Jasper Banner, Volume 2, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1856 — A WONDERPUL STORY. [ARTICLE]

A WONDERPUL STORY.

The following wonderful .story' ap peared sctcial y< ars ago from tin pen of an unknown author: =x The other morn ing at the breakfast tabje, our friend, the Hon. John C. Calfioun,secuicd very much troubled and out of spirits. You know he is altogui!ier...a-Acnendde mail, with a hard, stern, Scotch IriJi face, softened in its expression around the mouth by a. sort of tad smile which wine the hearts of all who converse with him. His hair is >now white. He is tall, thin and angular. He reminds you very much of Uhl HickoEy. Tiiat he.id Iwnest no one doubts; he has Bilc.-iticed to his fatalism’ his b. ightest herpes of pofaical adraneem'eut; has olfi red up on the shrine of that necessity winch he worships nil that can cjtciie umbjion, e\ eu the. Tre.-ideiicy ■ufathc • U niled Stales. But to my story’, ! The otherjn•iht. log rtb the breaiifust table, where 1 an unobserved spectator, happened to be present,Callioun was observed to gaze liequently at his right hand, nnd brush itiwithcbis left in a hurried and nervous manner. He did this so often that it excited attention oi -' party; his nariTCyT trunk'is Toombs, and-he is a member o t Con gress from Georgi a, took u p on hahself to ask the oceasioiroi Mr. Calhoun’s disquietude. “Does your hand pain you?’’ he asked of Air. 0. To this Mr Cullioun replie I, in rather a dufried manner: ‘Pshaw! It is-nothing! Only’a dream I had last, night, addTvbTcli" makes me see perpetually a large ' black spot—like; ; un iuk-blotch upon v —Atrvp--" tical illusion, 1 suppose.” Of course thfffio;words excited tha-> curiosity of the company, but no one j ventured to beg the details of this singular dream! until Toombs asked quietly—•■‘•What was your dream like? I’m not very superstitious about dreams; but sometimes they have a great deal *>f truth in them.” “But this was a peculiarly absurd dream,” Mr. Calhoun, ngain brushing the back of his hand; “however, if it doos not intrude too much on our ijiends, I will relate iti to you?’ Of course the company were profuse in their expressions of anxiety to know all about the dream. Ip his singular sweet voice, .Air. Calhoun related it: “At a late hour last night, as I was sitting in my room,engaged in writing,! was astonished by The entrance of a visitor who entered and without a word took a seat’opposite me at my table. This surprised me as Jihad given particular orders to the sarvhnt that I should on no account| be disturbed. The manner in which the intruder entered, so perfectly selfpo?sensed,Asking his seat opposite

me, without a word, as though my' room and all within it beloiiged to him, excited in me as math surprise as indignation. As 1 raised my pcad to look into his features, over the top ; of my shaded lamp, I discovered that he was wraped in a thin cloak, which • diectually concealed his face and [features from my view. And as I. [iai.-ed my head he spoke.” I “What are you writing, Senator from South Carolina?" “1 did not thinkof his impertinence ' at lirst, but answered him voluntari- ■ Jy “ “I am writing a plan for the dissolution of the American Union, (you I know gentlemen, that I am expected to produce a plan of dissolution in ; the event of certain contingencies.) f | “To this the intruder replied, in the I [coldest manner possible: I “Senator from South Carolina, will 1 you allow me to look at your hand : your right hand?” ‘ He rose, the cloak full, and I be ' .held his face. Gentlemen, the aighH of that face struck me like a thunder ' clap. It was the face of adt ad mah 'whom extraordinary events had cul- . kd-lwwk to fife. "ITieTeatiires were , those of George Washington—yes, gintleinen, the intruder was none other than George Washingiugton.— , He was dressed in the Revolutionary •costume,such as you see in the Patent Oilice.” j Here Mr. Calhoun paused, appar- : ently agitated. His agitation, 1 need not tell you, was shared by the eom-j pany. Toombs at length broke the ! • inbarrassing pause: i y Well, w e 11, what was the issue : of this scene?’’ I— Mr. Calhoun resuin- d; i “1 he intruder, as I have said, rose i and asked to look at my right hand. i As though 1 had not the power to refuse, 1 extended it. The truth is 1 felt a strange thrill pervade me at his touch; he grasped it and held it near [ the light, thus ailorduig me full time po examine every feature. It was the face of Washington, Gentlemen, I shuddered as 1 beheld the' horribly dead alive of that visage.— ' Alter holding my hand for a moment, he looked at me steadily, and said in a tpiiet way - ; * And with this right hand Senator from South Carolina, you would sign your name to a paper declaring the -Union dissolved?’’ “1 answered in the affirmative.— ’ \ es,’ 1 said, 'if a certain contingency arises, 1 will sign my name to the mat moment a black blotch appeared Sa the back <;f niy hard, an inky blotch which I seem to see even now.’ What is that said I, alarmed, 1 know not why, at the blotch on my hand. “That,” said he.dropping my hand.’ j ‘is the mark by which Benedict Ar-1 nold is known in the next world.” 1, “He said no-more, gentlemen, butj 1 drew from beneath his cloak an object which he laid upon the table laid it upon the very paper on which 1 was writing. The object gentlemen, was: > skeleton. g “There,” said he, “there are the ■ bones of Isaac Uayne, whirwas hung i at Charleston by the British. Hegave his life in order to establish the. Union. When you put your riatnef jfd a Declaration, of Dissolution, why j ’you may as well have the bones of 1 Isaac Haytie before you; he was a ' But there was no blotch on his right ‘ With these words the intruder left the room. J started back from the contact with the dead man’s bones? I and—awoke. Over-worn by-labor, 1, had fallen asleep and hadbeen dream- [ ing. Was it not a singular dream?”! All the company answered in the [affirmative, and Toombs muttered— ( *Singu 1 ar, very the samc4 time looking curiously at the back ofi his right hand, while Mr. Calhoun placed his head between his hands [ i and seemed buried in thought.

_ _ ’ v ' [CPA slander suit was disposed of at the court. House yesterday morning, after a thee days’ trial, by ! the jury finding a verdict of sixpence i for the plaintiff. The suit arose out of a quarrel between a preacher and I a deacon in hU church, in the course of which the deacon aaidtp the preacher, ”If you liked mutton as well as I do I wouldn’t trnstmy sheep within ! three miles of you.” Several per- j sons vrere present, and" the quarrel progressed until finally the preacher sued the deacon and recovered sixpence damages and sixpence cost.— Syracuse Standard.