Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-06-08
E.xXxIV. Ky - a===.==s

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that The young major had been able to an
ticipate the " fflloE HeaYen. They sympa!.
thiztd with his feignedn sorrow, and like
MIN put on nourning.o ,Ao-a d. ~ d st''s Eat
The parrfefde was notAdevoid' of terror,
his hands shook aTith'a nervous trembling
which he could not prevent. He-weut and
came without knowing whittier. II His only
thou9 hit was to see his father buried, Ia orln
der to depart forthwith. He would go to
Paris and direct thence, the sale Off hiss
propertvs With the immense sum hewouldI
realize therefrom, he wouldreside there..hes
would bury Thought 5 he would amuse him-e
self Heiswouldi summon around him aHb
his former1 pleasures bis iplays his Jetesr
Meusseline'sa friends But hen must first
give the corpse to the earth,z These hours
OF delay would be horribly long. bged no svs
) The German burial ceremony is quite
comPlicated and minute, even severe es7f
pecially tor gentleman to conform with
.i1. Among the customs belonging thereto
is one which other nations would do we'll
TO Initiate, modifyip g it according to their
respective manners and beliefs. It Is as
follows: After the lapse. .oftWentY-tour
hours from the death of the Individual, he
Is carried to the cemetery and there laid
upon couch HI a. particular room desig-
mated 0you will soonkuow why) the resur-
rection chamber. Having laid the body
thus they places 10 its hand a cord con-
nected with a bell that hangs in an apart
,ment7 alongside, called, from this cireum-7
stance. eis"' the bell chamber" If it hap
pen that the person be not dead, but has
been carried coo soon to- the burial-place,
and shouldreyiye duIiEg the might, for the
bpdEfgppst remain one entire night thus
disposed, he has but to- pull the cord be-
tween his fingers and assistance comes from
the adjoining bell chamber. 1t Is also the.
custom that the nearest male relative be at
prayers in the latter room and be the first
oil
other must share; hut a joy which, alas is
rarely experienced. sif 10 oaiiss;c,s-L -5:--
: When the body of the baron passed the
"a hours directed by law under his own
roof, It was born with pomp to the Gem
7eterys and placed in the resurrection cham
ber. There, laid upon its couch, it receiy-r
ed the rlastadieus of his family and friends.
Then everybody went away. Maj. De
MOrghen alone passed into the bell cham
bertoaremain allnight at his devotions. He
heard in the alleys the retiring footsteps of
all those who had accompanied his fathers
remains, and saw the day pale and decline,
through the leadeds panes lof' the sepulchre
room,i where he disposed himself to PASS het
might. He lit his lamp and kindied a fire
10 the chimney; the prayer-book lay upon
the table near some pipes, which he had
taken care to carry with him. Such night
would not seem agreeable to most people
to many it would have been an impossibiii-
one 1fef,s him whom he watched he bad
himself strangled, with his own hands, his
father, a good father who had loved him so
WelLA Yes, the parricide was watching the
body of his own parent The major choked
down his terrors and braced his soul against
remofse.l He was a soldier; he had net,
must not have, fear.
It was at the close of autumn, when the
nights are often stormy. ! AT one-haf past
IL the sky was clear : the moon spread her
silent sleet overIthe little panes OF the bell
chamber and portrayed on them the denta-
ted shadows of the leaves of the trees. Fhe
apartment was surrounded, like a tomb,
With interlacing peplars and dropping VIII
lows, almost entirely aconcealing it. But
toward midnight q cloud covered the moon,
"a raw wind arose and some rain-drops
plashed upon the leaves. -
ss(5ood 7 we shall have storm,n solilo'
squized the major, who, until now, thinking
less of death than of Paris, saw dancing
among the smoke wreaths of his pipe the
Bonlevards, the Tuileries, the Chausee d.
Antin,s the sumptuous aeQulpages, among
them that which he would soon possess and
in Which he, would drive leisurely with
Mousseliue. How novel and original it
wonld be to write her from this place! How
they would laugh at. Frascati's over a let
ter dated from a cemetery, improvised and
penned in the bell chambert Let us see,"
uuoth he, lighting. his meerschaum, and
laying, his hand, that still trembled since
the murder, upon sheet. Of paper; III III
write to Mousseline ; it viii relieve the te-,
diums of the night.noyssh T. = Ns4 ,s'5uza ii5
While thus occupied with this strange
letter, the rain, began to apelt dlagonally
against the. windows OF the bell chanper
! It did not interrupt his writing, his smok-r
ling, and his laugh over his Thoughts AT
i-half-past IL flashes of lighting danced
tlike5wili- o. the wispSJ over his paper The
thunder was heard afar, and mingled its
| growl7viths the noise of the stream just
without, which kept increasing. As the
clouds fell lower, the apartment smoked,
and to avoid being stifed, he was obliged
to, open the window. The moon, the
clouds. the rain and the lightning strug-
Cling amid the confusion of leaves and
Ebranches, lozenged them with, reflections,
dazzling green, yellow, of fire, steel: silver,
\ and quaint shadows A5 / o'clock the tenn.
pest proneunced itself. The edisheyeled
4willoWs bent to the earth, recovered them-
selves, throwing off rocket rainiL OF
pearls. The ipterminglipg thunder
arowlell all around the cemetery. Its roar
bbecame $50 stdnning' that The Maj ex-
bclaimed 80 :. BY my faith, must close the
window In fact, the place was scarcely
Itenable. The trees around the chamber
were ready to break, and bent to enter as
Though to shelter themselves. There was
Fa stitiing smoke in the apartments the hre
on the hearth bad gone out; outside, the
1 roar of the thunder 7auo the stream M
tcreased; every where and at each secAnd
were Ii iyhtping flashes. One moment the
wind was so imp peLuods that descending by
the chimney, it engalfed itself in the apart
j Inent and rapidly turned the leaves of tfse
prayer-book, at: the same time dashlng
4 against. the wall the letter which the Major
was iWriting77to ssMousselipe.sg 1t extin-
guished tire lamp. AT that instant the bell
rang. .,fsiu- r,... evsf s7s.r ..sG r, -,
Y seThe beH!'' stammered the major. g The
b.Hlp And ohe recoiled against the wall;
II The nervous trembling of his hand passed
into his Jaw. Again with chattering teeth
fes uttered, 'sThe belil the bell!'' Then,
with sinister joy that sprang from his
very terror and differed little from it, he
4 said, . How stupid am! 1t was the, wind
which rang the bell; the wind carriedaway
my letter and extinguished my lamp
4 Most assurediy it was the wind; 1 did not
|. think ofgit." Huns aa u. -
Cropping his way, he felt tor the table
and the lamp, to relight it. : The bell stfi
continued ringing, and with the same chill
in his blood and his limbs, he twice en-.
deayored to light again bis lamp on tht
third attempt he succeeded. THAT bell
let us examine that bell" said he, and he
mounted chair to do SO more critically
still mutterihg: " Yet one would say-ont
would say, that it was not the wind which
moves it; the wire seems pulled, shaker
by somebody. o not is the wind"
But the wind suddenly succumbed to the
weight of the rain which fell like mass Of
molten, lead. Still continuing TO utter
s.It is the wind, the wind, the major
: turned not his regards from the swinging
3 hell. :" The wire is pulled" he said, . thu
wind would not act thus. 1t cannot be the
: wind it is some one; is it ?"
His voice dried in his throat. He dared
; not say, 1T is my father p but he franti
cally Seized the lamp, which trembled in
his unsteady hand, and started for the
door, or thought, at least, ne was golne