The Irish standard., 1915-05-08
PART /.


~ URING the whole of dull,
lin dark and soundless day in the
/" autumn Of the year, when the
~ clouds hung oppressively low
In the heavens, had been passing
alone on horseback, through singular
~ dreary tract Of country, and at
length found myself, as the shades of
evening grew on, within view of the
melancholy House Of Usher. I know
not how it was, but, with the first
glimpse Of the building, sense Of in
sufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.
l looked upon the scene before me-
upon the mere house and the simple
landscape features of the domain,
upon the bleak walls, upon the vacant
eyelfke windows, upon a few rank
sedges and upon few white trunks of
decayed trees, with an utter depression
OF seul which l can compare to no
earthly sensation more properly than
to the after dream Of the reveler upon
opium, the bitter lapse into every day
life, the hideous dropping of the veil.
There was an iciness, sinking,
sickening Of the heart, an unredeemed
dreariness Of thought which no goad-
ing of the imagination could torture
into aught of the sublime. I refined
my horse to the precipitous brink of
black and lurid tarn that lay in I'M
rufaed luster by the dwelling and
gazed down, but with a shudder even
more thrilling than before, upon the
remodeled and inverted images of the
gray sedge and the CHASTITY tree stems
and the vacant and eyelike windows.
Nevertheless in this mansion of
gloom 1 now proposed to myself So
journ Of some weeks. Its proprietor.
Roderick Usher, had been one of my
boon companions in boyhood, but many
years had elapsed since our last meet
ing. A letter, however, had lately
reached me in distant part of the
country-a letter from him-which, in
its wildly importunate nature, had ad-
mitted of no other than a personal re-
ply. The manuscript gave evidence OF
nervous agitation. The writer spoke
of acute bodily illness, Of mental dis
order which oppressed him and of an
earnest desire to. see me as his best
and. indeed, his only personal friend,
with view Of attempting by the
cheerfulness of my society some al
deviation Of his malady.
Although as boys we had been even
intimate associates, yet I really knew
little Of my friend. His reserve had
been always excessive and habitual.
I was aware, however, that his very
ancient family had been noted, time
out of mind, for peculiar sensibility
Of temperament, displaying itself
through long ages in many works of
exalted art and manifested Of late in
repeated deeds Of munifcent vet un-
obtrusive charity as well as in a pas
sionate devotion to the intricacies, per-
haps even more than to the orthodox
and easily recognizable beauties. Of
musical science. had learned. too.
the very remarkable fact that the
stem of the Usher race. all time hon.
ored as it was. had put forth at no Pc
Rod any enduring branch-in other
words. that the entire family lay in
the direct line Of descent and had al
ways, with very trifing and very tenn
porary variation. so lain. 1t was this
deficiency. perhaps. of collateral issue
and the consequent undertaking trans
mission from sire to son of the patri-
mony with the name which had at
length so identified the two as to
merge the original title Of the estate
in the quaint and equivocal appella-
ton Of the House of Usher"-an ap-
pellatien which seemed to include in
the minds of the peasantry who used
1t both the family and the mansion.
When 1 again uplifted my eyes to
the house itself from its image in the
pool there grew in my mind strange
fancy. I had SO worked upon my i'm
agination as really to believe that
about the whole mansion and domain
there hung an atmosphere peculiar to
themselves and their immediate vicini-
ty-aR atmosphere which had no afin-
ity with the air of heaven. but which
had reeked up from the decayed trees
and the gray wall and the silent tarn-
pestilent and mystic vapor. dull.
sluggish. family discernible and leaden
hued.
Shaking of from my spirit what
must have been dream. l scanned
more narrowly the real aspect of the
building. It's principal feature seemed
to be that of an excessive antiquity.
The discoloration Of ages had been
great. Minute fungi overspread the
whole exterior. hanging in fine tan
gled webwork from the caves. Yet all
this was apart from any extraordinary
dilapidation. Perhaps the eye Of scru-
tinizing observer might have discover
ed a barely perceptible assure which.
extending from the root Of the build
ing in front, made its way down the
wall in a zigzag direction until it be-
came lost In the sullen waters Of the
tarn.
Noticing these things, rode over a
short causeway to the house. A serv-
ant in waiting took my horse. and l
entered the Gothic archway Of the
hall. A valet of stealthy step thence
conducted me in silence through many