The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-01-09

~ AlpLN VI tflll
citadel held by death. The scene upon
which l entered. plotted by the guard
watching for my arrival. beggavs de,
scription. The hall before the dead
house doors was literally packed with
cemetery attendants, white as ashes
with terror, and all talking at once. |
gathered from their conflicting state
ments that q devil or a disembodied
soul was loose in the building and
ringing the alarm. 1t is bound to be
so. Herr Doctor persisted the attend
ant on night duty at that time; it is
bound to be SO, for No. So is as dead as
ever she was; | saw her myself; but the
signal is down, and we all heard the
bell ring You might as well reason
with the waves of the sea as attempt
to dissipate the Unborn superstition of
the lower German classes. | did not
even attempt to disturb it. If they
chose 70 believe that souls walked
and 'tluttercd airily back and forth be-
tween 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 and was adj
mitted. The huge and dismal apart
ment was but dimly lighted by scat
tered ga%s-iets. Blown by the tltful
breeze coming through the open Win
dows, the tlickering light from the
burners wavered in shifting light and
shadow across the pinclied and livld
features, lending an appearance Of mo-
ton to the drawn lips and Sj1htless
eyes. To one unaccustomed to the as
pect of the dead, the heavy lips did
seem really to stir, to struggle against
tha legarthy laid upon them by the
grimmest foe of mankind. l have
never known the time when these
rooms, erected for the lying in state of
the dead before burial, were not crowd
ed to the doors. At this time, perhaps,
as many as fifty bodies-men, women
and children-wcre resting upon tres
ties. In the urgent hurry of our er-
rand it was impossible, so closely did
the ~trestlcs stand, to pass between them
without striking against the bodies
themselves. The baskets standing at
the head of all Of them, waiting their
consignment of ghastly freight, did
much to add TO the ]hidcousncss of the
scene. Strong as I am, and accustomed
in the daily round of medical work, to
sights of horror, l found myself now
overcome.
AT last, in the farthest corner of
the room, where the shadows clustered
thickest, the attendant stopped beside
q trestle which supported the slender
figure OF q woman reclining in a half
sitting position upon a couch of nat
ural flowers. in a life-likc %attitudc-a
fancy of the professional entrepreneur.
Clasped in the embrace of the signaling
instrument, she seemed to have thrown
herself down in the abandon of fatigue
and thus to have fallen asleep. Many
a pallid face has rested quietly in these
grncSOmc surroundings, deaf to the
whispered words of love and agony
spoken above it; but the hall had never
rooted a figure more Dcautiful-frail
and emaciatcd as it was-than the one
before me. The delicate form lay
there as PEACEFULLY and quietly as if at
any moment it might rise and tear it.
self free from the pillows Of satin and
lace heaped like snow about it. 1t
seemed impossible thatthe signal could
have sounded from this still and silent
frame lying upon its strange couch.
~lifeless, frozen, a lovely Ike image.
buried beneath exquisite flowers, but
without a sign of life to account for the
turned signal. 1t gave some coloring
to the curious belief in the intervention
Of the devil expressed by the frightened
attendants. As q physician whose
work keeps him always in contact
with the grim realities of grief and
pain, not to speak of the things which
must be classed with the distinctly in
explicable, | readily understood the ter
ror with which the snperstitious Ger
man nature regarded this night alarm
AN alarm made doubly hidcous by
the knowledge that it came from a ten
once-and apparently still-de-
by its soul.
PERSONALLY do not believe in the
establishment Of these room in Colt
continued the Doctor. THE
revival Of life occurs too seldom to justi-
fy the offense against delicacy of feeling
brought about by this exposing of the
dead and exhibition Of private gricfs,
To realize the full impulsivencss of
practice, fancy a dcarly-loved mem
Der Of your own family resting in these
haunts OF sorrow, guarded by hirelings
tenderness and care are meas
ured by the length of your purse and
their W unreasoning terrors,
without crediting the existing of
anything uncanny in the matter Il be-
lieve that there is q cause for every
had begun TO be considerably
puzzled myself Lifting the shrunkcn
wrist I sought for a trace of pulsation
the f~aintest would have given me a
lope--but cold and white az marble
he delicate hand lay in mine, 4 spray
If roses falling from the nerveless fin