Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1868-07-02
After supper I withdrew to the room

ing. tntuhlnE u more a8ouL lHt t1cdtI
cal treat I had promised myself. was
tired, and was glad to avail uayzelt Of 4
lite quiet
/ + The servant, who held in her hands
two candles, conducted me to the frs;
floor. where, At the end Of long corrilor,
she pointed to door, and giving me one
of the lights, ran away with laeonic
Gut nacht, herr" l smiled at her fears,
and resolutely entered the room.
The apartment was very simple, -
However, the host had kept his word s.
good fire burnt in the stove on a table
stood all that he had promised me: and
I between the L ie and the stove | found
comfortable armchair They had even
carried their attention so far as to have
placed a good mattress in corner of the
room | Immediately installed myself IN
the armchair. nv feet on the stove, my
elbow on the table, my head upon my
hand. The rain still fell in torrents; the
j wind howled as it rushed through the
high trees which surrounded the house
The FIRE roarcd continuously in the stove.
and vet all was so calm and still in that
room that could almost distinguish the
beating of nv heart. The curtains of the
bed, on which the body had been placed,
were drawn, and | could distinguish noth-
ing but one hand, which appeared be-
tween an opening in them. | quickly
turned away my looks and thoughts from
the sad spectacle, lighted a pipe, and trl-
ed the brandy provided for me. by the
host it was indeed excellent and wheth-
er it was the cold, the fatigue, or the lone
illness | felt on the occasion | have GER
tainly never tasted anything ike it since +;
and found myself, much to my surprise,
helping myself second and a third ume
to beaker Of the enticlug spirit.
| soon became lost in thought. The
sad event which had happened was ever
present to my Imagination. | asked my
self. who can this man be, and why had
he destroyed himslf. Then [ considered
the strangeness of my position, alone IN
that chamber of death. In seeking to
solve these thoughts, my eyes had grad
ually become closed, and l still reflected
profoundly, when heard slight rust
ling in the apartment. Iopened my eyes
with caution, and looking towards the bed,
bcheld q most strange sight. The cur
tains had been Withdrawn, and ! could
now see the entire Of the body. At the
head Of the bed, on each side were su--
pended numerous vestments Of all forms
and colors and two singular beings,
strangely dressed, stood on either side of
the departed The one to the right was
light, fair, and of pleasant countenace and
manners while the other was dark and
ill-favored, his dress and hair were black
and the skin Of his face dark bronze
color, forming a complete contrast to the
other parsonage.
could not doubt it. I was in the
presence Of the good and bad angels who
had presided over the actions Of this man
during his lifetime | must allow that
[ trembled a little, when | saw them both
direct their looks towards me, and each
place a finger on their lips to impose 81
ience. was sorry for this, for should
have done my utmost to retain reminls-
cence Of the celestial language for the ben
/ eft of my friends. However, the angel
and the devil did not need words to as
] sist them in their avocation, and seemed
quite to understand each other without
the aid of speech. As may be supposed
/ did not lore one Of their gestures, and
this is what passed between them:
Both of them looked at the departed
and strange, I thought | observed a tear
fall from the good angels eyes he then
took down from the wall a shepherds hat
and crook, ornamented with a long rib
bon, which appeared to have once deco
rated the neck of some favorite lamb
All these were submitted to the inspection
of the dark angel, who gave them up
without any difficulty; but, in his turn,
seized mask, dagger, aud dark cloak
which betrayed much Of the bravo.
.sCan it be possible" " thought | to ny
self, that from an honest shepherd this
man can have become an assassin
Then / continued to observe the good
angel. who took a robbers hat oFnamen-
ted with some handsome feathers bu
the dark one also stretched forth his hanC
to snatch it. Then a series Cf gestures
followed. which l could not understand
At last, all was settled by the good an
gels keeping the feathers, and the other
the hat. Finally, all the objects which
had belonged to this man, and whlel
seemed to attach themselves to every &C
ton Of his lie, ware submitted to Sc
we're examination by these strange visl
tants. The bad angel seemed TO triumph
But was overjoved on al last beholdin!
the heap of SPOTS which repres outed tn
good actions Of the departed accumulat
to a considerable extent; and. when th
strange division was concluded both II
strange beings 10 ked at me once more
I,qulckly closed my eyes, pretending stI
. 10 sleep Hearing 10 suspicious noise.
, opened them q few moments after. I'll
curtains OF tue bed we're again closed a
before | was once more alone with tl
dead
When Ianoke the next morning, til
: glorious sun inundated the room with !,
: Joyous food OF light. More than eve
/ tie events of the night appeared to n
t Ike dream and yet had seen all 5
distinctly; remembered even to Ii
d most triBipg gesture OF the two appar1
I tions. NJ host now entered 4nd aske
+; II | would take breakfast.
n After this repsst, which / made in 5
e lence, l again set out on my Journey
+. About 8 mile from kirkscheim | met Il
e troop Of s,rolling players VINO had Pc
Z io-med the night befo-4 IL the village
Iso,n FazEe3 them, 4a1 TUNED rvaal