groaned
and sputtered, and gasped, and snort
ed in word it was the most awfully
magnificent specimen of nasal music we
mad or have ever heard.
But human endurance has its limits,
and ours were soon reached. Our pa
tience-not large supply at any time
was, like Bob Acres courage, fast
oozing out at our fingers ends. Should
we endure it passiVely, or stake up
arms against" such "a sea of troubles,
and by opposing, end them ?" Was
there anything in the laws of society
which required US to allow this fellow
to make night hideous at our expense ?
Such thoughts ran through our brain,
and things were fast approaching cri-
sis, when the subject of our cogitations
turned over, and his music ceased. For
a moment the silence was almost op-
pressive, but we thanked our stars for
the change. Now, thought we, for a
good nap, and composed ourself for it
When you are nervous and worried at
night, its good plan not to think about
going to sleep, IF yow cam help 1t. So
we began to build air-castles, in the hope
that slumber would gradually steal over
US. We had succeeded in rearing one
pretty high, and were about to introduce
our ina 5inary lady-love into it, when
that same muttering, as of distant thun-
der, smote our ear. We recognized it
in moment, and down tumbled the air
castle, burying our lady-love in its ru-
ins. The second part of the program
me as like unto the first" and the
performance was continued, almost with
put variation, until
"Gray morn cam blinkin' in the east
About sun-ri Sc our mortal enemy got
I'D and made his toilet, as innocently as
if his conduct during the night had not
beeen past all forgiveness. He even
. hoped we had passed the night pleas
antly ~ We detected, or thought we
lid, slight touch of sarcasm in his tone
and have always believed that he knew
What kind of night we had spent.
We have never seen him since, but the
memory of that wretched nocturnal
'weltering has never left US. If he ev-
,r comes into our neighborhood again,
We trust he will leave his nose at home