The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-08-05
RAvENNA, O., WEDNES DAY, AUGUSTA 1863.
Lord, Lord, have mercy on mel rvo

shaved the deyilp'
j mastering to his aid all the courage he
could command, and recruiting his strength
by the thought of who his companion might
probably be, he bolted through the door and
across the cemetery. He cleared the walls,
the tombs, the gravestones, the bitches, and
everything that came in his way. But scarce
y had half a minute elapsed since his sud
den flight, before the horrible aushter and
terrible yells of the stranger fell on his ears
like death-knell. An instant afterward, and
he could easily hear behind him the noise of
his footsteps. He endeavored to run faster,
but in vain. Hearing his pursuer gaining on
him, he turned round his lead and beheld
the little man coming at a headIong pace,
with his face covered with "lather'' the
towel under his chin, and the revolver in his
hand.
Half with despair, the barber directed
his steps toward the tower of the belfy,
which happened to be open. He entered, and
tried to shut the door behind him. The 9TH
er man was on his very heels. No time was
to be lost, and the poor fugitive assembled the
stairs with the rapidity of lightning. sill
AT the summit of the belfry there was a
door opening on an outside terrace. If he
could only reach it, he would be safe, having
only to shut the door from without to end
the Iursuit of his enemy. Vain hope! Just
as be reached the terrace, the little man was
at his side. The church steeple was one
hundred aid thirty feet high; below them
was an abyss yawning and terrible to
behold. The barber. pale with fear and des-
pair his teeth chatteriEg, and his knees trem-
bling, kept at as great distance from the
stranger as possible.
i "Ah! ah !'' exclaimed his prosecutor
"what are you thinkin' of now, my old fell
low Lather away here; lather away until
SIX O'Clock in the morning there's only five
hours mere. Nothings healthier than that
exercise" After speaking thus he broke out
into one of his horrible laughs. Como,
lathcr away" continued he. "Here, take
your brush and soap. But what have you
done with them ?'
/ '' threw them away muttercd the terri
fed barber.
Threw them away 4? have good mind
to throw you down there also. A somersault
from this steeple would be a fine thing to See
on bright moonlight night.'
Saying this, he seized hold of the long nose
of the barber. (who begged for his life Oh his
two knees,) lifted him upwith great ease, and
held him dangling in the air, at arms ength,
outside of the terrace.
1t would be easier to imagine than to ex-
5 press the alarm of the poor man on feeling
himself suspended by the nose above the aw-
ful abyss. He struggle and stretched out his
long arms on all sides, like spider in tor
, mentS.
| He shouted and yelled in the most horrible
/ manner, and begged for his life as distinctly
S as he possibly could with his nose in vice
2 promising to shave the little man until the
> last hour of his life. He endeavored to des-
v cribe how desolate his death would render his
home, and the extreme want into which his
n wife and family would be thrown, and made
n use of the most touching arguments to soften
. the heart of his eXccutioner. But all TO nc
S purpose the little man was not of very ten
S der nature and could not be easily moved tc
: compassion. At last he opened his finger and
e thumb which held the barber, and the latter
commenced through the air fall of one hun.
dred and thirty feet. He descended head ov.
t er heels, describing various sonersaults, some
: times head-first, and other times all in roll
ed-up mass.
# During these multiplied cvolutions, he per.
b ceived, from time to time, his adversary above
v him, bentover the terrace, with his face white
e with "lather,'' and holding his sides ready tc
split with laughter. At the same time h,
S heard him cry out his eternal shout of, "Lath
d er away" But more terrible to him was tn,
if glare of his eyes that flashed forth rays o
r. light, which seemed to the poor barber to b,
G two flaming funeral torches to light him OIL
|. his way into the abyss beneath. The neare
r. he approached the earth, the more fearful be
came his feelings. His whole body writhet
i, in convulsions, and the breath had nearly lef
=, his body while dead weight seemed op
II press his breast. He tried to coil himself
d like an eel, into the smallest possible space.
The moment was not far distant when h
IL would be crushed into atoms. Nevertheless
contrary to the laws of gravitation, the neare
:, he approached the ground the less rapid seem
ed his descent. Finally, most extraordina
ry thing the descent became SO slow that tn
barber felt as if he was sustained in the air.
u Some kind angel, taking pity on him, ha
ie come to his aid and supported him in hi
g arms. And, indeed, in place of being smash
ed into pieces, he felt himself softly place
p upon the ground amid sounds of the mos
e, agreeable music. And, turning round, h
r touched something soft by his side (; it wa
his wife. Worthy couple! They had gon
)" to sleep at the same hour, and the barber pei
u ceived to his great joy that he had only bee
dreaming.
Il EUGENE SUE.
I'd This French author was the finest speeime
r. of a fat exquisite that We ever saw. (We ha
k the pleasure of seeing him in Paris in 1882
IS He most successfully ignored his own obesit