The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-02-22
SITTING UP WITH A CORPSE.


Wuih GulS edTIn, W w oeeu W ""i
tai eyes, after they have taken leav
of their clayey tenements-l know
better. Robert Dale Owen ma.
write in favor of dead men comm!
back to visit the scenes OF their NJ or
tai tolls, and q thousand others ma.
write against it; it is all one to me
I shall have my own opinion, until
try to come back myself and can
aud it is proved to me, by the bss
authority of the spirit world, tha
no one else can. You will say,
make no doubt, as my friends hav,
always done, that my fears alarmed
me, and that my excited Imagination
caused me to fancy saw the rersor
of my old friend, DR.. Fenton A,wick
and heard his voice speaking to me
when l knew he was crushed ant
mangled corpse, or you will con
clude that I must have been asleep
You will be equally mistaken IL
either hypothesis. In the first place
l was not o timid man. | never
had been afraid Of anything il
earth, air Or sea. | had walked
through lone burying- grounds, anc
by cid churches, hundl eds of times
In the dead Of night, and no "Tan
o'Shanter visions had ever yet
caused me to quicken my pace.
had been all my life sturdy, hard
working person. No sick, pulling
fancies had haunted me through
long, weary days Of idleness. Work
ing for twelve hours on a stretch
until you are wearied to death, anG
sleeping for ten. is not conducive tc
romancing, nor did wish it to be
1 had no thought of writing novels
or even "ghost stories" in those
days. was q plodding chancery
lawyer, never venturing to make {
speech, but drudging as l have sale
for the clothes | wore and the foo(
by which life was kept in my body
DR.. Fenton Atwick had moved tC
Darbytown ten years teFore. 1t wa'
well he had an annuity to fall bacl
upon, for there was no need of hi
diploma, or Of any science here
He had had a case or SO OF "agu'
and fever" and sometimes in th'
autumn a few chills-nothing more
Strange that DR.. Atwick's shoult
have been the first death Alas
poor physician thou vast "unabl
to heal thyself |" Our salubriou
climate and bracing mountain al
might battle every effort of miasn
} to find a victim amongst us. Blu
accident-the creature of fate-ho'
unforeseen how impossible t
guard against it's treacherous deal
ings The veriest invalid on cart
was safer from that than hale, hear
ty Fenton Atwick,
I Idon't know how l got into sor
of revcrie one evening-thinking o
our lives and the popular idea tha
we all have u mission" to perform
| wasn't given to such things.
should as soon have thought of Join
ing an opera troupe-having nj
more idea of music than steam
engine-as turning metaphysician
But there sat looking out of III,
window on the giant mountains
ablaze with the golden aureole q
the setting sun, with my pen behin'
my ear and ponderous volume Q
Coke all unheeded before me, ask
ing myself over and over again, G
what avail my life had been to my
self or others, and whittier it VIA
tending, until the light died iron
the western sky, and the shadow
; of night, or of death, crept darke
and darker into the room. "Pshaw,
| exclaimed; 81 am as vi-ionary as
child emerging from, or an old ma
going into, the realms of the III
known. Very soon we, too, will b
dust as our ancestors are-perhap
o part of that which the young maj
galloping madly by but few me
, ments ago, sent curling into m
window here, over my books an
into my very nostrils. And the
our children (not mine, of cours
as l am bachelor, but other pee
5 ple's) will look out of this very viii
: dow, as 1 am doing now, and wor
) der what they were made for an
: whitherward they are tendint
And they will find themselves
, the dark, as am" l struck IN.
r self sharp blow on the forehead
as if by this means I should effec
!, ually floor the goblin thoughts thu
we're bewitching me; and DRAWN
q parlor match across the gree
t serge that covered my table, lit IN
e lamp and reopened my book. Bl
!, strange to say l could not collie
q my thoughts.
81 nm tempted" I muttered, "t
Q 90 for Atwick and Fleet and Jone
|, and have q rubber at whist, for
:, seems 1 am determined to be
d cross purposes with time this evel
l. ing" l sprang up out Of my cha
as I concluded, for heavy "thud
like the falling of a human bod.
:. ., struck distinctly on my ear.
- 70 glanced hastily around the rool
10 ~ and as nothing was disturbed, Ii
Z tened for a repetition Of the soun
~ from without; but the silence wi
y profound, and l took up my Doc
again. A moment more ana
heard some one walking rapid
"a down the street. cit is some WIS
70 tor to me / hope" But no; u
NJ m footsteps pass on. Then there can
:. > the sound of running feet-one, wv
of three separate persons going
ia Then there was q hasty tread on u
;. own steps and some one came u