DURINGthedreadreignoftheCholerainNewYork，Ihadacceptedtheinvitationofarelativetospendafortnightwithhimintheretirementofhis_cottageornee_onthebanksoftheHudson。Wehadherearoundusalltheordinarymeansofsummeramusement；andwhatwithramblinginthewoods，sketching，boating，fishing，bathing，music，andbooks，weshouldhavepassedthetimepleasantlyenough，butforthefearfulintelligencewhichreacheduseverymorningfromthepopulouscity。Notadayelapsedwhichdidnotbringusnewsofthedeceaseofsomeacquaintance。Thenasthefatalityincreased，welearnedtoexpectdailythelossofsomefriend。Atlengthwetrembledattheapproachofeverymessenger。TheveryairfromtheSouthseemedtousredolentwithdeath。Thatpalsyingthought，indeed，tookentirepossessionofmysoul。Icouldneitherspeak，think，nordreamofanythingelse。Myhostwasofalessexcitabletemperament，and，althoughgreatlydepressedinspirits，exertedhimselftosustainmyown。Hisrichlyphilosophicalintellectwasnotatanytimeaffectedbyunrealities。Tothesubstancesofterrorhewassufficientlyalive，butofitsshadowshehadnoapprehension。
HisendeavorstoarousemefromtheconditionofabnormalgloomintowhichIhadfallen，werefrustrated，ingreatmeasure，bycertainvolumeswhichIhadfoundinhislibrary。Thesewereofacharactertoforceintogerminationwhateverseedsofhereditarysuperstitionlaylatentinmybosom。Ihadbeenreadingthesebookswithouthisknowledge，andthushewasoftenatalosstoaccountfortheforcibleimpressionswhichhadbeenmadeuponmyfancy。
Afavoritetopicwithmewasthepopularbeliefinomensabeliefwhich，atthisoneepochofmylife，Iwasalmostseriouslydisposedtodefend。Onthissubjectwehadlongandanimateddiscussionshemaintainingtheuttergroundlessnessoffaithinsuchmatters，I
contendingthatapopularsentimentarisingwithabsolutespontaneity-
thatistosay，withoutapparenttracesofsuggestionhadinitselftheunmistakableelementsoftruth，andwasentitledtoasmuchrespectasthatintuitionwhichistheidiosyncrasyoftheindividualmanofgenius。