The north Iowa times. [volume] (M'Gregor [i.e. McGregor], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-03-27
S IS.
THE DOPPELGANGER.
A MEsMERIC MYSTERY.

ALDER Lachmer was my particular Irlenl
and fellowstudent. We studied together
at Heidelberg; we lived together; we had
no secrets from each other; we callec
each other by the endearing name Of broth
er. On leaving the university, Alber
decided on following the profession o1
medicine. l was possessed Of a moderate
competence and little estate at Ems, or
the Lain; so devoted myself to the tran
quill life of proprietairs and book
dreamer. Albert went to reside with a
physician, as pupil and assistant, at the
little town of Cassel. l established my.
self in my inheritance.
was delighted with my home with
my garden, sloping down to the rushy
margin of the river; with the view OF
Ems, the turreted old Kurhaus, the sus-
pension bridge, and, further away, the
bridge of boats, and the dark wooded
hills, closing in the little colony on every
side. Iplanted my garden in the English
style; fitted up my library and smoking
room and furnished one bed-chamber
especially for my friend. This room over
looked the water and a clematis grew up
round the window. l placed there a
bookcase, and filled it with his favorite
books hung the walls with engravings
which knew he admired, and chose dra-
peries of his favorite color. When all
was complete, I wrote to him, and babe
him come and spend his summer-holiday
with me at Ems.
He came but found him greatly al
tered. He was pale, dark him. AL
ways somewhat taciturn and sickly, he
was now paler, more silent, more delicate
than ever. He seemed subject to fits of
melancholy abstraction, and appeared as if
some all-absorbing subject weighed upon
his mind-some haunting care, from
which even l was excluded.
He hal never been gay, it is true, he
had never mingled in our Heidelberg ex-
travagances-never foughat duel at the
Hirschgasse-never been one of the fell
lowhood of Foxes-neyer boated, and
quarrelled, and gambled like the rest of
us, wild boys as we were But, then, he
was constltutionally untitled for such vio-
lent sports; and lameness which dated
from his early childhood proved an etfec-
tual bar to the practice Of all those ath-
letic exercises which secure to youth the
mems sana IN corpore sano. Still, he was
strangely altered and it cut me to the
heart to see him so sad, and not to be per-
mitted to partake of his anxieties. At
first, thought he had been studying too
closely; but this he protested was not the
case. Sometimes fancied that he was
in love; but was soon convinced of my
error. He was ch"nged-but how or
why, found it impossible to discover.
After he had been with me about
week, l CHANGED one day to allude to the
rapid progress that was making every
where in favor of mesmerism, and added
some light words of incredulity as spoke
To my surprise, he expressed his absolute
faith in every department of the science,
and defended all its phenomena, even to
clairvoyance and mesmeric revelations,
with the fervor of determined believ-
er.
I found his views on the subject more
extended than any had previously heard.
To mesmeric influences, he attributed all
those spectral appearances, such as ghosts,
wraiths, and dopplegangers; all those
noises and troubled spirits; all those
banshees or family apparitions; all those
hauntings and miscellaneous phenomena,
which have from the earliest ages occu-
pied the fears, the thoughts, and the in
quiries Of the human race. ..#
After about three weeks stay. he left
me, and returned to his medical studies at
Cassel, promising to visit me in the au-
tum, when the grape harvest should be in
progress. His parting words were ear
nest and remarkable Farewell, Helm
rich, mein bruder, farewell till the gather
ing season. In thought, l shall be often
with you!'
He was holding my hands in both his
own as he said this, and peculiar ex-
preston fitted across his countenance
the next moment, he had stepped into the
diligence, and was gone. Feeling dis
turbed, yet without knowing why, made
my way slowly back to cottage. This
visit of Albert's had stangely unsettled
me, and | found that for some days after
his departure, l could not return to the
old quiet round of studies which had
been my occupation and delight before he
came. Somehow, our long arguments
dwelt unpleasantly upon my mind, and
induced nervous sensation of which l
felt ashamed. l had no wish to believe
| struggled against conviction, and the
very struggle caused me to think of it
the more. At last, the effect wore away );
and when my friend had been gone about
a fortnight, | returned almost insensibly
to my former routine Of thought and oc-
cupation. Thus the season slowly ad-
vanced. Ems became crowded with toa-
rists, attracted thither by the fame of our
medicinal springs; and what with fire.
quenting concerts, promenades, and gar
dens, reading, receiving few friends,
occasionally taking part in the music
meetings which are so much the fashion
here, and entering altogether into little
more society than had hitherto been my
habit, | succeeded in banshing entirely
from my mind the doubts and reflections
which had so much disturbed me.
One evening. as l was returning home