The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1876-08-24

lark there are steps along the hall
there Is the same measured heavy treal
upon the stairs-the door once more slow.
ly opens, and with Il suppressed Shrek o
agony the almost frantic wife once NOR,
turns and beholds the same grim, unsym-
pathizing visages before her.
"We've come again for your dead .
said one. as both advanced toward the
bed
Back - shrieked the wife; there i.
no dead tor you herem
The man still advanced and came up tc
the corpse.
"'This here's perfect folly" said the
spokesman. ''lt is our duty to take away
dead bodies wherever we find EN-; t'>
the only chance to keep down this horri
ble disease; 50 stand aside, good woman
and let us take the body quietly Don't
take on so; its got to be done; you can't
keep it with You, and the longer it re-
mains here, the less chance you'll have OF
escaping the same fate yourself'
But my husband is not dead" cried
the wife wringing her hands and keeping
her place between the body and thos,
who had come for it,
1--WE can see. good woman. and our
eyes tell us better" was the somewhat
grutf reply. Come, stand aside, and
yield to what you can't avoid !"
"Oh, no, no, never. He is not dead,
tell you-and you Shall not touch him ~
"Go, woman, we've rot to do our duty y
pursu d the man, more positively attempt
ing l. put her aside
For heavens sake, spare us" she
cried. dropping on her knees, clasping
her hand. and locking ZIP imploringly.
"Spare US. bescech you! See. | am
kneelmg to you-l am praying to you
For the love Of Heaven, spare us a little
longer. He will soon revive! He only
sleeps ~
The men, perceiving that the only
chance OF getting ut the corpse would be
10y a torcible removal of its guardian an
gel, again conferred together, and then
agreed to give her another half hour.
AS soon rs the triendless wife again
heard the welcome sound of the departing
footsteps of her dreadful visitors, she
again renewed her efforts to resuscitate
that which to reason appeared hopelessly
dead She took a new course. She raised
his head-amost sat him up in bed heat
ed tlannels and rolled them around his
limbs, placed hot onions upon his feet ;
and thus worked with the will and strength
Of love and hope united with despair
But vain were all her efforts. No life
no signs of life Yet time was rolling
swiftly on and what seemed to that near
ly distracted woman but Il few brief mo-
ments, again brought around the terrible
half hour, and with it those whom she
now regarded as her most terrible foes.
This time, those men, in the perfolnl-
ance of their painful duty, would listen to
no prayers, no cntreaties, no remonstran-
ces. They told her plainly that She was
as unreasonable us Il unatic; and though
they pitied her. their dnty must be done );
the body must be removed, and the apart
ment tumigatad there was no altelna-
tive; and what could not be done pcacea-
bly,, would have to be done forcibly.
Accordingly they put her aside. ap-
preached the body, and laid hoi'l upon it.
But she burst tranticallr in between, threw
herself upon the corpse clung 70 it with
spasmodic, convulsiye tenacity; at the
same time shlieking forth in the most
heart-rcndin@ tones ''As God Almighty
liveth, you snail not separate us II you
bury him, You bury me with him ~
"Good woman, said the spokesman,
why will You 90 on this way? We don't
want to use force; but we'll have t.. il
you don't let us do o,r duty without. The
mans dead. and / tell you we've got to
take away the body this time; and we'll
DO it. too by fair means OF FOUL
Then You VIII take the with my hus-
band ~ persisted The wife; "we shall both
have the same grave OH, for the lore OF
Heaven !" She pursued, in tones Of the
most passionate entreAty, "mive me one
half hour more. just ome-haIf hour ? only
one y
But it will be all the same when we
come again returned the other; you
vii. fight just rs hard for the body"
''No. no-give me one-halt hour more
and if you find him not living when >on
return, | will make no further resistance.
And there was Il brief consultation be-
tween the two men; and the spokesman
rejoined, "lf you will Solcnnly promise
us this we Will agree to wait till the next
round, bat don't hope tn put lis of amy
longer
II solemnIy vow to YOU" cried the
Wife, with CLEAN OF joy. land if you tnd
him not alive on your return he IS yours,
for the grave
Ilt tltttliI iiItIl ttIjtti ttt 'liNt Ili'it
and once more that poor wife, with feel
mgs which no pen can describe, set TO
work about the hopeless task of recalling
the dead to life
One-half hour-only one-hall holr-no
hope beyond She glanced ut the clock
but the light was too dim to show its
face; and tearing out her watch, She hung
it on the post Of the bed and recon-
menced her task more eagerly and trem-
bingly than ever
She re-heated the tlannels, and wrap
ped the limbs she placed bottles of hot
water against different parts OF the cold
body; she forced hot brandy through The
death locked teeth; she renewed the hot
onions; she blew her breath into the
lungs; she applied ammonia to the oltac-
tory nerves; she did in fact, all that love
and hope, and despair could suggest.
But alas all to no purpose; all were Of
no avail Death claimed his victim the
loved form remained cold and rigid, with
out the laintest sign Of life or animation.
Poor woman! with IL deep, heavy groan,
she looked for the hour, and saw with
teverish eyes it wanted but u few points of
the fatal moment; and while she looked
the distant rumbling of the death cart be-
came audible, and the appalling words
Bring out your dead y once more re-
sounded along the dismal street.
Then it was-in the very agony of de
spair-with the last faint spark of hope
extinguished-th poor wife let fall the
head She had been supporting and from
her hands the powerful ammonia was
spilled on the pallid face. Aud then it
was. most strange aud wonderful to re-
late, a mighty change took place. There
came a quiver-a short, quick gasp-a
struggle for lfe-and then, with II wild
shrek of JOY the late despairing wife
clasped living husband in her arms
We need not dwell upon y scene which
no language can portray. When the death
men came again for the body, to their ut
ter amaZement-also terror-they beheld
a living man sitting in place of the dead
his now speechless wife clinging fondly
to him and weeping such tears of joy as
rarely flow from mortal eyes.
That husband so miraculously snatched
from the yery laws of death by the STRANGE