The mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1863-1943, 1864-12-17
A ROMANCE OF LIMA.

ol tue profession Tor which he was study
ing, and trusting to it for subsistence,
strong and healthy in body and in mind,
he Mt England with bold heart, and this
was the life he led, and what came of it.
At time when the difficulty Of pro-
curing subjects for anatomical study was
very great, and when to procure them
honestly was impossible, as the prejudice
against dissection was so great that no one
was willing to submit the body of any one
connected With him to examination, it is
well known that there were men who
made it their business to obtain, at no
small risk, bodies generally those of the
newly buried, which they sold to surgeons,
medical students, or indeed to any one
who stood in need Of the ghastly commod-
! ity
This class known as "body snatchers"
I and resurrection men," has died out,
since there is happily now little prejudice
against what has been triumphantly prov
cd to be necessary branch Of scientific
study; but at the time of our story their
hidcous work was thriving and prolita-
| Die one.
Richard Ast'ey, in common with the
rest Of the profession, availed himself of
their services, and many times in the black
night his door was opened to those who
did not knock, but who were expected
and waited for, and who, entering silently,
steathily deposited dread burden upon
the table prepared for its reception. Old
and young, men, women and children, all
in turn lay upon that grim table, and
! Astley'S skiliful instruments cut way to
secrets that were destined to benefit the
living.
Though he was not hard-hearted, it
was not unnatual that in time he should
grow so much accustomed to the sight Of
his subjects" as to feel nothing but
momcntary pity as he put aside the cIus-
tcring curls Of infancy. or uncovered the
! face Of a man struck down in the glory Of
| his years.
One night, as many nights before, the
! Stealthy Visit was paid, and Ashley took
his lamp to examine the new subject
! Neither strong man nor tender child this
time, but a young and beautiful woman.
/ The dead face was so lovely that it did
not seem possible that light in the closed
es,and color in the pale lips and checks,
could make it lovelicr. The fair hair had
fallen back, and gave no shade to the
white brow, and the long fair lAshes lay
in thick fringe upon the violct-tinted
und, rlds.
She was very tall and slender, and her
handsome ol which hung down as she
lay upon the table-were long and per.
ftctly shaped. As Ashley lifted the hand
to lay it on her breast, he thought how
beautiful it must once have been, since
now, when there was not the faintest
rose,tint to relieve the deathly pallor Of
il, it was SO exquisite. She wore one
garment, a long flannel shroud, very
straitly made, through which scanty drap-
cry the outline Of her slender limbs was
distinctly visible, and below which her
delicate fect were seen, bare to the ankle.
Ashley was troubled as he had never
been before The idea Of treating this
beautiful corpse as he had done all others
brought to him in like manner was repul-
sive 10 him, and he rccoled from the
( thought of sacrilege. But how could he
/ rid himself OF the lovely incubus: II was
! possible that the men who had brought it
might be bribed to take it back again, and
/ if they should refuse but he was incapa-
ble Of distinct thought on the subject,
and could only determine that in any case
the beautiful thing before him should be
treated with reverence and respect. He
gently covered it from head TO foot with
a long with cloth, and locking the door Of
communication between his bedroom and
the room in which it lay, threw himself
upon the bed withou. undressing, for the
night was nearly gone.
But his sleep was broken, and his
dreams were feverish, and in some way
all connected with what lay in the next
room. Now it seemed to him that it glid-
ed in through the locked door, with hands
folded on its breast, and eyes still fast
closed, and stood by his bedside, and now
the dream was4hat he had opened vein
in one Of the delicate arm, and that warm,
living b.ood poured fast from it; and final
", he woke with cry Of horror from a
chastly dream that some unknown hand
had anticipated him in the work Of dis
section.
The horror was upon him after he woke
to know it was dream, and opening the
door he looked in upon the table. No
change there Of any kind. The long
>heetcd figure lay in the half light of the
dawn as he had seen it in the lamplight,
very straight and still.
1t was not until nearly noon that Asst
lev raised the covering to look once again
upon the beautiful dead face, and when he
did so he saw with wonder, not unmiXcd
with terror, that change bad come upon
it. He could not tell what it might be;
the deathly pallor was there STILL hut in
some way the face was not the same. lie
looked into it long and curiously. Surely
a change had passed over the eyes, for
Though they were still fast shut, they
looked now as though closed in sleep
rather than in death. lie lifted an eyelid
tcnderly with his finger; there was not
death in the eye; un consciousness, trance
there might be, but no. death:
lie was certain now thai she was not
dead, though he could find no lie in her
pulG,S. For hours he strove to cali back
the spirit, until at length color returned,
and warmth, and life, and she lay before
him sleeping TRANQUILITY like a child
He had placed her on his bed, and now
sat by her side with throbbing heart to
await her awakening.
She slept so long, and in the waning
light looked SO pale, that he feared she
was again about to fall into the strange
deathly trance from which ho.had with so
much difficulty recovered her. In his ter
ror of that be cried out for her TO awake,
and the sound Of his cry awoke her with
q start.
He had prepared a speech that was to
calm and re-assure her when she woke
bcwidered to find herself so strangely
Z l.ia.sI. 1. Il. nod