The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1915-02-11

m URING the whole of dull,
I'M dark and sOundlcss day In the
III autumn ~ the year when the
- clouds hung progressively low
In the heavens. | had been passing
alone ON horseback. through singular
~ dreary tract Of country. aud at
length found myself, as the shades Of
evening grew ON. within view Of the
melancholy House Of Usher | know
not how Il was, but. with the first
glimpse OF the building. a sense Of in
sufferable gloom pervaded my spirit
looked upon the scene before me-
upon the mere house and the simple
landscape features Of the domain,
upon the blsSk walls. upon the vacant
eyelike windows. upon few rank
sedges and upon n few white trunks u
decayed trees. with an utter depression
Of soul which ! can compare 60 M
earthly sensation more properly than
10 the after dream Of the revelcr upon
opium. the bitter lapse into every day
life, the hideous dropping Of the veil.
There was an iciness. sinking. a
sickening Of the heart. an hnredeemed
dreariness Of thought which no goad
ing OF the imagination could torture
into aught OF the sublime. ! refined
my horse to the precipitous brink " a
black and lurid tarn that lay IN un.
ruftied ulster 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 | now proposed To myself a 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 81 the
country-a letter from him-which. In
its wildly importunate nature. had ad
mitted Of no other than personal ~
ply. The manuscript gave evidence OF
nervous agitation. The writer spoke
OF acute bodily illness. of mental dis
order which oppressed him aud of au
earnest desire Ia see me as his best
and. indeed his only personal friend
with view IT attempting by the
cheerfulness of my sUciety some al
deviation OF his malady
Although ~ bays We had been even
| intimate associates yet ! really knew
little 1T my friend Ills reserve had
been always excessive aud habitna
was aware. however that his very
\ ancient family had he,.n noted time
out of mind. for n peculiar Sensibility
OF temperament displaying itself
through hong ages IN many works Oi
| exalted aH nud manifested IT late IN
repeated deeds Of muuihcent yet un
sionate deviation 10 the intricncie~ per
haps even more than 10 the orthodox
| and easily recognizable beauties. ol
musical Scicuc- had learned. too
the very remarkable fact that "a,
stem ~ the Usher mce. al time hon
Ored as II was. had pat forth AZ no pc
riod any enduring braurh IN Other
words that the entir, family lny In
the direct line 1T descent aud had ai
ways. with very trihlng and very TEN
| p0rary variation. 80 tain II WAS thi,
deficiency. perhaps 1T cnllnterui issu,
aud the consequent underwriting trans
mission from sire ~ son IT the patri
mnny with the name which had al
length so identhed the two rs q
mrrer the original title of the estate
IN the quaint and rquivocal appella
iiun nf the "IIod~e Of Usher an ap
pcllntion which seemed 20 include IL
the minds OF the peasantry who used
II bath the family and the mansion.
When again upllfted my eyes "a
the house itself frum IT. Image In the
poul there grew In my mind a strange
fancy I hnd 80 worked upon my i'm
agiuation rs really To believe that
about the whole mansion aud domain
there hung Hu atmosphere peculiar Ia
themselves and their immediate vicini
~ ma atmosphere which had no aim
iiy with the air Of heaven. but which
had ree'ed up from the decayed trees
pnd the gray wall aud the silent tarn-
pcstilent and mystic vapor dull
sluggish. family discernible and leaden
hued
Shaking IN from my spirit what
must have been dream. | scanned
more narrowly the real aspect 81 the
building lts principal feature seemed
10 he that of an excessive antiquity
The discOlOratiOn ~ ages had been
great. Minute fungi oversprad the
whole exterior. hanging In line tan
gled wrbwork from the caves Yet all
this was apart from any extraordinary
dilnpidaiion Perhaps the eye ~ y scru
timing observer might have discover