The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1872-01-31

iehoved that 1t haA sosp m0nsfhAn 4noenU
tury. But If its outside Was stern anu un-
promising, its inside was comfortable IN the
highest degree; and so thought when L
found myself seated over q substantial Ger
man supper in the professors little Snug
gerry, and heard the old man 8 CHEEKY voice
bidding me s'fall to and spare nothing"
While eating, l found time toglance round
the room, which (save for its antique fur
niture and heavy ::cross-beams of dark oak
| differed but little from the countless other
laboratories that [ had seen in various towns
Of southern Germany; but object ar
rested my attention. human skeleton
planted upright in a orner presenting a
pistol menacingly with its fieshless hand.
The professor noticed the direction of my
eyes, and smiled significantly.
"That's the curiosity l was speaking Of"
he said T. it has a history of its own, which
is wsrth hearing. When we have finished
supper I'll tell il to you ~
And, accordingly, as soon as our meal was
ended, Herr Wsissenbart 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 haId to smoke out, and began as
follows:
SAT the time that l bought this house
'mein Herr, l had just entered upon the hap
,piest period Of my whole life. | had at
length obtained the modest competence for
which 1 had long labored in vain. and could
say to myself, when | sat down in nv easy
chair in the evening and lit my pipe: Now,
Justus Weissenbart, thou hast done all that
the earthly and corporate part OF thee de
mands for its sustepance. hencefOrth thou
art free to serve the AUST of science, and, II
may be, even to add a little grain of knowl-
edge to the sum of human learning Invent
to work with all earnestness. | filled my
house with rare plants. rare fossils. rare min
erals. l paid high for curiosities of every
kind. Once l paid 4 handful of thalers for
the carcass of a donkey which exhibited a
singular malformation of the spinal column.
Its dissection led me to one OF the most in
tcresting discoveries that l have ever made.
All, mein Herr, you, who are a man OF
amusement and adventure, can not fathOm
the delight | felt in cutting up that glorious
donkey! But once before in my whole life
did / experience the same pleasure. and thst
was when l was called in. a little while af-
ter | first came here, to treat a patient wh6se
case exhibited some unusual and perplexing
symptrms. | examined him | reflected !;
the truth flashed upon me. L flung my hat
on the ground. and, en- bracing the sick man
cried out 'Icongratutate you. my friend /!
You have received a disease which has been
unknown for six centuries y"
The idea of such consolation administered
to an invalid was too much for my gravity.
In spite of all my efforts to compose my-
self. I laughed till | was fairly exhausted {;
and Herr Weissenbart very good humoredly
joined in the merriment, though evidently
without the least suspicion of having given
any cause for it.
'fWell. mein lieber Herr" he continued,
''you will doubtless have remarked it as Il
-, ~t,lo 1a,y &c ntt,r 80 ID, 4, ,,,x
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 Tor fossils snd
gave some color to the myth in my
case; but at any rate | vas soon known in
Heidelberg as the rich Professor WeiSsen-
bart, and my friends began to warn ma that
if l did not take care, | might chance TO get
"Now, at that time I had but one servant,
who had been with me many years, and
beginning to gebOld and feeble. Eve
~ one said tnat he was not enough TO take
care of tina house himself, and that | had
better have . younger man to help him;
but | didn't like TO yeX poor old Johann by |
seeming to think him past work, 50 | jus:
let things 60 on as they were. lie was a
capital servant, and did mis- woak As well as
man could do but he had one failing. Ev-
now and then. when the chance offered.
wOuld"-a significant gesture of the pro-
hand, a, if lifting a glass to his lips,
completed the sentence.
Him! rather a bad fault in a mar upon
the safety On the house depended"
,bsorved
$50 thought" ans wered the professor
: and more than once 1 doubted whether it
not be as well to take my friends adj
after all, and engage 4 second servant.
But | kept putting it of. and putting it off,
ill at last ! got punished for my hesitation,
Is You shall hear.
Zone night / had sent Johann out IL do
some marketing. and was expecting him
back every minute. AS a rule. whenever he
went abroad he took the house-key Got
which l had dupllcate) along with him SO
hat nobody could get in till he came back,
Unless 1 chose 10 let them. He was very
Dunctual on the whole; but this time ten
fifteen, twenty minutes past. and there Was
no sign OF him. began 10 fear he might
nave taken a glass too much. as he some
lines did, and was just thinking of going TO
COX after him, when. all at once, | heard,
down below, a noise as If the house-doOr
lad been suddenly opened and shut again,
then a step coming up the stairs right
oward my door. Ihave a quick ear of my
,wn, and it struck me directly that the
read was irmer and heavier than old
lguessed at once that there had
,een foul play somewhere, and for a mo-
nent l thought Of locking my door and call
ng for help through the window: but. Oh
thought. l decided that it would be
'etter to let the intruder (whOever he might /;
e) come right up to me ''and see what he ,
eally wanted" ,
| looked at the professor with involuntary !
dniration. To hear the little, delicate, be- :
evolent-lookiRg old gentleman talking so .
DOLLY of deliberately allowing "A rob- ,
er (perhaps more than One) to :
1arch right into his room at night i,
Without stirring a step To give the =
simply because he thought it ''better J
D see what he wanted, " had a really heroic :
avor about it; and L bent eagerly forward =
hear the sequel of the adventure. y
''The door opened" pursued my .
lend, and in came a tall, burly fellow, 6
18th a black mask on his face and a pistol in -
is hand. The moment he was in, he z
)cked the door behind him, put the key in =
is pocket, and came forward to the table :,
here | was sitting. u
"'NOw, my old an said he with a chuck a
), we've got the house all to ourselves. ~
our servant is lying fast asleep under the =
lub room table of the Thirsty Fox. Drug .
I'd beer is u flne thing to make a man sleep u
)und, and he wOn't wake before to-mor- d
w morning. In the mean time out with =
our money, or You are g dead man. u
"He cooked the pistol as he spoke, and "
veled it at m forehead. d
You will think, mein Herr, that | must I
I'VE been frightened; but strange as it NAV g
,em, | was not. Had l met this man in the II
rect, or Quit in the open country, he would y
ave been on his own ground; but here, ~