The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-12-17

soy, BoI Dee you not the Baelll5k In M
eyer Is not my shadow double, and my hear
moitenT 60! Herr Urian and debate grav
matters at midnight, aud you cannot be present
Stay-why need 1 care-I will tell you-tel
you all, all, ALL"
de had risen to his feet now, and saw th,
returning madness flaming in his eve.
Il have done the Cabbalsts Injustice, brother
Ihey d'd learn me something. They laugh
me the grand secret spell of invocation, tn,
mysterious abracadabral power of the pungen
essence OF Microcosm, burnt to the solemn
chant OF mystic words, within the potent limit.
OF the Heptagran. And 1 used it. wen
one night to the castle there, and in its limos
recess performed the magic ceremony. 'Twa,
before you went to Heidelberg Sapperment
Herr Orian came in jiffy your will, wor
shipful Herr Studiosusl Il would play 8
rubber with thee at chess A uotre seyrice,
cried ne, quick as wink, producing his chess
board rubber it shall be. The first two
games OF three. Your soul if you lose, your
every w'eh It you win. l give you the move.
rnew! Hes dspper gent, is Herr Urian
what game it was, to be surel The wind
howled hideously IS we played on the fat slab
IL the castle vault, but rocked rot. The cum
ming fendl The game was in my own hands
l had him cornered, when he called in Chorus
OF Spirits, and about my ears, with helish
sweetness of melody, they sang that tune, the
'Teufelsied.' Twas all up with me then. /
caught the air, but lost the game. Himmel
Dost thou wonder l was riotous, mad when the
third OF my soul was beyond a saints ransom ?
Dost thou wonder, dost thou? Gressos meos
dirige!
The fend was courteous. 1 commiserate
the Herr Studiosus," quoth he; .'the Herr
Studiosus plays well, but-the fortune of war.
thou Observation-Disclosures it shall please the Herr
Studlosus to play the other games, am at his
service. Sapperment! | was frightened. did
not care to summon him speedily, tell you.
But once, twas when Lii was dying, and I
wanted Toto go also-I summoned him, and
we played. BAH Twas fatel My wife rose
from her bed, with the deathdew almost upon
her forehead, and hung over nv shoulder AZ
we played. There was heaven in her eve. and
the fend was conquered. Lii died. you remem.
Der, the next day. There, that ia ALL Co."
but, my friend -
mo, will not listen. Go, / say. He comes
again tonight, and we play the deciding game.
What OF that? You are not Lii, to win it for
me. Co."
And taking up his violin, he began PLAYING
the widest bars of his chorus, laughing the
while, as if some Of the lend had already en-.
tie ed into him. l was very reluctant to leave
him in his present state, so l stepped towards
him, and laid my hand upon his arm.
| This is not fit place for you, Franz, my
brother. You are i'll. Will you not let me care
for you? Will you come with me, or shall 1
stay with your"
"Neilher, | say" screamed he, springing to
his feet. "What need you care. / will give
him good fight Go, l tell YOU. 'Twere
best +" and then, seeing that was still reluc.
tant to depart, he snatched an axe up Quickly
| from one corner of the room, and aimed des.
| perate blow at me with it. / avoided it by a
sudden movement, and said to him, reproach.
| fully
Brother no longer, then"
lie dropped his weapon, and fell upon his
knees, taking my hands in his, and saying
Forgive, forgive, mein bruder. am mad.
passed, then come again, aud we will talk. Go
now, my brother, lest / ipiure you.n And he
clasped my hand sfectonately in his Thought
1t best to humor him, and accordingly, shaking
hands with him, babe him "good night" and
took my way towards the tavern. Judged, from
what he had told me, that he had been there
some time; and | could see that these fits we're
not an unusual thing with him. In the morning
/ would see him again, and take measures for
his future safety and comfort.
AS | walked along the narrow path, and
climbed up the rugged, miry hillside, towards
the tavern, the ttful, bowling gust followed me,
fraught with perpetual crescendo of the wild,
| inccmprehensible "Teufelsed"
l made many inquiries concerning Franz, of
the landlord, when arrived at the tavern, but
he could give me very little information. He
had been an occupant of the hut some three
months, and had had no intercourse with any
one, except so far as the frequent purchase of
brandy was concerned. He found plenty of work
to do as wood cutter, and was a famous axe.
man. But he had repealed every effort to get
acquainted with him, and was let alone entirely,
being regarded in the light of harmless Ger.
man, whose brain was q little touched by ex-
cessive drink. He might have done q good bust
ness with his fiddle, said the landlord, but he
had driven away everybody that went to hear
him play; and having given evidence on two or
three occasions of power to protect himself, be
| had laterly been left altogether undsturbed and
unnoticed, as phenomenon that it was not
worth while to bother their heads about. "But
Lord, stranger" quoth the landlord, in concu.
sion, he kin do two things to perfection: he
beats all heresbouts in the handlin' of broad.
axe raj Kentucky fashion aud as for whisky,
yer might as well try to fill up rathole as to
give him enough"
"Why is he here, thought"
"Dunno-'spec, like most people that come
to Texas, cause the other States is eyther too
small or too hot to hold 'em. / never asks"
l sought the miserable room and bed, which
comprised the extent of accommodation the
tavern was able to afford, and, harassed with
apprehensions on my friends account, laid
down without taking off my clothes. The fierce
gestures and haggard despair of the unfortunate
man were ever present before my eyes, and /
could not divest my ears of the wild misery of
that terrible chorus which had pursued me as
climbed the bank. A thousand times 1 con.
demned myself for having left hm-but, then,
what better could do? He would not tolerate
my presence, and there was no resort apparent
but to wait until morni g, when his reason
would be more restored perhaps, and might
be able to exert some ameliorating influence
over him. Still l could not shake from my
mind the dread of some cslamity-could not
shut out from my mental vision the pictures of
evil which my imagination was continually pre-
senting before me. What a strange hallucina-
ton was this, of playing chess with the devil
and ye; how earnest he seemed in it, and how
plausibly it chimed in with his previous and
present conduct. What wreck of eplendid
prospect and magnificent anticipation was pre-
sented here in this man, 80 richly gifted, so
wretched, so PROSTATE. 1t gave me a clearer
idea than ever Of the fated, fury-lashed heroes
of Grecian tragedy. / could appreciate now,
and understand, the misery that invested Esdi.
pus, Orestes, Philoctetes, and could assent to
the completeness of their faith in the malevo.
lent pursuit of some supreme deity whose enmi-
ty they had incurred. This man, so vigorous
of intellect, so facile of genius, so well read,
might have ranked high in any path of life be
chose to follow; but lo we find him descended
into the miserabest mad wood-chopper, wild
and despairing, on the borders of the wilder.
ness Fate, fate But was it fate? No. ]
could not assent. Each man has his fate in his