The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-01-08

brought out by the heaviness OF
| atmosphere from the cutters and
filthy thoroughfares of that part OF
the city known as the old town was
overpowering. Far advanced in the
arts and sciences, Munich is a city
which has yet much to learn OF
| sanitary principles. The ride be-
fore me was a long one. Throwing
| myself back upon the drosky's seat,
l closed my eyes, and before | knew it
| had dropped into a dOze. | slept per
| haps twenty minutes or more with
that heavy, dreamless slumber al
WAYS the result OF fatigue and unusu-
al emotion. doubt whether Ishould
have awakened at all had not the alb
rupt bouncing and swaying OF the car
riage checked suddenly reused me to
consciousness. In the obscurity OF
the night | distinguished the figure OF
a man, gesticulating wild for us to
stop, and evidently in a state OF in
tense excitement. Without waiting
for ME to question him he gasped out
the intelligence between his labOred
breaths that something vas wrong at
the Sendlingerther's "deadhouse''
tine new Gottsaker recently finished
in the outskirts OF the town.
For Gods sake, Herr Doctor
cried the man as he say us driving
OFF. go as if the devil were after you
The pace at which we travelled the
Maximilianstrasse would assuredly
have distanced any devil of my &C
Q~uaintance," added the doctor, with
a smile. Sparks of fire fairly rained
from the iron heels ofthe flying horses
and the laundering of the hOofs on
the hollow planking OF the bridge
sounued in the silence Of the night like
the tread of an army under a quick
movement. With the lights of Munich
once behind us it was not long, with a
clear highway, before we were standing
at the Sendlingerther gateway, rising
the grimmest of sentinels IN front OF
the citadel held by death. The scene
upon which | entered, piloted by the
guard watchingfor my arrival, beggars
description. The hall before the dead,
house doors was literally packed with
cemetery attendants, white as ashes
with terror and all talking at one
| gathered from their confictingstate-
ments that q devil or a disembOdled
soul was loose in the building and
ringing the alarm. 1T is bound
to be so, Herr Doctor persisted the
attendant on night duty at the time;
1T is bound to be so, for No. So is as
dead as ever she was; | saw her my
self; but the signal is down, and we all
heard the bell ring You might as
we'll reason with the waves of these
as attempt to dispute the Unborn
superstition of the lower German
classes. l do not even attempt to
disturb it. II they chose to believe
that souls walked and 'luttered
airly back and forth between the
gloomy walls of this their temporary
prison. no words of mine could have
effect.
Finding me determined to face the
worst, whatever it might be, the door
was reluctantly opened andI was adj
mitted. The huge and simple apart
ment was but dimly lighted by scat
tered gas jets. Blown by the ftful
breeze coming through the open
windows, the Pickering light from the
burners wavered in shifting light
and shadow across the pinched
and livid features, lending an
appearance of motion to the
drawn lips and sightless eyes. To
one unaccustomedto the aspect of the
dead, the heavy lids did seem really
to stir, to struggle against the lethar-
gy laid upon them by the grimmast
foe of mankind. have never known
the time when these rooms, erected
for the lying in state of the dead be-
fore the burial, were not crowded to
b edoors. At this time, perhaps, as
many as fifty bodies-men, women,
and children-were resting upon the
trestles. In the urgent hurry of our
errand it was impossible, so closely
did the trestles stand, to pass between
them, without striking against the
bodies themselves. The caskets stand
ing at the head of all of them, wait
their consigD ment of CHASTITY freight,
did much to addto the hideousness of
the scene. Strong as / am, and accus-
toned to the daily round OF medical
work to sights of horror, / found my
self now almost overcome.
"At last, in the farthest corner of
the room, where the shadows clustered
thickest, the attendant stopped beside
a trestle which supported the slen-
der figure of a woman reclining In
q ~half-sitting position upon q
crouch of natural flowers. in a life
like fancy of theprofession-
al entrepreneur. Clasped In the en-
brace Of the signaling instrument, she
seemed to have thrown herself DOWN.
the abandon offatigue and thus to have
falleh asleep Many q raIIiiiid d face has
rested quietly in these gruesome sur
roundings, deafto the whispered words
Of love and agony spoken above it;
but the hall had never rooted q figure
more beautiful-frail and emaciated
as it was-than the one before me,
The delicate form lay there's as peace
~ .MA -