Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-16
WORLD FAMOUS STORIES
THE HOUSE OF USHER.
BY EDGAR ALLEN POE.

Edsar Allan Poe, lSos-ls4s. was an Amer
icsn poet and Storv-Wrttev, H "eSt nov
Forks include The Raven" The MaSau'
Geld Bus" ete.1
Roderick Usher had been one of my
boon companions in boyhood. So wher
he summoned me 10 his gloomy man.
sion. went. though I thought his let
ter very strange and fun OF foreboding.
The letter gave evidence OF nervous
agitation. The writer, indeed, spoke of
acute bodily illneSS-of a mental dis
order which oppressed him-and of an
earnest desire TO see me. as his best
and his only personal friend.
really knew very little about Rod
erick Usher But to reach his house
I had 10 pass. during the whole of a
dull. dark and SoundieSs Autumn day,
on horseback. through a singularly
dreary tract of country I found N.Y.
self. Just at evening, viewing the melan-
choly House OF Usher With the
first glimpse OF the building, insuffer-
able gloom perVaded my spirit, ! looked
up at the bleak hOuse-upon the va
cant eye-like windowS--upon few rank
grassland upon a few white trunks
OF decayeo trees-with an utter de-
preston OF soul
What was it that so unneryed me in
the contemplation of the house of
Usher2 It was an insoluble mystery.
Thinking about it. I refined my horse
10 the precipitous brink of a black and
mrio lake and gazed down-but with
q sF1udder more thrilling than before
upon the images OF the ghastly trees
and the vacant and eye-like windows
OF the House OF Usher.
l entered there. to stay some weeks
But the more / thought about the
gloom the more my fancied impression
Of Ii grew. so worked upon nv
Imagination as to believe that about
the whole mansion there hung an at
n1oSpheTe peculiar TO itself and the i'm
mediate ricinity-5an atmosphere which
had no relation with the air of Heaven.
but which had reeked up from the
decayed trees. and the gray wall, and
the silent lake-a pestilent and mystic
vapor. dull. sluggish, family discernibIe
and leaden-hued
Surely man had never before so ter
rlhly altered, in so brief a period, as
had Roderick Usher 1t was with diff
Guilty that could bring myself to ad-
nit the identity OF the wan being be-
fore me with the companion of my
boyhood. Yet his expression had al
ways been like that OF corpse: his
eyes large. liquid and luminous beyond
comparison: thin and pallid lips His
skin vas now more than ever pale. and
has thin. silk -like hair had grown until
u surrounded the face and made it
seem not human
He lived with his sister who was a
victim Of fits and attacks of suspended
animation. While there with him. /
vas present at his sisters death. We
buried her in an inner tomb of the
mansion. behind walls Of stone After
some days OF mourning and bitter grief.
Usher resumed his life with me as his
companion, and, as before, often read
20 him.
One night. unable TO sleep. and with
my imagination constantly aeitated bv
my melancholy surroundings. / felt
about my heart feeling of inexplain-
able alarm Shaking this off with a
gasp and struggle. I upiifted myself
on the pillows, and peering earnestly
INTO the intense darkness OF the cham
BET. I listened 10 certain low and in
Definite sounds which came. through
the paiISes OF 2 violent storm raging
outside. at long intervals from / knew
no. where.
OKefpo~ered By an intense sentiment
OF horror, / threw on nay clothes with
haste and endeaY0red to arouse mygell
from nay pitiable condition by PACING
ap3c!y 10 and fro in my room / had
taken but few turns In this manner
when step nearby attracted my AT
tention. / presently recognized it a.
that Of Usher. An instant afterward
he raped at my door and entered
bearing lamp. His manner appalled,
me, but anything was better than being
alone
You have not seen it," he asked
abruptly, and he went TO the window,
and threw them wide open.
The storm outside was indeed violent
for the entering gust almost blew us of
our feet. / looked out There was NJ
sign Of moon or stars. nor any fiashinI
Of lightning. But the under surface
Of the moving clouds. as veil Is earthI
objects around US, were glowing viii
tins unnatural light Of family iuminou
end distinctly visible gaseous exhalafiol
which hung about and enshrouded tn
mansion.
Fearing for my friends sanity,
pulled him back and made him 81
down wf1iie ] read to him. The boo
] picked up by chance. II 81 happene