Litchfield enquirer., 1872-11-07
From Zell's Menthly.l THE HEAD OF BACCHUS.

1 he excited attention by the extent of his
 knowledge and the charm of his language.
 His arrival was greeted with an exclama-
 tion of pleasure, and every hand was held
 out to him. ..
 "Holloi" was the cry, .syou arrive just
 in time to give us your opinion.
 A few words caught as he entered had
 made him acquainted wish the subject of 1 discussion.
 .'.I am going to astonish you" he said. GA medical man who believes in miracles
 is almost 8 phenomenon.
 'The circumstance is in fact rare, doctor
 But expressed by man of your experi-
 ence, it has all the more weight that you can only have made up your mind after a long study, and upon incontestable evi- 1 dence.
 '1 have, in.reality, considerably studied these questions; not, as you seem to think, in order to convince myseh-I have long been eonvinced-but to assign limit, as exact as possible, to the domain of science and reason.
 ''Then you believe in spiritualism-in apparitions?" s.a..- s.. a. Certainly" f........ -.
 ''You have witnessed facts concerning 1 them?"
 ''Many." .4 2 ''Facts which your science was power less to explain? of which your reason de- nied the possibility"
 ''Yes. .-asss...g .- . "You were not the dupe of an illusion or hallucination?" t'Wll you iudge?" We replied by murmur of curiosity. and our circle closed around the doctor. '1 am going" said he, ''to choose one amongst the numerous facts have allud- ed to, which leaves on my mind no doubt whatever as to the intervention, in the al- fairs of this world, of impalpable. impon- erable, invisible agents, who langh at ma terial obstacles, and despise all establish ed laws, with what object God alone knows. Shall convince you? II do not think so
 s'Five years ago, I had just passed my examination and obtained my diploma, when, fatigued with my long course of property in the neighbOrhood of London, I desired, before entering thoroughly into my profession, to pass in repose the few months of warmth and sunshine which had still to come before winter should set in. found at Hampstead exactly what wanted-a small two-storied cottage, with the ground floor opening on to the garden. From my window could look almost all over the metropolis. could dream away at my ease. And at night, when darkness enveloped the great city, when of all sounds of busy life my ear caught only 8 dull murmur, like that of the mOnOtonOus surging of the waves, I was delighted to experience in the face of that immense and mysterious horizon some of those entrancing sensations had SO often felt at night on the shores of the ocean under the splendid Australian sky.
 A narrow lane, barely three yards wide, separated my cottage from the next house, large, silent building, carefully kept in order, but from winch seemed to emanate vague odor, as of 8 cloister.
 One might readily divine there the pres ence of elderly people, who were incom- ;moded by the hustle of the world, and who were taking, before quitting this world, 8 foretaste of the repose of the tomb while yet in the midst of the living.
 went to London rarely, my time being passed chiefly on the breezy heath; in short, was as happy as a man can be here below; satisfied with the present, and without serious care for the future. One night had just gone to bed and extinguished my lamp. An important af- fair called me to London the next day, and wished to have good nights pre- paratOry rest. But oppressed by the heat, I could not sleep, my eyes opening about every other minute.
 This state of things had lasted perhaps an hour, when saw, in spite of the dark ness, my bed curtain open and two hands appear, one of which grasped the other by the wrist.
 They seemed to be illuminatd bv the dn. bious light of lamp with a shade over 1t. .= -ss.,
 rubbed my eyes; I was wide awake. Ancold ssperspiratiOn burst out upon nv forehead I saw the two hands without arms, without body. I raised myself in the obscurity and endeavored to touch them. but my hands only encountered vacuum. threw myself quickly back on my pillow. with my eyes irresistibly fixed on that strange and inlpalpable apparition.
 One of the hands was that of an elderly person, either man or woman, the latter should say, for 1t was small. The fingers clenched with frghtful energy, seemed to express horrible suffering. The fncers spread Out, contracted and twisted abont in every direction, like the claws of some in. sect. which. placed on its back. makes fruitless efforts to find point of support. The other hand, which clasped the for mer and the smaller one, was fat, strong. sinewy. and somewhat hairy. It was the hand of & man. The swollen veins indica- ted the energy of the pressure it exercised on the other, Fa > r-s2 - : -" = By the effect of 2 strange power. was able. in spite of the distance, to see even the texture of the skin, the very spots on the nails of those two hands. asse..s stroye to close my eyes, but in vain, an inylnclbie force made me reopen them. A mysterious voice seemed to say to me: "Behold! will il" Then only did notice that one of the two hands-that of the man, or the one which grasped the other-had on the little finger 8 gold ring l Tn which . cameo was set. And my afken. ton (was s.s the effect of that unknovn power to which have before. alluded ?l became fixed upon that ring. 7I@fa as 1 On the brown ground of the stone. a head of Bacchus stood ont in relief. white. gay, laughing. inebriate- the mouth vide open to the large ears, the eyes half clos ed with an expression of beatitude and lbestial enjoyment, the hair twined with grapes and leaves, the veins of the neck swollen. -.-zr..s..s--s..s
 At one of the corners of the mouth I noticed slight defect in the stone, Q small crack, almost imperceptible, which seemed to me filled with red substance,
 as if the gods face had been scratched with pin and the blood had penetrated II through the skin. aw9 assfE8 4ss aIfs < | The light which illuminated the scene Eseemed to fall more especially on that ring and that hand. s a7
 The rest remained in semi-obscurity. Ten times I had determined not to see it,
 and as often closed my eyes, but still
 my gaze kept them riveted upon it
 The two hands had not disappeared.
 All this did not last long, doubtless, but
 Yes, Iconfess it, I trembled with fright. 1 Suddenly my time piece struck. At the I first sound one of the fingers of the suffer- 1 ing hand disappeared; at the second, an-
 other; at the fifth, only the mans hand iremained, still closed, as if it continued