Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-02-07

Monsieur de Twardow. He lived at
Cracow, when this poor little republic
(our interview took plase before the
month of Felruary, 1840) was the proud
capital of Lech the white, Lech the
black, and the other Piasts, precursors
of the Jagellons. The Polish, like the
German doctor, cultivated the entire
tree, of human science, was a great
necromancer, far beyond any ether, and
in his despair at the incompleteness of
his knowledge, ever realizing only his
| ignorance at the end of all that he learn
ed, he also finished by signing COM
pact with the devil. Then, knowing
every thing and enjoying everything, he
exhausted the craving of his soul for
science and pleasure.
Until this point, everything CORES
ponds in the two gends which proves,
! by the way, that that of Faust is none
the less satire fabricated by the monks
against Dr. John Faust, of Mayence,
who was one of the inventors of print
ing Thus, in Germany, as in Poland,
it is aptly shown in apopular apologize,
that just punishment follows the pride
and temerity of science. 1t is again,
under another form, the forbidden
fruit, tempting serpent, the expulsion
from paradise, and the fall of man. But
toward the end there is radical differ
ence between the two narratives. Now,
then, attention J"
| My friend hemmed, like an orator
who prepares himself to speak ; and [
lifted corner of my fur cap, for often
! his words were frozen in coming from
his mouth to my ear. He resumed:
/ &C Faust had made contract with
the devil for lease of "a years, at the
end of which time payment was to be
made. It was foolish thing, which
would astonish me on his part, if learn
ed men were not habitually the great
est blockheads in the world. However,
the continual looking forward to this
fatal date, which would terminate his
ephemeral joys and begin his eternal
punishment, was sufficient to empoison
all the pleasures that offered themselves
for his enjoyment, and made him feel
while in this world the he'll which await
ed him in the next.
"Upon my word, our Pan Twardow-
ski had showed himself much more
wary. He had stipulated, by an ex-
plicit clause in the compact, that the
( u0NI1 bn0 1dUu0I WAS Cd1ISu OHSIutDOS,
or the black god) should capture him
in the city Of Rome. Hetook care, then,
as one may imagine, not to go to Rome
any more than he would 90 to hell
thus, never approaching the city of the
popes, he defied the devil, whom he
held for an arrant dupe, and led in
peace d rita buona But this was not
the reckoning of the evil one His
satanic majesty always knows how to
] merit his name and he laid an ambush
| for the confident doctor, which neither
Escobar nor Sanchez. nor all the order
of Loyola would ever have imagined.
Gone day, being at Cracow, Pan
| Twardowski was invited by nelghbor-
ing innkeeper to hold his newborn in
fant at the font for baptism. The god
mother was pretty-perhaps Margu-
i erie--whom the rejuvenated magician
coveted in his innost soul. Heaccept
! ed at once the invitation, that he might
call her his associate, and sent to her
some magnificent bon bons. On the
day agreed upon, the parents and
friends were gathered together in fes-
tive attire in the great room of the inn,
in which the curate of the parish was
to throw the holy water on the brow of
the baby, whom Pan Twardowski, the
sacrilegious, held in his arms, all the
while ogling the godmother But scarce
ly was the ceremony of baptism fin
ished, when, issuing from bottle of
, schnaps, the Devil appeared before the
godfather, and, holding up before him
his conjuring book, said, Follow me-,
Pan Twardowski i Follow you =
said the doctor with disdain. Are we
at Rome [ believe you to be better
geographer. Go and read, replied
Czernebog, without being in the least
discorcerted, the sign of this inn, and
, you will see on it, AT THE CRY OF
ROME The condition of our compact
is fulfilled you belong to me ~
| Seeing himself entrapped by the
, Devil, Pan Twardowski did not lose his
head. He seized, in his cradle, the
child from whom baptism had just TAX
j en- away original sin, and sheltered
, himself behind the innocent creature,
as beneath the buckler of an all power.
full exorcism. The devil did not even
attempt to break the charm by vic.
lence; he knew well that all the strength
and all the rage of hell could do moth
ing against pure soul, even though
T It be that of child born the previous
evening. He assumed grave air bit
ing off his sentences with the tone of q
pedant, he said to Pan Twardowski
| Verbatn1 mobile debet esse Stable
which means, if [ still recollect little
Latin. The word of a gentleman ought
to be sure and sacred You have
to ensnare me by cunning trick, re-
piled the Polish doctor, in order tc
justify himself. 'Ihave only returned
; to you change for your money. For 6
/. Jesuit-a Jesuit and half
Evidently, here was material for 6
7 lawsuit on the interpretation of the
+ compact. But, as no tribunal in this
y world could Judge each a cause, the
: parties did that which all itigious per
! sons ought to do i; they made an ami
' cable settlement. One put back his
E conjuring- book into his pocket, the
other the child in his cradle and
, without witness, they signed a new
i contract, in which Pan Twardowski en-
$ gagged to give himself up to the devi
as soon as the said devil should have
f fulfilled three conditions, imposed upo1
him by the said Pan Twardowski
which if not fulfilled, the compact be
q became void
a I" The trial began Immediately. Pal
$ Twardowski straightway ordered th'
[ devil to take a horse which was painted
: on the fatal sign of the inn, and gallol
three times around the tower of th
2 church. Every one knows that hell
{ like heaven, is controlled by numbe
4 three. Without further parley, Czer
] nebog picked up bit of straw from
e the earth, and transformed it into
t horsewhip. Touched by the end of hi
e wand, the painted horse obediently de
t scended from the sign, all saddled ant
e bridled, his nostrils breathing fire. Th
: devil got astride his steed and thre
i times made an internal circuit aroun,
!. the church, more..rapid than that of th
e ballad. Les mor's cont vite = an,
more furious than gallop of de6ord
. c"r8 at the masked ball of your oper
q at Paris.
ID 4. i II