Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1860-05-18
THE MYSTERIOUS SKETCH.
TRANSLATED FROM TIE FRENCH.

| TRANSLATED FROM TIE FRENCH.
At the corner of the Rue des Trabans, op
posite the chapel of st. Sebald, in Nurem
berg, there stands little inn, tall and mar
row, with roof surinounted by a plaster yir
gin. In this inn passed the saddest DAYS
OF my life l had gone to. Nuremberg tc
study the old German masters, bat the want
OF money had compelled me to have recourse
to painting portraits-and such portraits =
Fat ossips, with their cats on their knees
aldermen in perukes, burgomasters in three
cornered hats etc.-all brilliant with ocbre
and vernllion. f N Ant...s fs.sss,t
From portraits decended to sketches
then to profles; at last, even these failed
| me.
There is nothing more pitablc than to
have constantly at your heels landlord with
thin lips, screaming voice, and an impu-
dent air, who never looses chance to call
out: +" Are you going to pay me soon, mon.
| sicur Do you know how much your bill
amounts to? Oh, no of course this does not
trouble you. Monsieur eats, drinks, and
| sleeps quietly. The good Lord takes care OF
the, little sparrows. Monsieur only owes two
hundred florins and ten kreutzers. A mere
| trife; not worth the trouble of mentioning. -
Those who have not heard this gamut
sounding in their ears, can form no idea of
the horror of it. The love Of art, imagina-
| tion, the lofty enthusiasm for the beautiful
wither at the very breath of such rascal
You become weak and timid; you lose even
| the sentiment of your personal dignity, and
salute at distance, and respectfully, the
most clownish of burgomasters.
One night, having not sou in my pocket,
and being threatened with a prison by the
worthy master, Rapp, | sat down on nv
truckle-bcd and gave myself up to reflection.
The thought of suicide entered nv head
and the more reflected, the more desirable
such an exit from my troubles appeared to
my mind. So numerous and convincing
were the arguments in its favor which
throngcd upon me, that l dared not look up
on my razor, lest the irresistible force of
logic should COMPEL me to commit BANKRUPT
cy by cutting my throat. At length blew
out my candle. and threw myself on the bed,
with determination to come to decision
the next day -1 t*
My dreams were usually of the abomna-
bic Rapp; my one desire, to get money that
| might rid myself of his odious presence.
But this night a singular revolution took
place in my mind. In about an hour | rose,
and wrapping myself in an old grey coat, |
began to trace on paper a rapid sketch in the
Dutch style something strange, fantastic,
quite apart from my habitual conceptions.
Imagine to yourself sombre court, en-
closed by high, dilapidated walls. These
walls, garnished with hooks seven or eight
feet from the ground, suggests at once, Q
slaughter-house On the left through a trel-
lis-work of laths, you discern quartered OK,
suspended by strong pulleys from the cell
ing; drops of blood trickling from it collect
in gutter obstructed by the refuse of the
shambles. The light in the court comes
from above, where chimneys, and weather
cocks, and storied roofs of houses, are re-
licved against an angle of The sky. Af the
extremity is shed /; beneath it wood pile,
upon which is a ladder, and scattered around
are seen ropes bundles of straw, rabbit
hut, and hen-coops, past service. leiN.
How, did these heterogeneous details come
into my head? | cannot tell. had no re.
melnbrance of any such place and yet every
stroke of the pencil seemed by its very truth
! tuiness an exact copy. Nothing Was want
I ing. ai-..,.- ~. .sf..s ,..,.
But on the sight, a corner OF the sketch
remained bare / did not know what to put
there but IAtas disdtiieted, ayitatcd, AS I
looked upon it. Saddenly saw q foot; but
it was in a reverse. position and detatched
trom the ground. Spiteof its improbability
| followed the, Inspiration, and sketched it.
without stopping to account for my fancy
Then the leg appeared, and a portion OF the
dress A length the whole figure--an old
woman, haggard, wan, disheveled, thrown
down on the edge ola well, struggling against
a strong hand, which grasped her throat.
1t was murder that I was sketching Il
The crayon fell from my hands. The old
woman-her face contracted by terror, her
form bent over the margin, of the well, both
hands grasping the arm Of her murderer
terrified me. I'dared not look at her. But
the man-the murdercr-to whom the arm
belonged ? could not see him. 1t was i'm
possible to finish my sketch. l W..
The sweat drops stood upon my brow !" |
am fatigued," said :" But little remains
to be done Twill complete it tomorrow
and, terrified by the vision, laid down again
upon the bed, and in five minutes slept pro.
foundly
The next day, as was about to resume
! my work, knock resounded at the door.
lsE 'sCome in,' Inlled out; and man
somewhat advanced in years, tall, thin, and
dressed in black, appeared upon the thres-
hold. The whole physiognomy Of the man
his closely approxiinating eyes, his large
aqullinc hose, his lofty, broad, aud bony brow
had something severe and imposing. Ht
saluted me gravely. S1'''
NJ. Christian VENUS, the artist he said
F2a" That is my name, sirs,dl fsd iasls
laiiie bowed again, adding: - a, Is -
III" The Baron Frederic Van Spreckdal."
The apparition in my poor garret of this
rich amateur, Judge Of the Criminal Court