A SEXTON'S ADVENTURE.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 353, 2 May 1884, Page 5

A SEXTON'S ADVENTURE.

; ■, , ■; » ■ — — i — -. t\ ■ There was a very humorous : and quaint old fellow; Who, in the days of my.:-youthj performed ,the duties \of sexton in, the graveyard^ in an assize town, in JES^gla^d.^ I 'had ofteik had a qhat Hd^. . while' he was <aj)V'his wcirk s t astdid md^y atio ther boy t f oj? he was strangely? amusing—much mpi*e so thani either 1 df Hamlet's friendsr \ Hetold me one, day of an adventu^which went; nigh to freezing- my .young bipod, but which fascinate i me^o. that -Is de,mainded more and: mere particulars to feed my terror. He was, (so. he said) one night, wjien in his youth:-- he |had tried many trades, and seen.'a good deal of the rural world, before he took" to grave-digging— he was, I say, returning home at night, after a 'somewhat jidle day ; for. a man had been hanged* jHis way to his cottage lay through -this very grayeyarjd, where, .during mosj; of my acquaintance with him, he reigned despotically as. curator, or, as he himself put it> f 1 steward of this vineyard of mortality^" and, as he passed !the corner .where the convicts were buried, he was struck by hearing, in the otherwise quiet night, some sounds, which appeared to him to be unusual and '• remarkable. He paused for a while, to consider what they could possibly mean. "If I was inclined to be a fool now," said he to himself, " I should say 'twas some of the dead speaking, and go into fits with fright.'. Being too hardheaded for this he waited, forming possibilities in his mind, when at last lit occurred to him that the convict's body had most likely been deposited near where the sounds appeared to be coming from — 'for the noise continued while he communed with himself. No sooner did this idea of the convict strike him than he courageously left the path, and made his way acsoss the "vineyard," groping his way at last to : a new grave which he knew by the ■ soft earth under his feet. Up from i this grave came the unearthly— rather the vary earthly — sounds. He was • awed a good deal, but he did not lose ; his head. While a perspiration broke s out all over him, he decided : "This is no ghostly business; the man hath come 5 to life I" Off he set as fast as he could > make his way in the dark across thh i I graves ; and having regained the pftth. } went at full speed to his home. There, r having aroused half a dozen of his a neighbors, he told what he had 1 1 discovered, and the account was - received with incredulity, derision, v or awe, according to. the dispoßvI tion of his hearers ; .but nobody bed lieved the simple fact of which he had i- 1 assured himself — viz., that the man e was alite. He had, however, sufficient g influence with them, believing or not, UI to induce them to get their delving tools, as he got his, and a rope, and a y- lighted lantern. It is a proof of his it having been a shrewd, thoughtful man. ie that, before they started again, he des)f patched one of their number to a doctor ie to tell him what was believed to have is occurred, and to ask his attendance. Confident from companionship, the Jt party then made haste to the gravely yard, where everyone of them was soon 1 convinced that there was no fiction and be I no mistake, but that sounds, which in id all probability proceeded from a living e- being, were. coming up through the filling of a new grave. Thereupon they be- set to work with all their might, ic 3t- reliefs of two men each, They had a tat j depth of between 4fb and (ift.ofmoulc

to excavate, but that was speedily done by their accustomed arms. The tools struck on the wood of a coffin, the surface of which having been cleared of earth, no doubt remained that the sounds which had appeared so mysterious, and which were being continued now almost as lustily as when first hsard, were emitted from within it, As I anderstood the story they were not articulate sounds, but eager shouting and hallooing. Without delay they disinterred the shell, examining which by the light of the lantern, they soon pronounced it to be that of the man who had been hanged, judging from the frail construction and the absence of letters and handles. Moreover, they perceived that the weight of the earth had broken the lid near the man's head. At this time the doctor had not arrived, and the half-dozen clowns had to decide on what should no be done. Naturally enough they thought that air must be the thing principally required ; they also reflected chat the doctor, when he should arrive, could not judge of the state of things until he could see the patient. Accordingly they were unanimous to "heave off" the lid, which they at once accomplish by main force, laying hold of the edges of the fracture. Instead of seeing the man whom they had unearthed revive, on taking in the fresh air, they perceived that the shouting ceased, and by the glimmer of the lantern they looked on a seemingly inanimate body. This unexpected and unsatisfactory result of their exertions discouraged and perplexed them ; and they were about t) 1 ft the man out as a preliminary to using such restoratives as they could think of when they were somewhat relieved by the arrival of the doctor. The latter, after a short examination, said that he believed the body to be dead ; and no effort could bring again the appearance of animation. He g»ve full credit to the story of the poor fellows who had worked so earnestly and to so little purpose j and explained how, through the bungling work of the old hangman or hangwonian, the neck had never been broken. Furthermore than when the coffin lid gave way by reason of the weight of the earth, it broke the man's nose, and so brought him back to such a state cf semi-consciousness as led to his shouting. " Had I been with you five minutes earlier," said he, "it is possible that he might have been fully restored ; but you made a fatal mistake my lads, in letting the full volume of the air come to him at first. That overpowered the feeble spark of life that was in him. He died beside his own gi'ave. , But jou acted humanely and for the best. 'His life, remember was already forfeited to the law;: and you must let that console you for y Our' lost labor." Ido not give this story merely on the authority of the' old sexton.' The doctpr'had been mafty years dea<| when I first heard. . it, j but' his sons ancl daughters were living,' and well known to me, 'ijid Sffom thptn^T obtained v a f nil- .^dnnrmation of tne :tale< ■A itK Mg&M jtf th^Fire,* in ; « Black"wbod's Magazine.' \ . \- . '; j ' •\: