The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1884-06-07

sight of nan he is now virtually spot |
| less; how stands he in the sight of GodP |
/ 1t is this question that troubles me, for
! I can not believe him innocent. know |
ing all know; yet If guilty, how came
Matthews and Folkshausen to swear that
hthey witnessed the drawing out and
Esigninu Of the will. Can Jacob have
bribed them to perjure themselves also?
If so, a crushing weight of guilt hangs
over him That was an awful speech:
! If | am not swearing Gods truth NAV
my body never molder in the grave I
might, indeed, have damaged his cause.
but was the Rath, not one of the wit
nesses.n --ss..
The next entry was dated two years
1otor .ltlf'DS tt fHItslf
"1753. 1t is almost two years and
three months since the trial. Jacob
Winterwerb's first act on gaining pos
session of Herman's wealth was to turn
his nephew out Of doors. Nothing was
heard of the unfortunate youth until six
months afterwards, when he came to
my dwelling late one night, worn
to a shadow. His clothes were
threadbare, but the saddest change
was in his pinched, sunken face
the once handsome face that his Uncle
Herman had so loved and admired.
''He had been living in miserable
garnet upon the money he had saved
during his prosperity, and the sale of
his uncle's various gifts; but this store
was spent to the last kreutzer, and for
the last two days he had been starving.
Another year, he said, would see him
through the. university, and fit him for
a profession, and he implored me to
give him some copying to do.
or assist him in some other way to
make little money. Do it, he urged,
for my uncle's sake was, indeed,
| most willing to befriend him for the
sake of my Nettie, his mother, my own
early love. So he came to live with us,
and he and Franz attended lectures to-
gether. Jacob never forgave me for
! harboring the lad whom he hated, as
, bad men will always hate the injured;
! he had kept up semblance of neigh
! borliness till then, but at that period
our final rupture took place. Gustel
got on we'll: he is now a Pfarrer in
] Zeigelhausen, useful and respected
Jacobs strange curse is haunting
| me to-day. / have only just returned
from his funeral, and ere 1 sleep must
conclude this memoir Perhaps when
the last word is written L may be able
T to forget.
) Jacobs end came very suddenly. ]
t fear me his son was no gentle nurse
. during the one week of his illness.
"a vast concourse of his townsmen
| helped to lay Jacob in his grave beneath
: the row of yew-trees called the Seven
| Sisters, in our cemetery outside the
h. al Dc IL, thA .s..b
) men of Gottingen all lie. each in his
Q narrow house, underneath his marble
monument. 'Itt 3
j "Thei tallest yew has Jacobs tomb
in shadow. There stands the hoary
8 sister, gaunt and grim, stretching her
black arms over the white urn, WHEREOF
r she shed her crimson berries in autumn,
e staining the marble like drops of blood.
4 and weeping icy tears the winter
through, which gradually wash out the
4 stains. J0 ION SOC GA 3ht
s"Oh, Jacob, Jacob! is that marble
: urn and your gorgeous coffin all that il
d left to you of your wealth., Farewell
o | am not your judge. You have en-
tered the presence of "a higher Judge
+ into whose hands we must all fall a
+ last. ~. .1isa = yal1 = .. f,
/. "Du lieber Himmelr' muttered Ratl
d Marquardsen, lingering the yellow
It manuscript tenderly; ''this man SHOULD
n have been preacher; he was Thrown
II away upon the magistracy.p o Z. /
g Their was note at the foot OF thu
u page in a different handwriting, to thu
e effect that Franz Folkshausen had founC
It the above among his late fathers pa
it pers, and had placed it with the annal
of the courthouse for the year 1888.
n Rath Marquardsen sat meditating be
e side his stove, but his delight with The
Ms. was fast changing into ;
l. creeping, grisly terror, such a
n he had never experienced in al
o his life before. Jacobs strange ours
IS had taken full possession of his imagi
S nation, and he was afraid to look "
IS lest he should see the old mans GOV
d etuous, cruel eyes fixed upon him. Hi
it had a horrid idea that if he turne
'e round he might find him at his elbow
l. or peeping at him from behind the win
e dow-curtain, which was certainly NOV
n ing slightly. ,a... g.. D
b In his unreasoning trepidity the Rat
t. got up and made an undignitied Tetrea
is into his bedroom, looking behind hir
lie at every step. He tumbled into be-
ID after but short toilet operations, feelin
Is safe only when he drew the eider-dowl
plumeau over his head.
1t But wicked old Jacob followed hir
y there, and tormented him all night i
4 dreams. He dreamt that he proceeds
le to the cemetery at Friedrich's Thor, GO
d the sexton to open the grave, and foun
Jacobs body undecayed in its velve
r coffin; that it opened its eyes when tn
W light reached it, and springing up
vt clutched him by the throat. He awok
h. trembling, with cold drops of perspira
Or ton standing ON his face. Fallin
asleep again, the same vivid drear
I'd awakened him.
'r Strange to say, the impression di
Id not wear off, Ike most hallucinations
o. Mn. IL l..-l;.-l.L. L l:-4l...