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2 bination was shown by this movable phosphorescent phciKfrnenon. The rea fc>»n why the phantom should take the ?hape of a baud, I was nnabje to explain. But, had I been in perfect health, it would have occurred to me that clouds very often assume—sometimes with much distinctness —a resemblance to such every-day objects, os faces, forms, land scapes, animals, etc., and that we can sometimes recognize in the different shades of a glowing fire a display of the same nature. Even that night, after the departure of my unceremonious visitor, I think this was the explanation most satisfactory to my bewildered brain. Yes'/ I reasoned, ‘this phosphorescent luminosity must have been produced by some unusual constitution of the air in lfty bed-room. The draft through the key-hole is of a different character, and I have no doubt but that it is in the pro vince of chemistry to explain the result ing combination of reaction. The shape it has assumed, though, to my perception, looking as much like a hand as if it had been amputated from the arm of my sweetheart, might , to the sight of another, take any other form.’ I was determined to account for it, if possible ; so I took advantage of every plausible explanatory suggestion.” “ But why did it move away, as a thing of guilt, when I rose to light the candle ?” 'This question, which I had asked my self, was somewhat puzzling. But I soon made the following mental reply : “ The condition of tlie atmosphere— hitherto perfectly still—had been dis turbed by the movements I made on rising. The vibrations thus made had caused the luminous body to descend as if falling to the natural position of a hand at rest; and when I crossed the room to the mantel, a current of air, pos sibly imperceptible to myself, but, never theless, a current strong enough to dis turb every square inch of atmosphere in the room, had followed in my wake. This aerial motion, unperceived by a hu man being, had acted with a greater effect on the more sensitive ignisfatuus; and in the counter currents thus put in motion had borne the luminosity across the room, between myself and the bed— carried it to the darkest corner of the apartment, where it disappeared from sight.” I was too weary and restless on that nieht to have gone through the ratioci c c o nation by which I had partially arrived at this determination; but, for days, weeks and months afterward, I would endeavor to make this thing 1 accountable, and suc cumb to rational explanations. Fearing that I would be ridiculed as a soldier who feared ghosts so much as to give up bis room, I never mentioned this subject in the presence of my brother clerks Alone, I tried to get at the foundation of the mystery. And it was much more difficult for me to manufacture an ac ceptable theory for the second appear ance of the phantom, than I had found in accounting for its first manifestation. After a time, however, I added to my satisfaction by an extension of the hypo thesis I have already tried to explain. It will be remembered that when I returned to my couch and had nearly fallen asleep, the luminous hand again crossed the room ; that, when 1 first saw it on its reappearance, it was moving near the foot of my bed, and coming from the direction of the corner where I had made search for it. I again brought that part of chemistry that 7 don’t know to my aid. Like Count Fusco, I believe that if we were to learn this science thor oughly, we will have a stand-point from which we may “ move the world.”— Chemistry enters into the composition of all thiugs, and, if we master it, may we not explain all things ? This illumined vapor seemed to be very sensitive to the movements of the atmosphere, and I concluded that when the vibrations subsided, and the air of the room had become stilled, that it was again obliged to seek anew supply of oxygen, which was only to be found en tering at the key-hole ; hence its approach at that aperture. “ But why move off and open its fingers as if fearing an at tack ?” I had disturbed the stillness of the aerial particles, and it looked like ‘a hand defending itself from blows, only to my imagination, which was erethistically excited. About a month ag*o, when the events above described had altogether passed out of my memory, I made a visitnof several days to Yorktown. With me was my friend, Captain Morton, of Wil liamsburg. The Captain had an uncle living in the village, and we repaired mmediately to his house, i The historic old town had suffered but little change since I left it in April, 1862. On our way up from the wharf, I pointed out the old mansion which I had once oc cupied, and said to my companion that I should like to call on the family to whom it belonged. He told me that Mr. P. had returned, with his wife and —— 1 daughter, and said that we should go to see them after tea. assuring me, at the same time, that we should spend a most delighfcfuj evening. Seeing the house again, had reminded mo of pay experience with the hand. So I had told Mortofi the incident briefly. “ There is an old story about the house being* "haunted,” said he. “ Tell it me,” I said, surprised, and really very much interested. “ No. Let Mr. P. tell it himself this eveniug.” Mr. P. was a gentlemen of education, in whom the blending of dignity and jo viality would appear curious anywhere out of Virginia. His wife was a lady of gentle manners, with a face agreeably ir radiated by an expression of refinement and amiability. These, with their only daughter, Miss Essie, comprised the en tire family. Asa more lengthy descrip tion of this little household will not be to my purpose, I will merely observe that Miss Essie was a most attractive young lady, whose saccharine diathesis was be coming more and more developed by each successive year that was being added to that delightful age known as “ sweet sixteen.” Morton and I had previously agreed that it would be better for the family to remain in ignorance of the fact of my ever having been an occupant of the house, until we had drawn from Mr. P. his story of the ghost. These agreeable people, who had made me feel so perfect ly at home, had not the remotest sus picion, therefore, that I—a stranger an hour before—was equally as familiar with every apartment of their habitation as any member of the household. And I must be excused for saying, that frequent ly, during the past hour, when looking into Miss Essie’s bright eyes, I had caught myself wondering in which room she was probably accustomed to close them. [to be continued.] Mode of Freezing Decanters of Water. —Every Englishman who has been in Paris, brings away with him a recollection of the carafesfrapes—decan ters of frozen water—supplied iu such profusion at the cases and restaurants, and probably, often wishes that London was as liberably supplied. Anew estab lishment for supplying them to the cases, has recentlv been opened in Paris, and the mode in which the water is frozen, is said to be as follows: The decanters, two-thirds filled with water, which has been twice filtered, are placed in shallow tanks, in which salt water is made to circulate. Each tank contains a copper reservoir with a receiver containing ether. Large air-pumps, worked in this establish ment by a 16-horse power engine, ex hausts the air from the reservoirs, the ether in the receiver boils and passes rapidly away, in the state of vapor, and the temperature of the salt water, and the water in the decanters is soon reduced to 20 degrees below the freezing point. At this temperature, however, the water in the bottle remains liquid; but now a workman goes round, and with a glass rod, stirs the water in each decanter, and in an instant, “as if by enchantment,” it is changed to a mass of ice! At the establishment we notice 6250 carafe# are frozen daily, at what expense is not stated, but it need only be very small. Mechanics’ Magazine Henry Ward Beecher on Grammar. —Mrs Stowe gives a characteristic ac count of a grammatical exercise at which her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, as sisted in his school days. Young Beecher was about eleven years old, and as full of fun and mischief as at present. The teacher was drilling her pupils in the rudiments : “ Now, Henry,” said she, “A is the in definite article, you see, and must be used only with the singular number. You can say ‘a man’ but you can’t say ‘a men’ can you ? ” “Yes, I can say ‘amen’ too,” was the rejoinder. “Father says it always at the end of his prayers.” “ Come, Henry, don’t be joking ; de cline ‘he.’ ” “Nominative, he; possessive, his; ob jective, him.” “You see, ‘his’ is possessive. Now, you gau say ‘his book,’ but you cannot say ‘him book.’ ” “Yes, I do say ‘hymn book,’ too,” said the impracticable pupil, with a quizzical twinkle. Each one of these sallies made his young teacher laugh, which was the vic tory he wanted. “ But now, Henry, seriously, just at tend to the active and passive voice. Now, ‘I strike’ is active you see, because, it you strike, you do something. But ‘I am struck’ is passive, because, if you are struck, you don’t do anything, do you ? ” “Yes, I do ; I strike back again.” After about six months, Henry was returned on his parents’ hands, with the reputation of being an inveterate joker, and an indifferent scholar. MSBII- ©g BP HMJBB. From the Charleston Mercury. Democracy. “ Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God.’* The South, the South—proid mother of the grandest hero-throng That over drew the glittering glaive or rolled the battle song— \ ' ’Neath the tyrant’s heel of iron her glorious head lies low, And a shuddering world bears witness to the direness of her woe! ! Long have been he r years of sorrow, dark have been her days of pain, Since the cypress waved its tresses o’er her pale heroic slain! And with ever-growing anguish she has mourned above her dead, \ For their blood, a vain libation, was at Freedom’s altar shed! But, behold! a change Is coming, as the day to night succeeds, And the despot’s cheek is blanching as his victim faints and bleeds, For the victim’s chains are breaking, and upon her pallid brow Where a thousand woes have gathered, Freedom’s sunrise shineth now,! Freedom waves her mighty standard, and her voice once more we hear — Along the people’s serried ranks her bugle calleth clear! Hope hath touched her crown of sorrow—she is bold and she is strong, And a Nation’s ear is listening to her glorious battle song! The South, in her far orange groves, hath caught that bugle call— Freedom, freedom for the people—let the wolf eh tyrant fall! She reads on that broad banner—the banner of the free, Democracy to tyrants swift downfall doth decree. Laujia Gwyn. Geebnvillu, S. C., April, 1868. DORP’S DOPPEL-GANGER. BY FIDELIS. “Ach!” said Dorp, as we turned out to reveille, of an April day, “for the third time.” “What, for the third time ? ” asked I, for Dorp and myself were great friends, as you shall hear. “ Well, well,” said lie, “perhaps as Well now as at any other time. It had to come, I suppose.” And, herewith my crony Dorp said, “Ach!” once more; and-as I opened my mouth to ask again what in the world ho was talking about, ho added—“ Wait till after roll-call, and I’ll tell you.” There was no time for further parley. The last notes of the drum-beat were dying on the air, and our sergeant —a cross-grained, lantern-jawed son of Mars, was croaking out “Fall in!” Fall in we did, therefore, and were duly right dressed, and fronted, and atteutioned, and called over, one by one, after the fashion of all roll-calls at early morn since the bloody craft of soldiering began. Then came breakfast, (neither a very substan tial, nor circumstantial affair, let me tell you, in those days, consisting generally of a chunk of soddened bread, and a rank suspicion of greasy bacon fat,) and the usual routine of detail, and so on, until it was fairly a good two hours into the day, before Dorp and I “foregathered for our clavers,” as the Scotch would say. Fore gather, though, we did; and now, before unfolding Dorp’s oracular utterances, let me tell you who, and what, and where we were. Dorp, to begin, was an Austrian, a squatty sort of man in body, and of a face that was, to tell the truth, somewhat moon-like, as the Teutonic face divine is apt to be; but there was, within this tenement, as true a heart as ever beat be hind the breastplate of Achilles, or be neath the mail of Chevalier Bayard. This is high praise, perhaps, but poor Dorp merited it all. For myself, I was somewhat taller, yet by no means a son of Anak, somewhat slimmer, and, as I thought, something better off in point of looks. As to birth, I am an American, of the purest llolland-Knickerbocker- Dutchdcsceut, with just a sufficient toucli of Celtic to set my otherwise most stead fast disposition at odd times in a lightning heat. Let me add that we were, both of us, an’ it please you, gentle reader—for it most decidedl3 r did not please us— nothing more than that most unconsidered of all things, common soldiers. Often did we growl at the fate which seemed to delight in decorating other men with swords and sashes, while we, their betters, as we took it, had to be satisfied with musket and cartridge-box. We served in the—that is to say, we did not wear the bl—; woll, “not to put too fine a point upon it,” and to tell the truth, and shame the devil, we were two of “them bloody rebele” you may have heard about, and at the time I speak of, in the trenches at Yorktown, with a remarkably fine prospect of never getting out alive. We had been at Bull Bun with Longstreet, and at the first Manassas, under “ Bory,” as we called that fiery little Creole, Beauregard, and had marched from Fair fax under Joe Johnson, in order to help Magruder, if possible, out of his difficult —t *-—y- re position. On reaching the works they poked us at once, into a sort of dark, Mamp, noisome, marshy place, where we were like the traditional short-tailed bull in fly time, for on one side a Battery kept up a slow shelling upon us, and, on the other, certain marksmen of most grievous accuracy, picked us off’ every now and then—poor lambs!—while, for all the good our shooting did, we might as well have pulled trigger on the base of the Himalaya Mountains. Added to this, that the water was of a beautiful slimy green, very lovely to see, but disgusting to taste, and the rations unleavened bread, and some wormy meat that lnd run the blockade, and you can imagine that our lines were hardly lines of pleasantness, and the place we had to hold a most un peaceful place indeed. However, we were in for it, and some thought of dear ones far away, and a spice of the ancient Adam, and a dream of Dixie-Land all glorious, with nothiug for a soldier to do, but live off* the fat of the land, and be fanned by a dozen Darkies, kept us well up to the work. As I said, Dorp was an Austrian, from one of the German provinces, and thoroughly imbued with German mysti cism. He had been at some grand Col lege or other, and then had taken a turn as Captain in the line, during the Italian War of the third Disgusted at the beating that crafty old rogue gave the Kaiser in that slight unpleasantness, Dorp prowled about Europe for a while, after the peace, then took service with some wild Circassian scaramouehe, made too much love to the women of the tribe, and was finally glad to beat a retreat back to continental Europe, thence to Eng land, and finally, after being tossed hither and thither, was jostled by fate into the Confederate ranks with me. Here Dorp and I, ate of the same crust, and slept in the same blanket, and drew consolation when rations were light, and promotion invisible, out of the same tobacco pouch; and the best of friends could do no more. On the morning, then, that I have spoken of, in April, 1862, when we had gotten together, we freshened up things with a growl, that most delicious of luxu ries, and then filled our pipes, and entered on business, Dorp taking the lead. “ Caus,” said he—l had been a sort of lawyer before the war, and it was his way to style me Causidicus, ‘ Caus,’ for short—“ I promised to tell you what I was talking about when that fool drum struck up. Well, I had a dream last night, and all I’ve got to say is, that I hope you’ll pull through better than I am doomed to. We’re going to have some eggs broken before long, and my shell is among the cracked ones. There’s going to be a battle, and it will be my last, obi Caus!” And here, the kind eyes of the dear old boy looked at me, in a way that made me think that this war, and glory* was but a poor lot, take it altogether. I knew lie meant that lie hadn’t long to live, and hated to leave me; and when you love a man, you know it’s very hard to even think he’s got to go. So, when the first shock passed, I tried to pooh pooh the prophecy, and talked about the fallacy of dreams, and even ventured on a chaste tale of a Preacher who dreamed he was in Heaven, and found, on walking, another man kissing his wife, which, for a well-regulated Clergyman, must have been next door to the other place; but it would not do. There was something singularly earnest, and affectionate in Dorp’s eyes, as he continued: “Yes, I tell you the thing is fixed. I have seen him, and for the third time. But, pshaw!” said he, brightening up, “you won’t understand me in this way, so I must tell you of the doppel-ganger J' “Doppel what? said I, breaking in. “What’s the it? “ Doppel-ganger he replied, repeat ing the word. “The doppel-ganger is you—your other self. Where do you suppose you go, when you dream or have visions? You are lying in your bed, are you not, or sitting in your chair, and yet you are a thousand thousand miles, and a thousand thousand years away, in the other world, or at some far-away cor ner of the earth, talking to Socrates, or hob-nobbing with Cresar, or feeling reve rential, and subdued, before some of the old Saints or martyrs. Well, that is the doppel-ganger . The man of the blood and the bones, and the weight is fast asleep and stationary, but the other man, the doppel-ganger , is far, far away in other lands, or times, or company; and when you say you dream, you only mean, in reality, that when the blood-and bones man wakes up, he remembers where the doppel-ganger has been, what he lias seen, and felt, and heard, and said. All men have the doppel-ganger —the “double-goer,” in English; but most men are never aware of it. My doppel-ganger has twice before warned me, but 1 never knew it to be such, until this third time.” “Pooh!” said I, though Dorp talked so calmly, that I was greatly shaken, “this is only some of your German mysticisms. Your people always dwell in eloud-laini an’, considering that “empty stomucl* makes full dream,” the Mate* of o ur rr ‘* tions for some time back, has put all thj nonsense into your noddle. Os course |we may have a battle—it id just what we came for; but, I’ll bet we Loth come out as safely as we have done from the ; others.” "Ach!” said he, for when excited, he ■ would bring out this guttural, from th> very pit of his stomach, “the dopjp. ganger is no dream, if it does come dreams; and it does not always and, so There was a Hesse-Cassel man, whose case is well known in the Colleges of mv Fatherland, who thought as you think and laughed us 4 all to scorn, till it proved itself. ‘Come to my Castle,’ said h e . ‘’tis an old place in the Schwarz-wald and, if there be ghosts, there is the very Paradise for them.’ So, some dozen of us went with him, and it did come, be had a doppel-ganger , and saw it, though we could not—saw it in broad day, and true t» his word, told us he had seen an appearance like himself; ‘but then,’ said he, ‘’tis only a deception— s< .medium wrong with my eyes. It will not speak to me. [ have tried to grasp it. It j 8 nothing but the fancies you have put in .my head.’ One of our number then said ‘Did it ever enter a door with you? ‘Yes,’ said he, ‘and held each time its hand to its mouth.’ ‘Then.’ said the student, a wild fellow from Dantzis, who cared for nothing—‘Then put sand on thy chamber floor, and leap from the door ( way ten feet into the room.’ So he did; and I will tell thee, Caus, that the foot prints of the doppel-ganger dinted the i smooth sand, over which the Castellan | had leapt. What followed, think’st thou? ’ j said Dorp, and his eyes flashed fire. Tn : three short weeks thence, that Castellan I did put his hand to his month, but a pistol ! was in it, and he shot out, in his Castle in ! the Schwarz-wald, his own brains!” Here came a dead silence. We eyed each other for a few moments, and then Dorp resumed. “Wherefore, my Caus, I say it hath shown to me a red stain at the girdle, and the ball is now there”— shaking his finger towards the hostile works—“that is to pierce me at the middle. ’Tis the third time, though before, I knew not that it was my dopp ■ ganger. When I served with Feramorz there was a beautiful Circassian worn:.; of his tribe that favored me, though thou know’st I am no Adonis, and Feramorz was as noble as the god of war, and loved her well. W hat couid Ido ? I had iu interest m the wild mountaineer, hut to fight by his side, since I had espoused Id ealise against the Bussians voluntarily; while on the other hand, our warfare v n but dismal work, and this Ahmairla, as they called her, was*as divinely lovely Venus. You may imagine what folic rod; and, with her soft kiss yet throb!dr :• 1 my lips, there came to me that nig it. a vision of one whose form was like ink, hut whose face I could not see, for it buried in his hands, he wept so bitterly. Two days afterwards, Feramorz huri l Ahmairla over a precipice; and when I had dashed up to him, too late to save her, he pointed to the steep, and said that when the Liberty of Circassia was achiev ed, I should meet him there, and on •or the other o's us should take then the same fall. I hacked him down upon his kiicn and, though he shot me slightly in the arm, hurled him over, without waiting tor the day of his challenge. Hard work I had to get away, but get away I did; a; i then I wept for poor Ahmairla, who loved me with all her wild mountain heart, ai i died for me, because she loved me to well. “In Stuttgardt my doppel-yanger can-; a second time. All night long it p«a-‘ cl ten paces, and then turned, and pact, ten paces back: and, sure enough, w.tiim the week, a brute of a Captain of Cm mi ncers had me out, and, after lighting ko an hour with swords, and no damage J 11,; they paced out ten steps, and gave i pistols, and down I went with a bad y the hip, that tortured me nearly a year, mi the whole faculty were in the highest of excitement, at the fact that am mortally wounded, by all the rules ot art should live so lung. And again, night, for the third time, I saw this t*V pel-ganger in my dreams, and kn ,w y tor my own self, my free self- — :rcJ know ad the time-secrets—free t> p : trate the husk of the future —free t ine, the man of blood, and weighty >• bones, what I of the body, could not * in the body. It came iu my siUi r before, my height as before, but nt “ with tears, as at first, nor pacing, ‘ he second time, but steadfastly looki-- on me with my own face; and, " i: '•' eyes had burned into mine, it showo y the girdle red with blood, and theu ■ backward, and then rose again, looked again, and grew red again waist-belt, and fell again; and 1, 0 body, saw my other self of the futur*-, ■ doppel-ganger; and the dopi>el-J a means I am to die.”