The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-10-06

again. w nat HOW All EnSllSHIudI,
who has been half.drowned in swimming
across the Elbe against the current Tor
wager. roll the Herr Highlander in
warm blankets and bring him round.
Before have we'll settled in my chair
again, king king once more. Mein
Colt what's the natter An Eng
lishman, who has tried to run twelve
miles within the hour because some one
said he couldn't, and has broken down
under the strain Mein Herr, | am
sorry to have to say it,-but your coun-
trymen are equally devoid OF fear and
of reason There is but one man in
England whom | can truly reverence,
and his name is Herr Carlyle !"
"Mr. Carlyle, why he's an old friend
of mine | saw him the last time |
was in England. Pm glad you admire
him."
Did you, mein Herr? did you
really ?" says the old man, with unmis-
taxable interest "Tell me all about
him, / beseech you; he is a great man
worthy to have been born a Ger
mani"
And for nearly twenty minutes we sit
in judgment upon the biographer of
Frederick the Great, till the strokes of
seven, booming from the town below,
warn the professor that it is time to be
going home.
You must come with me, mein
Herr" says he, rising from his seat !;
"no excuses, | beg Of you. 1t shall
never be said that Justus Weissenbart
met with friend of the Herr Carlyle
without making him welcome; and. be-
sides, I've got something to show you
which | think will interest you
The old mans hearty manner was
not to be resisted and a quarter OF an
hour later | stood before the door of a
tall, grim.looking stone house at the
corner of the Market-Platz, the curious
ly carved front Of which showed that it
had seen more than one century. But
if its outside was stern and unprOmis-
ing, its inside was comfortable in the
highest degree; and so thought when
| found myself seated over a substantial
German supper in the professors little
snuggery. and heard the old mans CHEEKY
voice bidding me "fall to and spare moth
ing"
While eating, found time to glance
round the room, which (save for its an
tique furniture and heavy cross beams
of dark oak differed but little from the
countless other laboratories that | had
seen in various towns of Southern Ger
many; but one object arrested my at
tention-a human skeleton planted up
right in a corner, presenting a pistol
menacingly with its feshless hand The
professor noticed the direction of my
eyes, and smiled significantly.
That's the curiosity | was speak
ing Of" said he. at has history OF
its own, which is worth hearing.
When we have finished supper III tell
it to YOU"
And accordingly, as soon as our meal
was ended, Herr Weissenbart settled
himself comfortably in his great easy
chair, lighted an enormous German
pipe, which the most seasoned fox
in the University would have found it
hard to smoke out, and began as fol-
lows:
AT the time that | bought this
house, mein Herr, had just entered on
the happiest period of my whole life. |
had at length attained the modest COM
potency for which | had long labored
in vain, and could say to myself, when
| sat down in my easy chair in the eve
ming, and lit my pipe, Now, Justus
Weissenbart, thou hast done all that
the earthly and corporeal part Of thee
demands for its sustenar ce; hencetorth
thou art free to serve the cause of SCI
ence, and, it may be, even to add lit
tie grain Of knowledge to the sum of
human learning. ! went to work with
all earnestness. filled my house with
rare plants, rare fossils, rare minerals.
paid high for curiosities of every kind.
Once | gave a handful of thalers for the
carcass of donkey which exhibited a
singular malformation of the spinal col
umn. Its dissection led me to one of
the most interesting discoveries which
| have ever made. All, mein Herr
you. who are man Of amusement and
adventure, cannot fathom the delight |
felt in cutting up that donkey But
once before in my whole life did | expe-
rience the same pleasure, and that was
when ] was called in, little while after
| first came here, to treat a patient
whose case exhibited some very unusual
and perplexing symptoms. ! examined
him reflected the truth flashed up.
on me. | flung my hat on the ground,
and, embracing the sick man with rap
ture, | cried out, | congratulate you,
my friend you have received disease
which has been unknown for the last
six centuriesP
The idea of such consolation admins.
tered to an invalid was too much for my
gravity. In spite of all my efforts to
compose myself, ! laughed till | was
fairly exhausted; and Herr Weissen-
bart very good-humoredly joined in the
merriment, though evidently without
the least suspicion of having given any
cause for it.
"Well, mein lieber Herr" he con-
tinued, "you will doubtless have re-
marked it as a singular law of nature
that whenever man lives all by him
self, in a particularly old and shabby
looking house, he invariably acquires
the reputation of being immensely rich.
Perhaps my paying so high for fossils
and skeletons gave some color to the
myth in my case; but at any rate was