Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-11-06

1t to be such ? This spirit of perverseness,
say, came to be my final overthrow. 1t wa
the unfathomable longing of the soul t.
vex ltself-to offer violence to its own ma
ture-to do wrong for the wrongs sake only
that urged me to continue, and finally tx
cnnsummate, the injury had inflicted upoI
the unotfending brute. One morning, il
cold blood, l slipped a moose about it!
neck and hung it to the limb of tree
hung it with the tears streaming from my
eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my
heart; hung it because | knew that it haC
loved me, and because l felt it had giver
me no reason of offence; hung it because
knew that in so doing I was committing q
sin-a deadly sin that would so .jeopardizt
my immortal soul as to place it, if such q
thing were possible, even beyond the reach
of the infinite mercy of the most mercifu
and most terrible God.
On the night of the day on which thi:
cruel deed was done, was aroused from
sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains Of
my bed were in flames. The whole house
was blazing. 1t was with great Difficult J
that my wife, servant, andsmysef mads
our escape from the confagration. The
destruction was complete. My entire world
ly wealth was swallowed up, and resigned
bu6uCcIOTWdIQ GO despair.
| an above the weakness of seeking to
establish sequence of cause and effect be-
tween the disaster and the atrocity. But
am detailing chain of facts and wish not
to leave even possible link imperfect. On
the day succeeding the fire 1 visited the
ruins. The walls with one exception had
fallen in. This exception was found in a
compartment wall not very thick, which
stood about the middle of the house, and
against which had rested the head of my
bed. The plastering had here in a meas
ure resisted the action of the fire, fact
which attributed to its having been re-
Gently spread. About this wall dense
crowd were collected and many persons
seemed to be examining a particular por-
ton of it with minute and eager attention.
The words strange, singular, and other
similar expressions, excited my curiosity
l approached and saw, as craven in bas-
relief upon the white surface, the figure of
a gigantic cat The impression was given
with an accuracy truly marvellous. There
was rope about the animals neck.
When first beheld this apparition-for
| could scarcely regard it as less-my won
der and my terror were extreme. But at
| length reflection came to my aid. The cat,
l remembered, had been hung in garden
adjacent to the house. Upon the. alarm of
fire this garden bad been Immediately filed
by the crowd, by some one of whom the
animal must have been cut from the tree
and thrown through an open window into
my chamber. This had probably been done
with the view of arousing me from sleep
The falling of other walls had compressed
the victim of my cruelty into the substance
ofathe freshly spread plaster; the lime of
which, with the flames and the ammonia
from the carcass, had then accomplished
the portraiture as saw it.
Although l thus readily accounted to my
reason, if not altogether to my conscience,
for the startling fact just detailed, it did
not the less fail to make deep impression
upon my fancy. For months I could not
rid myself of the phantasm of the cat, and
during this period there came back into my
spirit half sentiment that seemed, but
was not, remorse. I went so far as to re-
gret the loss of the animal, and to look
about me fol the vile haunts which I now
tne sae specfss abd Of hRHaha 6
appearance, with which to supply it's place.
One night as | sat half stupefied in den
of more than infamy, my attention was
suddenly drawn to some black object re-
posing upon the head of one of the i'm
mense hogsheads of gin or Of rum, which
constituted the chief furniture of the
apartment. / had been looking steadily at
the top of this hogshead for some minutes,
and what now caused me surprise was the
fact that had no sooner perceived this OBJ
ject thereupon, than | approached it and
touched it with my hand. It was black
cat-a very large One-fully as large as
Pluto, and closely resembling him in every
respect but one. Pluto had not white
hair upon any portion of his body; but this
cat had large, although indefinite splotch
Of white, covering nearly the whole region
of the breast
Upon my touching him he Immediately
arose, purred loudly, rubbed against my
hand, and appeared delighted with my no
tice. This, then, was the very creature of
which | was in search at cnce offered
to purchase it of the landlord; but this
person made no claim to it-knew nothing
of it-had never seen it before.
l continued my careSses, and when pre-
pared t. go home the animal evinced dis
position to accompany me. permitted it
to do SO, occasionally stopping and patting
it as I proceeded. When it reached the
house it domesticated ITSELF at once, and be-
came Immediately great favorite with my
wife.
For my own part, soon found dislike to
it arising within me. This was just the re-
verse of what / had anticipated, butt
know not how or why it was-its evident
fondness for myself rather disgusted and
annoyed me. By slow degrees these feel
ings ofdisgust and annoyance rose into the
bitterness of hatred. | avoided the crea-
ture; a certain sense Of shame, and the re-
membrance of MY form deed of cruelty,
preventing me from physically abusing it.
| did not, for some weeks, strike or other
wise violently ill-use it, but gradually-very
gradually-I came to look upon it with un-
utterable loathing, and to flee silently from
it's odious presence as from the breath of
pestilence.
What added, no doubt, to my hatred of
the beast was the discovery, on the morn
ing after brought it home, that, like Pluto,
it also bad been deprived of one of it's eyes.
This circumstance, however, only enGear-
ned it to my wife, who, as have already
said, possessed, in high degree, that hui
manity of feeling which had once been my
distinguishing trait, and the source of many
of my simplest and purest pleasures.
With my aversion to this cat, however,
it's partiality for myself seemed to increase.
1t followed my footsteps with pertinacity
which it would be Cif6cult to make the
reader comprehend. Whenever l sat, it
would crouch beneath my chair or spring
upon my knees, covering me with its loath-
some caresses. If | arose to walk, it would
get between my feet and thus nearly throw
me down, or fastening its long and sharp
claws in my dress, Chamber in this manner
to my breast. At such times, although l
longei to destroy it with blow, l was yet
withheld from so ing partly by memory
of my former crime, but chiefy-let me con-
fess it at once-by absolute dread Of the
breast.
This dread was not exactly dread of
physical evil-and yet 1 should be at a loss
how otherwise to define it. l am almost
ashamed to own-yes. even in this felon's
cell, am almost ashamed to own-that the
terror and horror with which the animal in
spired me, had been heightened by one of
the merest .chimeras it would be possible to
conceive. My wife had called my attention
more than once to the character of the mark
of white hair, of which | have spoken, and
which constituted the sole visible difference