The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-07-29
vasbstapd NAV be able to call forth

easier 10 make my proposed Inventory
than to make my proposed reflections, !
soon gave up all hope of thinking in L,
Maistre's fanciful track-or, indeed
thinking at a4S I looked aboutAth
room at the different articles of furni
ture, and did nothing more There was
first, the bed 1 was laying ina fou
post bed, of all things in the world t.
meet with in Paris-yes, thorough
clumsy British four poster, with th,
regular top lined with chintz-the regu
lar fringed valance all round-the regu
lar sitting, unwholesome curtains, whicl
L remembered having mechanical.
drawn lack against the posts, vii hout
particularly noticing the bed when I frs
came into the room. Then, there wa
the marble-topped wash stand, from
which the waterI had split, in my hur
ry to pour it out, was still dripping
slowly and more slowly, on tosthe briel
floor. Then, two small chairs, With my
coat, waist-coat. aud trowsers thrown
over them. Then, large elbow chair
covered with dirty white dimity, will
my cravat and shirt collar flung over the
back. Then a chest of drawers, Will
two of tho brass handles off, aud taw
dry, broken china inkstand placed eon il
by way of ornament for the top. Then,
the dressing table, adorned by very
large pincushion. Then, the W indow-
which was an unusually large one
Then, dark old picture, which the fee
Bile candle dimly showed mel Itwas the
picture of fellow in high Spanish hat,
crowned with a dark plume of a towering
feathers. A swarthy, sinister looking
rufian, looking upward; shading his
eyes with his hand, and looking intently
might be at some tall gal
lows at which he was going to be hanged,
At any rate be had the appearance of
thoroughly deserving it.
This picture put kind of constraint
upon me to look upward, too--at the top
of the bed. It was gloomy and not
an interesting object, and I looked back
at the picture. ] counted the feathers
in the mans hat; they stood out in re-
lief; three white, two green. I OBJ
served the crown OF his hat, which was
of a conical shape, according to the
fashion supposed to have been favored
by Guido Fawkes. I wondered what he
was looking up at. 1t couldn't be at
the stars; such desperate was neither
nor astronomer. It must be
at the high gallows, and he was going to
be hanged presently. Would the execu-
toner come into possession of his con-
ical crowned hat, and plume OF feathers?
L counted the feathers again three
white, two green.
While 1 still fingered over this very
and intellectual employment,
my thoughts insensibly began to wander.
The moonlight shining into the room
reminded me of certain moonlight
night in Epglandz=the night after pic,
mic party in Welsh valley. ETeFysip-
cident of the drive homeward through
lovely scenery, which tie moonlieht
made lovelier than ever, came back TO
my remembrance, though 1 had never
given the picnic thought for years !;
though if Ihad tried to recollect it, l
could certainly have recalled little or
nothing of that scene long past. Of all
the wonderful faculties that help to tell
US we are immortal, which speaks. the
sublime truth more -eloquently than
Here was 1, in a strange
house of the m ost suspicious character,
in situation of uncertainty, and even
of peril, which might seem to make the
cool exercise of my recollection almost
out of the question nevertheless re-
quite involuntarily, places.
people, conversations, minute circum-
stances, of every kind, which I had
forgotten forever, which 1 could
not possibly have recalled at will, even
under the most favorable auspices. Aud
what cause had produced in moment
the whole of this strange complicated,
OBJECT? Nothing but some
rays of moonlight shining in at my bed
room.
was still thinking of the picnic; of
our merriment on the drive home; of the
sentimental young lady, who scould
quote Childe Harold because it was
I was absorbed by these
past scenes and past amusements, when,
in an instant, the thread on which my
hung, snapped asunder; my
Immediately came back to pre-
sent things more vividly than ever, and
1 found myself, I neither knew why OF
looking hard at the picture
again.
Looking for what? Good God, the
man had pulled his hat down over his
brows No The hat itself was gonel
Where was the conical crown? Where
the feathers; three, white; two green !?
Not therei there In place of the hat
and feathers, what dusky object was it
that now hid his forehead-his eyes-his
shading hand? Was the bed moving ?
turned on my back, and looked up: