The Memphis union appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1862-1862, 1862-07-26
MEMPHIS, SATURDAY. JULY 26, 1862.


less and sisterless; and So after brief court
ship. We were married.
had no secrets from my wife. and in lit
/ tie while she learned the story of the watch,
She had faith IN ii, and thought or fancied
that she could detect the very shades of differ
ence IN its utterance When / was weary
she said the watch was weary too; when was
( glad It had a Joyous echc know thst on
that night when feeble breath huttered in s
/ feeeler frame, and the little creature to whom
1 oGr love had givea existence struggled vsinly
! for Its life, there was piteous cadence in the
voice of that old watch I hope never to hear
/ again.
So we lived on together. 1t was Gods win
4 that we should be childless but we loved each
other all the more. / grew rich and prosper
/ Gus, and our early grief was the missing of
i those baby eyes and voices which we had hoped
| to have about cur hearth
/ 1t was my fortieth birthday never shah
/ forget the day-when the watch began its
warning. My wife and / heard it at one
moment. Never before had the voice of that
| watch been so loud or rapid All day long,
| all the next, and all the next that warning
! continued. The strong pulse within the
I watch shook the table on which i. rested when
| drew it from my pocket and made the gar
| ments on my bosom rise and fall when / re-
placed it. Were we threatened with illness?
Mol her cheeks was blooming and my pulse
was regular. What could it mean
After four days began 10 laugh at my own
creduhty, and even Rosa began to lose her
I faith in the monitor. About neon / left her,
aud went alone to little room where l kept
my medical works and some rare drugs and
curiosities. 1t was my purpose to study for
lecture which / was to deliver that evening.
| seated myself at my desk and commenced
to read, but after few moments l began to
experience singular faintness, and TO inhale
Disagree bic odor. l recognized the smell
in moment. In one of the jars upon my
shelves was rare essence of great use in
cases where a suspension of consciousness was
necessary, but excessively dangerous save in
skillfui hands. Some one-aservant probably
had been medding with the jar and removed
the stopper, and the room was filed with the
powerful odor | must leave it if / would live
| staggered to the door, put my hand upon
the lock, when, horrors of horrors it re-
nained Notwithstanding had happened
to the catch. | stove to call aloud, but my
voice failed me. | clutched the table for sup
port, but lost my hold, and fell heavily to the
floor. l could see nothing-all grew dark
about me. Mechanically | placed my hand
upon the watch within my bosom. 1t had
stoppedl--and remember nothing more.
Consciousness came back to me, rs it may
COulc W d new pbEu bdpc. 1OE KNOW
felt without understanding; / was conscious
of facts for which [ cared nothing; / was in
the dark; l was very cold, and my movements
were constrained; but it did not seem SIS
though that were any affair of mine. Hunger
at last awoke me; the animal aroused the
mental, and began to wonder where / had
been and where WAS, ! put up my hand as
well as ! could. There was q low roof over
my head, folds of muslin lay about me- and
something was upon my breast which emitted
+ sickly fragrancs--a bunch of flowers SEEM.
ing half withered. knew this by the touch.
What was the matter with me? Why could
not breathe freely Was blind and deaf,
that could neither see nor hear? Suddenly
truth flashed across me; had been buried
alipe II lay in my coffin
And all this time you ask, where was my
wife? how had she borne the blow which had
fallen so suddenly upon her. She it was who
found me senseless upon my study aoor; and
she it was whe hoped for returning conscious
ness after all others despaired. At last they
told her / was dead, and shrouded me for
bnrial. Learned men decided that the strange
preservation of my frame was caused by the
manner of my death, and at length my body
was committed to the tomb.
had often made my wife promise me that
, if died first she would take the watch into
her own possession, and wear 1t while she
; lived; and so, now that all was over, she took
,, it, voiceless as it was and laid it next her
bosom. For three days and nights she never
slept; but at last exhaustion did its work, and
, she fell into heavy slumber. She was awak-
ened by sound as strange as it was unex-
. pected. The watch, silent since that fatal day,
had begun to tick-fast and furious, as it never
ticked before; loud enough to arouse her-loud
enough to make her spring from her pillow in
! an agony of hope and fear
: Those about her thought she was a mad
woman; but, nevertheless, the strength of hel
! purpose bore all before her. Out into the mid
! nightshe went, and they followed her. Through
; the streets of tho deserted town she passed in
! her white night robes, like ghost, and they
|, dared rot hold her back. She reached the
churchyard at last, and beat wildly on the ole
1 sections door.
@I am come to tell you to open my hus
! bands vault" she said; " ho is come to lif
I again"
. He also thought her mad, and yet dared mo-
4 disobey her, and all the while the furious tick
! ing of the watch was heard by each one there
7 It softened, it stilled, when the doors wer
I opened and the black coffin stood upon tn
3 turf 1t grew musical when my wife ben
! over me and caught me to her heart-n
o corpse but living maH, and it has had n
Z change in its regular beat since that moment
! 1t is before me now, battered and worn as
Il was when it first came into my possession
. and you may laugh alike at the watch and q
the superstition with which it is connected
! But my wife believes in it firmly, and loves
I as though it were living thing; and, for th
matter of that so do l.
IS the Cotton Trouble.
<. From the New York World, July Isl
n- England is sorelv troubled respecting tt