Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1864-07-23
THE HAUSTAD CELLAR.

/ An old baroness in Germany, who had
lost her lord, and all her children, some.
what more than a century ago. resided in
a solitary mansion, with only two domes.
tics, male and \ female; for, though she
possessed an ample fortune, she disdained
to keep numerous re,inue Of idle and
dissipa,ed domestics, for the sake Of living
in luxurious state, but ccntentcd herself,
10 general. With one dish Of substantial
food at meal. Her chief indulgence was
= cup Of generous wioe, for the .nanufac.
tarc of which she had been long celebras.
ed; but even this she never used to any
sort Of excess What she sas ed BY frugal.
ity, she expended in charitable donations,
and want was stranger to her neigh
borhood.
i The baroness, having lately changed
her man'servans, . youth about twenty,
aud extremely eiddy and ina.tentive to
the duties Of his situation, for a man Of
hliy, which was nearly The age of her wo.
man servant, who was what the world s.il
calls rigid old maid, she was suddenly
alarmed by the report Of certain strange
noises, which were said to be now nightly
heard in the cellar.
J" As she was by 90 means free from the
supers,itions Of the age, though woman,
in other respects, Of great discernment,
she felt, At first, uncomfortable aPprehen-
sions; particularly, as her servants both
agreed wba. they heard could not possibly
proceed from anything short OF some su-
perna,ural being. The good old lady,
however, determined to have the evidence
Of her own ears and, for this purpose.
sat up With them, till the awful hour Of
midnight. No sooner had The clock sound.
ed twelve. than the noises commenced;
which certainly were Of a nature to pro
duce terror in almost any botom. Agen.
eral rummaee Of everything below was
succeeded BY the deepest eroa"s. and the
old lady actually sunk under the influence
Of terror, iain.ing away at the top Of the
stairs, where she had yentured to listen.
In this state she was conveyed 10 her
chamber and, on coming to her senses,
after little reflection, desired her female
servant TO continue in the room for the
remainder Of the night, while her man sat
up in the adjoining apartment. E. .@.
Having made this arrangement, she soon
.closed her eyes, and appeared in . pro.
found sleep. The perturbation Of her mind,
however. had in truth driven sleep com.
pleteiy from her eyes, which we're now
shut. with much the same design a. those
Of the sage grimalkin, when she medi.a.es
. sudden interruption Of the secret fsstiv
tiles in tho suLterrancan haun.s Of the
four footed nocturnal depreda.ors of,,he
ki:cten. In short, from the ill.counter.
fsited dread Of her man and maid. servant,
which had appeared more in their words
than in their physiognomies, she lel. n
strong persuasion that there WAS some
fraud in the business. Having once enter
tainsd this idea, every circumstance which
suggested itself still stronger confirmed
her suspicion, ill u length, what she at
frs. only suspected, began now to impress
her mind with oil the conviction Of Ger.
tainty. p.r 4H.ar4 aaH .rs.s nd Ii u......
She reflected that her squeamish old
maid had always expressed y great dislike
to the youth lately discharged. but did no.
seem remarkably pleased with his depart.
urs; that. since her new maa came. the
favorits casks in the cellar. which before
were sufficiently soon exhausted, had still
fastes grown sonorous; that mors rrovis'
ions than usual had also been dsvoured /;
and that, whatever ghosts there might b
existing bslsv, whsrs no such things had
ever before bsen heard q, Il VS. not likely