Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 194, 21 August 1894 — The Cafe Morgue of Paris. [ARTICLE]

The Cafe Morgue of Paris.

Rigbt do»B near the Bool' Miehel, oa a līttle side opthe Sorboiine i« a c*«f»*. Yon wonid nerer kro» that it i» a caf«# nniess som> > nne tol«l von. for it is all ciose>.l op w th l»!ark sbutters, save tb»* »-ntrai:ce. As yoo go in. a nn;i «lresse«i in : the regalar cpffiu-Learer s cus turae p«isbes Mide tbe Learjr blacfc drapery. l»ke that use<l whon liiero is « de;tfh iu tbe bocse, and vou are nsbered into the ‘cafe.” If yon do not drop dead with fright you will see eommon blacfc wooileo coffins placed abont the rooms. with, cbairs a3ongside; these are tbe tables. The walls are ail eoncealed behind hlaek. silver-trim- j med drapings, some of whieh are oraamented with skn!ts andcrossbones and other snggestions of death. No matter whieh way yon look, a skuli will stare yon j in the face. grinning at yonr nervou3«ess.

Tbe momeut yon are seated at one of the coffins a coffin-bearer comes and takes yonr orvler. If it be a “bock.” he moans in a dreadful way, “Uue microbe de cbolera! ’ Bnt you raust not be afraid or f-iint, as he oniy bring« yon a ver} r sm«ll glass of beer‘ and again iuforms you that it isa cholera microbe. As soon »s yon have finisbed yonr “bock” and paid yonr fifty centimes, he handsyou a ticket aud yon are led to a steep, dimiy-lighted stone stair-wa\-, that sroells lise a vault

and, after stnnibliug down thirty feet nudeiground, vou eome into a gruesorae charuber more horrid than the one above.

Two forrns. all in ol.iek, with hlaek boods over their heads and two holes for their eyes. greet yon with loud wails and tell \-ou that you are about to dio. They Iead y< u acrcss the dam|), dark hole to souie cofiios and seat vou npon oue of them, so that you I are directly in front of a bluck hole in tbe stoue wall. As you sit there wondoring what’s going to next, and feel shivers run up your back, you hear the moaning af a wheezy org m issuing from some\vhere in the mys terions room, and this, with the wailtng of tho hlaek forms aud tbe sight af skulls. boues, coftins, and funeral trappings, is sure to make yonr hair stand on an end aml implaut a desire to rusb from the hole. But snddenly a soft light appears in the black hole, j revealing a corpse of a womun in a eolEn with a winding sheet arouud it, and yo\i are horrified to soe it decompose before \ our very ejes, the hair d'8,ippe.*ring the tlesh growing whiter, the eyes sinking in. The flesh grows putrid and horrid and the bones begiu to protrude Aud lo! the shroud gradually disappears and a skeleton lies in the box where the corpse had beeu Then a wail from somewhere nunonuc6s that the skeleton will eome to life. Graduall3’ it disappears under the putrid flesh, whieh keeps getting more life-like—the eyes taking the plaee of the hlaek holes, a month covering, the grinning teetb, and long hair ! growing on the head; the shroud appears again, and if you are not dead with a stroke of apoplexy,! • you see before yon a womao, and i alive too, for sbe smiles at yon and shows her while teeth, and finally steps out cf the horrid : box Then the wailers wail some more and tell you tbat you are | free to go, and they eaeh bo!d ; out a brown skull, in!o whmh yon drop a few sous tbr)ugh the hole whenee issues the spin<il j cord. They bless yon and hope tbat yon wiīi die soon, and you climb the steep stairs while the monrnfuI organ wails a funeral march. How delicioos the frosh air seems when yoo reach tbe street again and make baste to leave tbe pUee as far bohind as possibie’ It «II seetns like a horrid nigbtmare, and yo« a!most donbt what you have seen Aud this ia qnite near one of the biggest | boolevards of Paris! iV« Letter. \