restless, and apparently disturbed to the utmost by a rustling and
whisking about in the room, which he heard but could not explain.
Suddenly a kind of white vapor rose by his bed-side, and gradually
assumed the outline and even the features of his mother; he especially
noticed a purple ribbon in her cap. He jumped out of bed and endeavored
to embrace her, but she fled before him and as suddenly vanished,
leaving a bright glare at the place where she had disappeared. It was
found, afterwards, that at that hour--10 o'clock A. M.--the old lady had
been ill unto death, lying still and almost breathless on her couch; she
had felt the anguish of death in her heart, and had thought so anxiously
of her son and her sister, that her first question when she recovered
was, whether she had not perhaps been visited by the two persons who had
thus occupied her whole mind. It was also ascertained that, contrary to
a life's habit, she had on that day worn a purple ribbon in her
night-cap. A German professor once succeeded in establishing the
connection which undoubtedly exists between the will of certain persons
and their appearance to others. He had only been married a year in 1823,
when he was compelled to leave his wife and to undertake a long and
perilous journey. Once, sitting in a peculiarly sad and dejected mood
alone in a room of his hotel, he longed so ardently for the society of
his wife, that he felt in his heart as if, by a great effort of will, he
should be able to see her. He made the effort, and, behold! he saw her
sitting at her work-table, busily engaged in sewing, and himself, as was
his habit, on a low foot-stool by her side. She tried to conceal her
work from his eyes. A few days later a messenger reached him, sent by
his wife, who was in great consternation and anxiety. On that day she
also had suddenly seen her husband seated by her side, attentively
watching her at work, and continuing there till her father entered the
room, upon which the professor had instantly disappeared. When he
returned to his house he made minute inquiries as to the work he had
seen in the hands of his wife, and this was of such peculiar character
as to exclude all ideas of a mere dream on his part. Here also the
supreme will of the professor must have endowed him for the moment with
exceptional powers, enabling him to make himself visible to his wife,
while the latter, with the ardent love which bound her to her husband,
was at the same moment sympathetically excited, and thus enabled to
second his will, and to behold him as she was accustomed to see him most
frequently.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account