Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-06-24
CHAPTER ".

had not yet risen. | must certainly
wait till bread day before l could hope
to attract by my shouts any stray
person who might pass through the
cemetery. Meanwhile, a fantastic idea
suggested itself. l would go and
look at my own coffin! Why not? It
would be a novel experience The
sense Of fear had entirely deserted me;
the possession of that box of matches
was sufficient to endow me with alb
solute nardihoOd. | picked up the
church-candle and lighted it; it gave
at first feeble flicker, but afterwards
burned with a clean and steady flame
Shading it with one hand from the
draught, | gave a parting glance at
the fair daylight that peeped smilingly
in through my prison door, and then
went downtown again into the dis
NAL place where l had passed the
night in such indescribabIe agony
Numbers of lizards glided from my
feet as | descended the steps, and
when the flare of my torch penetrated
the darkness | heard scurrying of
wings mingled with various kissing
sounds and wild cries. | knew now
knew better what abOminable
things had habitation in this store
house of the dead, but 1 felt I could
defy them all, armed with the light |
carried. The way that had seemed so
long in the dense gloom was brief and
easy, and | soon found myself at the
scene of my unexpected awakening
from sleep. The actual body of the
vault was square-shaped, like a small
room inclosed within high walls-walls
which were scooped out in various
places so as to form inches in which
the narrow Baskets containing the
bones of all the departed members of
the Romani family were placed one
above the other like SO many bales of
goods arranged evenly on the shelves
of an ordinary warehouse. | held the
candle high above my head and looked
about me with a morbid interest.
soon perceived what | sOught--my own
coffin.
There it was in a niche some five feet
from the ground. it's splintered por-
tions bearing decided witness to the
dreadful struggle I had made to OBJ
tain my freedom | advanced and ex-
amined it closely. 1t was a frail
shell enOrgh-unlined, unornamented
a wretched sample of the under
takers art, though God knows I hal
no fault to find with it's workmanship,
or with the haste of him who fastened
it. Something shone at the bottom
Ey f,f OH
silver. That good monk again! His
conscience had not allowed him to see
me buried without this sacred symbol;
he had perhaps laid it on my breast as
the last service he Gould render me: it
bad fallen from thence, no doubt.
when had wrenched my way through
the boards that inclOsed me. [ took
it and kissed it reverent1y-I resolved
thai if ever I met the holy father again,
| would ten him my story, and as a
proof of its truth, restore to him this
cross, which he would be sure to
recognize. Had they put my name on
the coffin-lii? | wondered? Yes. there
it was-painted on the wood in coarse,
black letters, 'FabiO ROmanT'-then
followed the date of my birth; then a
short latin inscription. stating that I
had died of cholera on August Is, 1884
That was yesterday-o yesterday!
I seemed to hayelived a century since
then.
| turned to look at my fathers rest
ing-place. The velvet on his coffin
hung from its sides in holding rem
nants-but it was not so utterly damp
Destroyed and worm-eaten as the
soaked and indistinguishable material
that still clung to the massive oaken
chest in the next niche, where she
lay-she from whose tender arms I
had received my first embrace-She in
whose loving eyes | had first beheId
the world! | knew by sort of instinct
that it must have been with the frayed
fragments ON her coffin that my fingers
had idly played with in the darkness. /
counted as before, the bits of metal
eight bits lengthwise and four bits
across-and on my fathers close cas-
ket there were ten silver plates length
wise and five across. My poor little
mother! | thought of her picture
y
ture of d young, smiling, dark-haired
beauty, whose delicate tint was as
that of peach ripening in the summer
sun. All that loneliness had decayed
into-what? I shuddered involuntarily
then l knelt humbly before those
two sad hollows in the cold stone. an(
implored the blessing of the dead and
gone beloved ones to whom, while
they lived, my welfare had been dear
While I occupied this kneeling position
the flame of my torch fell directly OF
some small object that glittered with
remarkably luster. | went to examine
it; it was a ieweled pendant composed
of one large pearlshaped pearl, Sc
round with fine rose brilliants! Sur
rrised at this discovery, looked abou
to see where such a valuable gem coult
possibly have come from I ther
noticed an unusually large coffin ly
ing sideways on the ground; it appear
ed as if it had fallen suddenly AM
with force for numbec of loose stone
and mortar were sprinkled near 1t
Holding the light close to the ground
| observed that niche exactly below
the enc in which l had been laid wa
empty, and that a considerable portion
or the wall there was broken away
| then remembered that when l ha
sprung so desperately out of my mar