The Sunday globe., 1901-07-21
STARTLED THE WATCHES.
A Weird Incident that Occurred at
the Bier of SchOpenhauer.

A very curious story by Guy de Maui
passant has come to light in Paris. Ac-
cording to Maupassant's manuscript,
the story was told to him by a German
who, with a friend, spent the night in
Scnopenhauer's funeral chamber The
great German philosopher had died
during the dark hours.
Said the German: "Schopenhauer
had just died, and we two had decided
to stay in his room until morning. Two
lights We're burning on the table. At
midnight our watch began, and after
the two others who had remained with
the body till that hour had gone away
we took up our position at the foot of
the bed The face Of the dead man was
unchanged. II smiled The wrinkle
which we knew so well was firmly
marked, and the countenance looked
altogether 80 natural that it would not
have surprised MS if our dead friend
had opened his eyes and laughed at us.
Yet the memory of his profound
thoughts weighed upon us, and we felt
ourselves surrounded by the atmos-
phere Of his genius. The body of such
man may be stilled in death, but
the man himself remains, and not with
out fear can one remain in his pres
ence. We spoke about him softly; we
recalled those wonderful maxims Of his
which threw such a clear light on
many of the dark problems of life
81 can almost fancy ! hear him
speak whispered my companion, and
at the mere thought we became still
more uneasy as we sat quite still, our
eyes fixed on the motionless, smiling
face. Suddenly we felt weak and as
though something oppressed us. l
stammered. / don't know what is the
matter but / assure you / am sick
Thereupon my companion suggested
that we should go into the adjoining
room and leave the door open. and |
took his advice Taking with us one Of
the candles, We sat down at the farther
end of the other room in such a man
ner that we had a full view of the bed
and of the dead man.
Still, however, strange uneasiness
possessed us. II seemed as though we
We're wholly enthralled by the disem.
bodied genius Of the dead philosopher
All at once we heard a slight noise
in the death chamber. We looked to-
ward the body, and then quite distinct.
ly both of us saw something white roll
over the bed fall on the carpet and
vanish under a sofa. At the sight we
sprang to our feet, terrified beyond
measure. Our hearts beat wildly 7
spoke first;
Did you see it%
Yes, ] saw it,
Isn't he dead, then?
HE must be-
What are we to do?
We must see what it means was
my companions hesitating reply.
81 took our light, led the way into
the death chamber, and then cast a
hasty look around, Nothing stirred.
and I approached the bed The next
moment however, a great terror seized
me, for ! saw that Schopenhauer was
no longer smiling. His face, on the
contrary, presented a horrible appear.
ance, for his lips were tightly pressed
together, and in his checks there were
two great hollows. ! stammered He
is not dead, and | stood staring at him
as though bereft OF my senses.
"Thereupon my companion took the
other candle and stopped down, and in
a moment or two he touched my arm,
but did not utter a word. looked
where he pointed, and ! saw on the
ground beside the sofa something
white that cleaned strangely on the
dark carpet, and saw at once what 1t
was. II was Schopenhauer's false
teeth, and they seemed to be in the act
of biting. As the body had decayed the
fastening that held the teeth in posi-
tion had gradually become so loose that
they dropped from the mouth and roll
ed from the bed on to the floor"