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prove so firm under the anticipa
ted adventure* us to warrant my
further progre -gs in the science t
had selected IV >r life. The inci
dents of a col i. ege life also rela
ted to me by «—>ur worthy precop-;
tor, I)r. 11 ,had no little ten-!
deucy to keep up that mental ex
citement v,hie had already been
enkindled by t lie keenness of my
natural sensibilities. Whilst in
my moments o i retirement 1 often
reflected on t ric fearlullness of a
scene sorepuf sive to my nature,
as the one in -which I was about;
to engage, till •lie goodness of my
heart had almost driven me to ;t
--bandon the profession of my
choice, and se for a livelihood
in a way morc3 congenial to my
nature.
It was a bleaky evening in Feb
ruary, just at tl ie verge of twilight,
when all nature began to wear the
sombre appearance of night, and
the busy stree ts of the city were
assuming that beautiful cast they
present under -The reflection of its
myriad lights, as 11 and my
sell were cn* Jiigert together in
close conversation, concerning
something wh Ich just at that time
interested us v rry much; we were
interrupted by tho entrance of a
tlnrd person non the stage, who
evidently bore3 about his appear
ance the consciousness oi an 1111-
assumed su.x riority.
44 Gentlememi,” said Dr. B ,
tor tiiis was it one other than the,
personage already introduced to
the reader as croijr preceptor, 44 the j
long wished tVjr opportunity has'
arrived wjien you may obtain a |
subject for fie purpose of anatom-!
ical demonstr millions —if you will I
only nerve up yourselves withal
proper degrees of courage to go
in quest ol it, --when buried. Late
this afternoon I was called in con
sultation unarm the case of a poor
man w!io, Is sispeet, has by this
tune breathed his last. llis dis
ease was certainly a very intri
cate one, and to-morrow we have
agreed to hold a post mortem on
the body. 1 leave it with your
selves to male such preparations
as you deem necessary—in the
mean time, 21 promise to assist,
you all I can i 11 the furtherance of
vour knowledge of medical sci
ence.” We shanked the Doctor
kindly for flu promise of bis as
sistance, and sis he was one of the
most humane and feeling of men,
I was encouraged to enter upon
the undertaking with a much
greater hope success,
Early the naext morning an as
semblage 0! physicians, about the
humble dwell Ing of the deceased,
gave evident symptoms of their
intentions up>oa the bo ly ; and,
among the re*st, R and my
sell termed no unimportant or un
interested paxrt of the assemblage:
for onr intent ion was not merely
to participate- in the pathological
observations -that might be enter
ed into, but ;l Iso for the more sig
nificant purpt >se of making such
enquiries in 1- elation to the burial
<d the deceits and iiis standing
in life, as give us a clue to
operate upon in stealing tvv tv the
body. It did not take us long to
learn that he was the husband of
a-heartless woman, who had left
him in the moments of extreme
sickness to his own fate, nor ten
dered so much as a cup of cold
water to his fevered lips, whilst
lying in the agonies of death.—
The only request which the dy
ing man had seemingly made was
tb it he might be buried beside his
only child, in a neighboring grave
yard, distant from the city nearly
two miles. This information sui
ted our purposes exactly, as the
place of rendezvous was much
more retired than that within the
immediate precincts of the city.
One circumstance, however, stag
gered my religion no little, the
fact of our being necessitated to
take him from die side of the lit
tle child for whom he had evin
ced all the affection of a fond pa
rent. These scruples, however,
w ere so severely ridiculed by my
associate that L was almost asha
med to mention any more objec
tions. The post mortem pro
ceeded in the usual ruthless way
physicians have of preying on
dead bodies, and before it had
terminated 1 had gathered suffi
cient courage to handle some of
the internal viscera. The imme
diate cause of death seemed to
have had connection with an en
larged and indurated omentum,
which had given him in hie very
much the appearance of an asci
tic. All things being satisfactor
ily adjusted, and the body care
iully sow ed up again, the sons of
Esculapius began to retire, one
by one, until all had gone but
if and myself, who had re
mained until the coffin bad been
deposited 111 the hearse and the
soxton drove oil*, leaving us to
our own reflections or observa
tions.
it now became necessary for
us, in proceeding farther with the
important matter in hand, to fer
ric oin tile particular place of de
posit, before the shades of even
ing had indiscriminately mantled
nil in the garb ol darkness and
silence. ()ur restless spirits could
not long remain in the study, or
it there, they were more busily
engaged in projecting schemes
lor the anticipated adventure,than
imbibing knowledge from the
books we were reading. After
allowing sufficient time, as we
conjectured, ior the performance
ot tiie last solemn obsequies of
burial, and the return of the sex
ton, we set out upon our expedi
tion with throbbing hearts and
breasts,elate with the hope of suc
cess. Scarce, however, had we
arrived at the foot of the hill, up
on whose majestic summit the
plat ot another Auburn lay in all
its glory, than we saw the emblem
ol deatii returning sullenly from
the gloomy abode, where it had
left the mortal remains of our ex
pected victim.
“ There is another mess,” said
R , “ what in the deuce will
become of us if this son of Styx
should take it into his head to op
pose our undertaking ?”
“ W liy,” suit! I, we will be
shot tit like; a parcel of hignwav
robbers I suppose, and in all pro
bability be destined to fall mglo
riously on the field of the dead.
What shall we do? To return
at this stage of the game would
excite more suspicion than w ere
w e to proceed dauntlessly on our
way.”
44 i have it!” said R , 44 let
us enquire the way to some neigh
boring house, w here the inference
may be drawn that some invalid
is lying who expects our atten
dance.”
44 A good thought,” said I, and
with that we hastened on, making
the necessary enquiry of tire sex
ton, who with all the good nature
immaginahle gave us our wonted
information. It took but little re
search alter our arrival at the
grave yard, to find the spot of
earth which had been so recently
shovelled, where the poor man
lay beside bis infant child. Here
again my heart sickened at the
prospect, hilt lor the sake of my
reputation, as a brave man, and a
votary ol science, I resolved, at
all hazards, to give no more hints
of cowardice to my friend. As,
by this time, it was growing to
wards the close of another day,
we hastened on our return to
make such preperations as be
came necessary in the acting out
the even if ui scenes which were
to fill up the chasm of another
night. Dr. B li id promised
to furnish us witii assistants and
tar necessary implements tor our I
intended expedition, all of whom j
w ere to be ready or the march at
11 o'clock. During the intervecn,
winch occurred between the
hours ol ten and the appointed
time, R and myself, with the
auditing of II ——, another stu
dent, were busily engaged in put
ting on our masks and preparing
our arms. We so managed it as
to completely metamorphose our
wearing apparel, adding very
much 10 the fierceness of our ap
pearance, by a huge pair of false
whiskers ; in lact, so completely
altered did we seem in our gener
al habit and appearance that our
most ultimate friends were com
pletely at a loss to find out who
we were. \V e also added to our
costume each a pair of pistols—
not. so much lor ornament as to
he able to defend ourselves in
case ol an attack, which we did
not deem to be an impossible
thing. For my own part, taking
into consideration our contact
with the Sexton and a few other
circumstances, I was led to anti
cipate some such rencountre, and
thought we acted but the part of
wise and prude # nt men to prepare
for the onset.
Just as the clock struck eleven,
when the streets of the city began
to assume the appearance of a
long line of deserted habitations,
and the few lights which yet feeb
ly gleamed across the pavements
presentented to view an occasion
al straggler, who was in the hab
it ol keeping late hours, there
was seen to emerge from between
the confines of a narrow alley in
Main-street, two strange looking
personages who evidently seemed
to be but little acquainted with the
geography of the place. This
gave rise to various enquiries
concerning certain points of the
city, as the freaks of their fancy
directed, w hich while it rendered
them still more the objects of sus
picion in certain particulars, di
verted the attention from the
more absorbing subject, which,
as they knew so well made them
conjecture that every other per
son was perfectly well acquainted
with. To a sober eye, they
might have also presented the ap
pearance of certain persons who
had been mingling in the boister
ous feasts oi Bacchus.
MEDICUS.
[to he continued.]
For the Southern Post.
(4.) THE SCRIBBLER.
FLYING.
“ What ? how! the devil, sir! do von suppose
Fu tru«t my bones in that frail thing of ropes, to
rise
Above where ever hawk and buzzard rose—
Chasing the lorn? tailed comet through the skies ;
Like tom-cat, tied with hollow pumpkin to a kite,
Some stormy night, among the clouds, old maids to
fright.’
A good old Minister, among
mv juvenile reminiscences, used
to remark that the bursting forth
oi the soul 44 at death’s release”
from this tabernacle of clay, was
l ike the bursting forth of a cliick
en from the egg-shell—only, on a
more infinite scale; the freed, un
cramped spirit immediately ex
panding, divested itself of all en
cumbrance, casting far behind the
iron shackles of gravitation and
leaden weight of earthly affec
tions, and soared at will from
point to point in the vast space
around 11s in a moment of time.—
Sometimes when the corporeal
pow ers are the most lax and indo
lent, ’tis then the mind is most
vivid, the imagination most wild,
extravagant and fantastical in its
gyrations, full of whimsies and
strange fantasies. At such times
I have often imagined I should
like the power of flying thus:
without limit, without let or hin
drance—to dash aw ay far, far be
yond the reach of human ken, in
the pure regions of the blue ethe
real ; to ride upon the thunder
cloud, outstrip the swift-winged
lightnings, leading the whirlwind
and tornado in their march of de
vastation ; now resting like O’-
Rourke on the horns of the moon,
light as a devil’s-darning-needle,
or, a June-fly on a Canada this
tle : now diving among the Plei
ades and constellations,scattering
them right and left like dew in
the moonlight, or glittering rain
drops shaken from the leaflets of
spring. And, now again, sliding
down the Milky-way—Jupiter’s
rail road, McAdamized with stars
—like some monstrous sprite,
scaring the whole grand menage
rie and museum of signs and pla
nets out of their places, and as
tonishing the sentinel angels. In
this boasted age of mechanical
skill and genius, I wonder man
has not conjured up some method
of flying—literally—like the birds
of the air, or Peter Wilkins’ wile’s
relations. The mind is consid
ered superior to all the apparent
deflects in the physical structure
of man, as compared with that ot