New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-08-18

The bridegroom jumped into the grave.
The dead man poured him out cup of
liquor. He drank it off; and a hundred
years passed away.
Drink another cup, dear friend ~
He drank another: two hundred years
went by.
Now, cOmrade dear, drink a third cup.
And then go, God speeding you, and cele-
brate your marriage
He drank third cup: three hundred
years passed away.
The dead man took leave of his cOmrade,
the coffin lid fell, the grave closed. The
bridegroom looked around. What had been
the graveyard was now a piece of waste
ground No road was in sight no kinsmen
were there, no houses; all around grass and
nettles grew in prOfusiOn. He ran to the
village; but the village was different from
what it used to be. The houses were al
tered, the people were all strangers to him.
He went to the priests house-the priest
was not the one who used to be theTe-and
told him everything. The priest searched
through the church books, and found that
three hundred years before a bridegroom
had gone to the graveyard on his wedding
day, and there had disappeared; and his
bride, some time after, had married an
other.
As in other stories, so in the SlavOnic, fire.
guent mention is made of the gratitude
evinced by the dead for services rendered
to them. Kindly folks who bury stray
corpses are haunted in the pleasantest man
ner by grateful ghosts, which save them
from dangers or make their fortunes; and
any one who succeeds in getting the weight
of curse taken off a phantom is sure to
earn the good will of the relieved spirit.
Here Is an outline of a story of this class;
certain peasant had twO.sons The re
cruitng time came, and the elder son was
IL
the younger son enlisted as a volunteer; so
he also became soldier Then the old
mother became wTOth with her younger
son, and cursed him for ever and aye. Now it
CHANGED that the two brothers were drafted
into the same regiment and they got on to-
gether eXcellently for a couple Of years, but
at the end of that time the younger son fell
i'll and died, and was decently buried. One
night the dead brother appeared to the liv
ing one, and said:
Brother, aWake."
The live brother was terribly frightened;
but the dead man said:
Fear not | have not come without good
cause. Dost thou remember how our
mother cursed me when | enlisted. Now
the earth refuses to receive me. So this is
what you must do. brother. Get leave of
absence and entTeat our mother to forgive
me. If thou persuadest her, | will repay
thee we'll"
The elder brother obtained his leave of
absence, and went home He reached his
village; bis father and mother were delighted
to see him, and began asking him whether
he had ever come across his brother, or
heard any news of him.
ALAS he is dead Forgive him, mother
dearl"
The old woman began to cry, and forgave
him.
The pathos Of the tale is not maintained
to the end the narrator proceeding to t6tl
how the dead brother evinced his gratitude
by chOpping off the nine heads of ian aw-
full snake" which threatened to eat the
elder brother on his wedding night. But
the story with which we will conclude this
paper will not lose any of its effect by be
ing quoted without alteration or abridg-
ment.
In a certain village there lived a man and
his wife-lived peacefully, lovingly, hap
PLY. ALI their neighbOrs envied them; but
the sight of them was pleasure to good
people. Well, the wife bare a son, but di-
TeCtly after childbirth she died. The poor
DiO1JH wept and walled. Especially IN
happy was lie about the babe. How was
he to nOurish it now? how to bring it up
without its mother! He hired an old
woman to look after it; did his best for it.
Then a wonderful thing came to pass! All
the day long the babe would take no food,
and did nothing but cry; there was no s0Oth-
ing it anyhow But as soon as midnight
came, one would suppose it wasn't there at
all, so silently wand peacefully did it sleep.
whats the meaning Of this 2" thinks the
old woman. E'SuppOse | keep. awake to-
night; maybe / shall find out"
Well, just at midnight she heard some
one open the door quietly and steal toward
the cradle. The babe lay quite still, just as
if it was being sucked.
The same thing happened the next night,
and the third night too.
Then she told the mOUjh about it. He |
called together his kinsfOik, and held cOUn- |
ell with them. They determined on this:
to keep awake, and to spy out who it was |
that came to suckle the babe. So at even |
time they all lay down on the floor, and |
close at hand they set a lighted candle, |
hidden in an earthen pot.
AT midnight the cottage door opened, and |
some one stole up to the cradle; the babe |
became still. At that moment one of the |
ldnsfOlk suddenly disclosed the light. They |
looked and saw the dead mother, in the |
clothes in which she had been buried, |
kneeling beside the cradle, and bending |
over it, as she sucked the babe at her dead /
breast
The moment the candle lighted up the
scene she stood up, gazed sadly on her
little one, and then went away without
saying a single word to any one. All who
saw her stood terror struck for a time, and
then they found the babe was dead.