Nebraska Newspapers

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MADRIGAL. .
JU1 the world Is bright,
All my heart Ib merry, .
"Violet nml roues red,
Sparkling In the clow;
Xtow the lily's white;
Up the crimnon berry;
Hark. I henr a lightsome trenil
Ah, my lovo, tls youl i
"Wing to me, birds, nnd sing to me;
None bo hnppy on II
Only tho merriest melodies bring to ml
When my beloved Is by.
JLJ1 the air is sweet,
All my heart is quiet,
Tleeey clouds on breezes warm,
Floating fur tibove;
3$ye whero Bolt lights meet;
Check where roses riot;
Xook, 1 pcc n gracious form-
Ah, 'tis you, my lovol
"Wing to her, bird, and sing to her;
Nono bo hnppy ns Bitot "
Only tho merriest melodies bring to her
Only tliis ini'BSiigu from mol
FlUNK DUMI'STKK BllElUUN.
A TRUE GHOST STORY.
Jt J. Didwcll in the Chicngo Tribune.
Sitting ono evening with a young of
ficer who had already made himscll
distinguished for cool courngo and a
lovo of advonturo, and whom his
brother Boldlers considered tho best
pistol shot in tho army, tho conversa
tion happened to turn upon tho al
most universal belief in tho super
natural. Wo discussed tho genii of tho tales
of tho cast, tho witches and gliosts so
jonorally accepted a century ago, and
tho spiritualists of to-day. Suddenly
F. turned to mo and said: "Perhaps
you may bo surprised if I tell you a
truo ghost story, ono I can vouch for
ttiyself?" Knowing him to boa con
firmed skeptic upon all supernutural
Bubjocts, I smilingly assented.
"You need not Bmilo," ho continued,
"my oxporienco was enough to shako
tho nerves of tho bravest man. living,
and to have rendered a timid ono
mad."
"Somo six or Beven years ago, short
ly after graduating from tho military
academy at West Point, I was sent
with my command, part of a com
pany of heavy artillery, to tako pos
session of tho littlo fort on Bedloo's
Island, in tho harbor of New York; tho
island, you will remember, on which
Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty is to bo
placed. Tho place had been long de
serted, had acquired an evil name,
was known to bo tho resort of thieves
and smugglers, and, the Now York po
lico said, was the headquarters of a
gang of river pirates. It was, indeed,
to break up this nest of scoundrels,
who had found that, being United
States property, tho old fort was
never visited by tho police, that
I was to tako possession of - tho is
land." "It was a gray, raw day in Novem
ber; rain had fallen in tho afternoon,
and, when boats containing my littlo
command reached our destination, a
cold fog hung over tho harbor and the
rising wind howled about tho old bar
rack, adding to the gloom and in
creasing tho dreary desolation of tho
mildewed old walls, It was already
1 o'clock and daylight beginning to
fado bo I nuido tho necessary prepa
rations for tho night as rapidly as pos
sible. Inpido tho tiny fort there was a
house, but in so dilapidated a state
that but ono room a large ono, which
hail probably onco served as a mess
room was habitable, and this the
baro floor, tho broken ceiling, the
walls from which tho paper hung in
strips mado uninviting enough. In
this, howovor, being tho best, my
trunk was placed, a stovo put up,
which was roaring in a cheerful way,
lamp lighted, a bed, bedding, a table
and two chairs brought in, and I
Btarted on a tourofinspection. Iliad
told my sergeant to proimro tho ouar-
tcra for tho men in a long.low building
outsiuo mo lore, which seemed in
fairly good condition. Soldiers are
rapid, because systematic, workers,
and beforo nightfall all woro mndu
comfortable, and the supper served to
them which did credit to the com
pany's cooks. I visited and inspected
every part of the island a mere speck
in tho harbor, as you know looked
into the old casements, went through
tho ruinous old house from cellar to
attic, examined bolts and doors,
then, having given orders for the
night, closed the great gate leading in
to the fort and retired to my quar
ters." "I certainly am not either a timid
or an imaginative man, but there was
something to t ho hist degree doprOssing
in tho placo that night. Tho wind,
which had driven away tho fog, howl
ed and mourned in tho deserted place;
the rats trooped up and within the
partition walls, and there roso a
strange, earthly smell which reminded
mo, I scarce know why, of now-mnde
graves. Now and then some sea-bird's
scream could be heard, or the distant
roar of tho foghorn of some passing
Bhip was added to the sighing and
groaning of tho wind, I sat down and
read the ono or two newspapers I
chanced to have in my pocket, wrote
out a few memoranda, then opened
my trunk, lifted out tho tray, which I
placed upon tlio nttlo tauie, put a
number of articles of daily use on n
littlo shelf, ind then, although it was
still early, not more than 10, 1 bo
liove, I mado my toilet lor tho night,
turned out the lamp and jumped into
bed. I had placed my pistol, a self-
cocking Colt of the largest size, under
my pillow, but no sooner was
the lamp out and all was
3ark than tho tales told by
tlio New York police came forcibly to
my mind, and I almost regretted not
having posted a sentinel insido the
little fort. Then I felt likolaughing at
ryfeli for such absurd apprehensions.
tstlll 1 could not sleep. I wasjustdoz
ing off when a rat slurrying along or
the wild scream of somo passing sea
gull would arouso mo with a start to
toss and fret for another quarter ol
an hour."
At last sleep came; calm, peaceful,
dreamless Bleep, How long I slept 1
havo no idea; perhaps for an hour,
porhaps for two. Then, from within
my very roam, of which I had seen
every window barred, every door bolt
ed and locked, thero camo a long, low
moaning cry, ending with a shriek so
horrible, bo ghastly, that I am not
ashamed to say that, as I rose in my
bed, my heart seemed to stop for a
moment and my hair rlso stiffening on
howl."
It was but for a momont. A faint
light from tho waning moon camo in
through tho shutters, and, as I rose,
thero roso across tho room along
whito figure! What? I saw it start
from tho floor and grow to a man's
size or more, and as I gazed, heard
that dreadful shriek! What? No
matter. It was something, and its
prejonco returned all my combative
ness and anger; hot, fiery wrath was
my only feeling."
"'Somo scoundrel,' said I to myself;
'is playing mo a trick. Somo of these
pirato smugglers have arranged a ghost
for mo, havo thoy? Well, we'll scowho
can play ghost tho best.' "
"As Iroso I hnd taken my six-shooter
from under my pillow, and now 1
called out: 'Who aro you? What are
you doing there, you scoundrel?' No
reply. 'Who are you? Answer, or I'll
shoot.' Still thero was silenco. My
pistol was pointed a littlo nbovo the
centro of the figure, and again I cried;
'Answer or I'll shoot.' No answer
came, and I pulled tho trigger. I was
suro of my aim, and yofcthobiljlet
seemed to bury itself harmlessly into
tho wall boyond. Lowering my aim 1
sent another ball somewhat lower,
and then a third, almost to thoground.
Still tho figure neither moved or spoke.
Thero it stood, white, ehastlv and un
injured by lead. As tho third shot
left my pistol I leaped from tho bed
and rushed upon tho shadow form.
A box of cartridges lay upon tho table
and these I thrust into tho breast
pocket of my night dress. Cocking
my revolver aB I ran, I tried to seize
tho intruder with my left hand, flinging
myself with all force upon him."
"Horrors! An instant later I was
thrown down, down. I knew uothow
fur or where. Tho floor seemed to
havo opened and Bwallowed mo up.
With a crash I come to tho bottom of
tho pit, bruised, bleeding and in utter
darkness."
"Confused; half unconscious,I strug
gled to my feet, and onco more there
came, first that monningcry, nnd then
tho dreadful scream which had roused
mo from my sleep!"
"You know how littlo superstition
thero is in my nature somo sav, in
deed, too little, for it isdifiicult for mo
to boliovo in anything not patent to
my senses; but at that moment thero
crept into my soul a grisly fear of
something not of this world. A shud
der ran through my frame. I could
feel my eyes dilato and open, to their
utmost and a sweat, cold as ice, min
gled from my brow with the blood
trickling from my womraV. All was
still as death. I tried to shout; my
throat, dry, parched and contracted,
refused its ollico. No sound camo to
break that horrid silence. I strained
my eyes into tho black obscurity
which encompassed them a darkness
which pressed upon mo which seemed
to hold me, breathless, in its infernal
embrnco. Nothing. A void, vast as
tho universe, narrow as a tomb. My
shuddering feet stood upon a some
thingdark, dark and cold, as if they
rested on a nest of serpents; above,
around, a silent pall of unutterable
obscurity. My elbow touched tho
wall. I started as if stung by a scor
pion or ns if ghostly hands had siezed
mo from tho Homeless mystery which
lay around. My hcartstopped and
then sent the blood whirling to the
brain in sickening force. Was I mad?
Was this a fever-born dream?"
"Somo dreadful thing, eold.slimy.ns
was everything in this hideous place,
crawled or wiggled from under nnd be
sido my feet. Spots red and green be
gan to dance liko demons' eyes in the
distance formed probably by pros
suro of tho blood upon tho brain nnd
nerves."
"I havo twice or thrice sinco then
faced what seemed like probabledeath;
without much feeling about the mat
ter, but tho foo was visiblo, tangible;
not a hideous void like that I faced
that November night."
"Again I tried to call out, and this
time a faint, hoarso sound, which
seemed to bo the voice of anothor, is
sued from my lips."
"I had Btruck my head violently in
the rapid descent, but gradually "my
senses returned and drovo oil the
nameless dread, only toreplneoitwith
a feeling of helplessness, almost of des
pair. The air was bitterly cold, cold
with a vault-like chill which stiffened
my limbs (clad as I was in a sinclo
linen garment) tothebone. But, with
the return of thomdit camo tho hotter
leenng oi a wish to at tense struggle
for existence. I tried to collect my
ideas, to in somo manner explain how
tho strange thing could possibly have
hnppened, It was all alike reasoning
around a circle."
"What had been in my room? How
camo it there? What hnd it done to
mo?- How could I possibly have gone
through tho floor? Whore hodlgone?
Through what agency? So, back
again to who hnd been in my room?
How camo it thore? nnd soon through
tho round again. Tho moro I thought
tho more inexplicable became the whole
affair, but at least I could now think
not shiver in nameless terror."
"I knew not where I was, but I fait
sure that no sound I could make
would reach tho men, nil of whom
were outside tho fort. Even from tho
ground-floor room it was quite cer
tain that, especially on such a night
with tho waves beating nguinst tho
sides of tho islet, no more report of a
pistol could be heard a distance."
"Whero could I be? Was this some
trick of the thieves who had held the
deserted fort so long? It was dark as
only a windowlesa vault can bo even
nt night. Not one ray to show mo if
the place were large or small a cellar
or a" well, By what possible agency
could I have been thus hurled into
this pit? I hnd paced over tho whole
room and thero certainly was no
opening in the floor unless it had been
most carefully masked. Besides this,
I felt Biiro that my fall hud been much
greater than tho distanco from the
room I had slept in to tho cellar. My
brain wob still somewhat clouded by
tiro blow my head had received, ana
which I thought had been struck just
beforo my fall, or rather, beforo my
being violently thrown downward."
"Fortunately my pistol was still in
my hand nnd tho box of cartridges in
my pocket. I felt carefully for the
wall, placed my back against it, and,
determining to sell my life.dcarly if at
tacked, wailed a moment in silonco.
All was still. Taking thobox ns noise
lessly as possible from tho pocket of
my night shirt I reloaded my pistol.
Still nothing. But I was freezing. The
slimy stones beneath my baro feet
were rapidly chilling my blood. If I
firo my pistol, I thought, I may see
where I am. I fired, tyke."
"It was tho cellar which I had al
ready visited! I had only, then, fallen
10 or 12 feet. I at onco remembered
that to this cellar thero was a door
leading, by an external flight of stono
steps leading to tho ground in front of
tho room in which I hnd slept. An
other shot showed mo tho door, on
which, however, thero was a heavy,
old-fashioned lock without a koy.
Half a dozen shots from my revolver
broke tho rustic iron and I was
freel"
"Covered w'th blood and slime, I
stood at length beneath tho stars; my
head ached violently, my teeth chat
tered with cold, but I was free! 0,the
delight of that moment! Free!"
"My first feeling was that it was my
duty to call somo of tho men nnd
search the house; but that I could not
bring myself to do. No, I must not
bo seen by them in such a plight, nor
must thoy como until I had solved
tho mystery. My own outer door was
too securely bolted to forco open; but
making my way through another en
tranco, I easily blew tho lock off an inner
door of communication. Grasphigmy
pistol tightly, I cautiously entered.
There, directly across tho room, was
the figure!"
"Bang! bang! and I sent two moro
bullotscriishingthrough.it. Whatever
it was it certainly was no living thing.
If not, what then? What or who had
struck mo that blow? Who had open
ed tho solid floor and cast me into tho
pit beneath? With oyo and ear upon
thoulertreudyforfoe, human or other,
I reached tho tab'lo whero tho lamp
stood and felt for a match. Nono.
But I had somo in my pockot. My
clothes wcro upon the other side of tho
bed. I went slowly around, found tlio
matches, came back to tho table, and
keeping my pistol in my right hand,
removed the globo nnd chimney of the
lamp, struck a light, took a hurried
look about tho room, put tho firo to
tho wick, replaced the chimney, and
turned again to the whito mvsterv.
Thero it stood; but what it was I could
not oven guess. Ono thing was certain,
it had iiol been thero when I went to
bed. In tho light it looked liko agreat
whito box some ten feet high' open on
the sides, and standing against tno-wall
opposito the foot of tho bed. Taking
up tho lamp I walked toward it. What
is that on top? By heavens, it is my
trunk!"
"What do vou think tho ghost was!
It was an old, white-painted dumb
waiter lending to tho former kitchen.
My trunk had chanced to bo placed di
rectly on its top, which was level with
and formed pnrt of thoildor. Thejar
and the footsteps hnd loosened its old
weights. I huil token tho tray ol
clothes from tho trunk, and the
dumb waiter; gradually loosened
had shot up, as such things
will at times do a couplo oi
hours later. It had long been discuscd
and tho shelvings removed. When,
therefore, I rushed nt it I hod simply
fallen into a hole, somo three feet by
two in tho floor between thoelevotor's
sides; hnd struck tho bottom board,
tho mnchinc had gone down with me,
and, my weight removed, had again
risen. I had como down very hard on
tho stono paving in tho former kitchen,
had cut myself on somo projecting
edge, for thero wero two pretty bad
places from which tho blood still drip
ped olid that was my ghost; that tho
mysterious agency which had 'hurled'
mo into thot 'awful' pit!"
'Did you over hear of a ghost doing
more? I never heard of ono who could
do half so much."
"But just think it I had gone Dare
footed and bedraggled, called up my
men, and led them to combat with
an old white dumb-waiter!"
An Ancient Fire-Eater.
Tho most famous of all fire-eaters
was Roberc Powell, who was beforo
tho public for nearly sixty years, and
was seen by many distinguished men,
among others by the dukes of Cum
land and Gloucester and Sir Hans
Sloane. Mainly through tho instru
mentality of this last named the Roy
ul Society in. 1751 presented Powell
with e. purse of gold and a large silver
medal.
Hero is his programme:
1. Ho cats red-hot coals out of the
fire ns natural ns bread.
2. He licks with his naked tongue
red-hot tobacco pipes, flaming with
brimstone.
3. Ho takes n large bunch of deal
matches, lights them all together and
holds them in his mouth until the
flame is extinguished.
4. He takes a red-hot heater out
of the firf.Jicks it with his tongue sev
eral times, nnd carries it around the
room between his teeth.
5. Ho fills his mouth with red-hot
charcoal and broih a slice of beef or
mutton on his tongue,nnd any person
may blow the fire at the same time
with a pair of bellows,
0. He takes a quantity of resin,
pitch, beeswax, sealing wax, brim
stone, alum and lend, melts them to
gather over a chafing dish of coale
and eats the same with a spoon, as il
it were a porringer of broth, to the
great and ncreeablo surprise of the
spectc tors, etc. Notes and Querries.
HUNTING FOR SPOOKS.
Running ghost? to enrth, tackling
spirits, seizing apparitions by the
throat, nailing hallucinations, peering
into haunted houses nnd bearding"
spooks in their dens, experimenting
with thought transference and mes
merism, nnd in general monkoying
with all tiro unfatliomnblo mysteries
of tho human soul, this is the uniqno
occupation of a body of learned men,
called tho American Society for Psy
chical Besearch.
In a back room in a modest looking
house in Boylston Place, Boston, Is
tho headquarters of tho society's sec
retary, Richard Hodgson, LL. D.
Br. Hodgson isan Englishman, about
thirty-seven years old, a graduate of
Cambridge University, a'profoundly
learned scholar and a level-headed
man of much common sense.
"Our society was foimed," ho said,
"for tho purpoBo of making an organ
ized and systematic attempt to in
vestigate that dark border of human
experience and to examino critically
tho phenomena which aro not now
explained by any satisfactory theory.
Scientific men oi cminenco in all coun
tries ndmit tlio possible existence of
what tho uneducated call ghosts or
spirits, and further, that one mind
may exert upon another a positive in
fluence otherwise than through tho
recognized sensory chnnnols.
"In accordance herowith, the re
search work ot our society is divided
among five committes, allot which are
presided over by men of unquestioned
ability, learning and fairness. Pro
fessor H. P. Bowditch, of Harvard, is
chairman of ,.tho Committee on
Thought Transference; Professor Jo
slati Royce, of tho Committee on Ap
paritions and Haunted Houses; C. B.,
Cory, a well-known Bostouian, of
tho Committeo on Hypnotism;
Dr. W. N. Bullard, of Boston,
of tho Committeo on Mediumistic
Phenomena, and Professor C. S.
Minst, of Harvard, of the Committeo
on Experimental Psychology.
Tho Society for Psychical Research
guards its gathered materials with
zreat secrecy. Its rich fund of facts
is not published until they havo been
passed upon and thoroughly exnmin
d by tho various committees; even
then tho names of those who contrib
ute their experiences are in no eoso
furnished to tho public. Among tho
following aro some of the most aston
ishing facts on record:
On January 1, 1880, at 10 A.M.,
MrB. T , a lady living in a western
town, writes to a member of Congress,
tho husband of her daughter.in Wash
ington. Dr. Hodgson has seen tho
original letter. This letter explains a
telegram which Mrs. T had sent
only three hours before, inquiring
about hot daughter's health. Tho
original of this telegram has also been
seen by Dr. Hodgson. Tlio telegram
reads:"
To tho Hon. .
Houao of 1'epics m
D. C.:lcnn. Will
tutlvvH, Washington,
:omo if Noll needs mo.
The signature is tho mother's name.
Mrs. T.'s letter of explanation first
says that she had been lor somo days
inxious about her daughter Neirfte's
health, although there had been no
illness of late. Letters from Washing
Ion had been lacking for some days;
the last ono had reported the daugh
ter as having just returned from mak
ing fifteen calls, "very tired and near
ly frozen." "I waked," said Mrs. T.,
last night between 12 nnd 1 o'clock,
deeply impressed with the feeling that
Nell needed me. I wanted to get up
and send a telegram. If I hnd con
sulted or followed my own inclina
tions, I would have dressed and gone
Sown to the sitting-room." Later,
however, Mrs. T. went to sleep again,
but in tho "morning tho vivid impres
sion returned. At 7 a. m. Mrs. T.
sent tho telegram and wrote appar
sntly before she received nnnnswer.for
in tho margin o! tho letter she added
the postscript: "Telegram here; thank
zoodness ybu aro well." The lady in
Washington whoso mother had had
so vivid an experience had been
seriously ill the same night,
although tho morning had found her
much hotter. Her attack was a very
sudden one, which she described us
neuralgia of the lungs, with a hard
chill. "It; must have been," she says,
"about tho hour mentioned in my
mother's letter I at last txclaimed,
Oh, don't I wish ma was here! I
Bhnli send for her to-morrow if I am
not better.' " In tho morning came
the telegram from tho West, but the
patient was better, and she and her
husband were puzzled at her mother's
uneasiness nnd replied by telegraph,
"We are all well; what is the matter
with you?"
shkff.i.t AXOTiir.r.'s paix.
An old gentleman livim? nt Albany
had been ill for month?. His married
daughter resided as Worcester. Ono
evening last summer, sho suddenly
laid down tho book she was reading
and said to her husband: "I believe
father is dying." Sho was strangely
overcome by the impression, as thero
had been nothing whatever in the con
versation or in her own thoughts to
lead to tho subject of her father's
health. All that evening nnd the next
morning tho feeling haunted hpr, un
til a despatch camo saying that her
father had died the evening before.
A Lowell physician was called to
see a patient about 10 o'clock ono
night. It was extremely dnrk, and in
alighting from his conveyance he made
a misstep nnd sprained his ankle
severely. His wife, who was at home,
in bed, asleep, suddenly awoko with
the vivid impression that an accident
had occurred to her husband. She
arose, wakened the servant and com
municated her fears to her. Nothing
could induce her to return to bed. At
1 o'clock the doctor returned, nnd it
was found that the moment ot his ac
cident and of his wife's awaking were
simultaneous. Ho was three miles
away from home at the time.
Here is a narrative, vouched for by
thehighest authority, of experiences
in a house some miles from the city of
Worcester. Tho man who sends it in
is a well-known manufacturer, and
his word is as good as his bond,
which would be honored anywhere for
100,000. He writes:
"In relating what I saw on July
morning in 1883 nt my house, which I
had but recently purchased, I will first
describe the. room in which I saw it.
It is a bedroom, with a window at
either end, a door and a fireplace at
onuoBite sides. The room is in tho
.upper story of a two-story house.said
to novo ueen ouuc oeiora mo revolu
tion. Tho walls aro unusually thick
and tho roof high, pointed and uneven.
Tho occupants at tho time I speak of
were my brother Henry, myself and a
servant woman. The lattor slept in
a room on the basement story. A
hallway divided my brother's room
from mine. On tho night beforo tho
morning mentioned I had locked my
door, and, having undressed nnd put
out my light, I fell into a sound dream
less sleep. I awakened about 3
o'clock in the morning with my fnco
to tho front window. Opening my
eyes. I saw right beforo me
the figure of a woman, stooping down
and apparently looking at me. Her
head and shoulders wrapped
in acommon.gray woolen shawl. Her
armB wero folded and wrapped in tho
shawl. I looked at her in my horror
and dared not cry out lest I might
move tho awful thing to &peech or
action. I lay and looked and felt as
if I should lose my reason, behind
her head I saw tho window nnd tho
growing dawn, the looking glass and
the toilet tablo and the furnituro in
that part of the room.
"After what may havo been only a
fow seconds of tho duration of this
vision I can not judge sho raised her
self and went backward toward tho
window, stood at tho toilet table and
vanished. I mean shegrew by degrees
transparent, nnd that through tho
shawl and tho gray dress sho woro I
saw tho whito muslin of tho tablo
cover again, nnd at last saw only
that in tho place whero sho stood.
For hours I lay as I had lain on first
awakening, not daring even to turn
my oyes, lest, on tho other side of the
bed I might see her again. Now.
there is ono thing of which I could
tako my oath, and that is that I did
not mention this circumstance cither
to my brother, or to our servant, or
to any ono else.
TIIK SPOOK BEKN AGAIN.
"Exactly a fortnight afterward,
when sitting at breakfast, I noticed
that my brother seemed out of sorts
nnd did not eat. On my asking if any
thing was the matter, he replied: 'No,
but I've bad a horriblo nightmare.
Indeed,' he went on, 'it was no
nightmare. I saw it early this morn
ing, just as distinctly as I see you.'
'What?' I asked. 'A villainous-looking
hag,' ho answered, 'with her head
and arms wrapped in a gray shawl,
stooping over mo nnd looking like
this .' Hegotup folded his arms and
puthimseit m the posture 1 remembered
so well. Ho then described how the
figure moved toward tho door and
disappeared. 'Her malevolent face
and her posture struck terror to my
soul,' he said.
"A year later, in the month of July,
one evening about 7 o'clock, my sec
ond oldest sister nnd her two little
children, who wero visiting us, were
the only folks at home. Tho eldest
child, a boy of 5 years, wanted adrink
of water, and on leaving the dining
room to fetch it my sister desired tho
children to remain thero till her re
turn, sho leaving tho door open. Com
ing back ns quickly as possible, sho
met tho boy, pale and trembling, on
his way to her, and asked why ho had
left tho room. 'Oh,' ho said, 'who is
that woman?' 'Whore?' sho asked.
Tho old woman who went up-stnira,'
ho answered. Sho tried to convince
liim that there was no one else in the
house, but he wns so aeitated and so
eager to prove it that sho took his
trembling hand in hers and brought
him up-stairs, and went from ono
room to another, he searching behind
curtains and under beds, still main
taining that a women did go up tho
stairs. My sister rightly thought that
tho mere face of a woman eoirc up
stairs in a house where sho was a
stranger would not account lor ilw
child's (error.
"A neighbor of ours started when
we first told him what wo had seen.
nnd asked if we had never heard that
a woman had been murdered in that
house many years previous to our
purchase of it. Ho said it had the
reputation of being haunted. This
was the first intimation we hnd of the
fact. Nothing more was heard of tho
ghost ot tho murdered woman, how
over, for two years.
"On the night of July 7,1880, I was
wakened from a sound sleep by some
one speaking close to me. I turned
round, saying: 'Emily, what is it?'
thinking that my sister, who slept in
the room next to mine, hnd come in.
I saw plainly the figure of a woman
who deliberately and silently moved
away toward the door, which re
mained shut, ns I hnd lelt it.
"Two days after this occurrence I
wa3 wakened nnout 0 o'clock in the
morning by a presentiment of ap
pronching evil. 1 opened my eyes and
distinctly saw tho form of a darkly-
emu, elderly teiuuiH uendins over mo
with folded arms, and glaring at mo
with the most intense malignity. I
tried to scream, and struggled to
withdraw myself from her, when she
slowly and silently receded backward
nnd seemed to vanish through tho
bedroom door." Philadelphia Press.
England's Rare Lace-makers
The lace-makers of Honlton, who
number somo 1,200 in tho manufac
turing districts, are all middle-aged
and old women. Tho history of the
laco is checkered and curious. It is
reported to have been first introduc
ed into England by the Flemings
flying from tho persecution of the
Duke of Alva. The two great fires
that in 1750 and 1707 broke out in
the town almost ruined tho manufac
turers. Queen Adelaide tried to re
vive the sinking industry by ordering
a skirt to be made from designs ol
natural flowers beginning with the in
itials oi her name, for already the
designs had lost all beauty. The
attempt had no grent result.for when
Queen Victoria ordered lace for her
wedding from lioniton, it was with
difficulty workers were found. Ulti
mately a lace dress worth 1,000 was
manufactured in the small fishing vil
lage of Beer.
A Vast Catastrophe.
Chinese newspapers and private let
ters from Pekin bring details of the
overflow of the Yellow River in Sep
tember of last year. This event was
dismissed with the notice of a fen
lines by most American nowspapers,
eo little do wo know of tho real condi
tion of our brothers on the other Bide
of tho globe. Yet no castrophe so
vast has occurred in the world during
this century. Ab it is liable to recur
at futuro times, a brief description ol
its causo and effects may bo of inter
est: Tho Hoang-Ho or Yellow River,
drains tho great basin of North China,
as the Mi3sissippi does tho Central
States of tho Union. It bears a singu
lar likeness to our own great river in
several particulars, chief of which is
the crookedness of its course, its sud
den huge serpentine bends.
It drains like tho Mississippi, hill
rnnges of great fertility, carrying their
rich alluvial soil to the delta at its
mouth. This rich silt, or mud, as in
tho case of the Mississippi, chokes up
its mouths, until the river is forced to
ooze its way through innumerable
bayoux to the sea.
In both rivers tho spring rains and
tho melting of the snow on the moun
tains neurits source produce sudden
dovasting floods. Tho water disre
gards its crooked channel, nnd rushes
stnight across plantation,vilInges and
cities.
Tho Chinese, liko tho people among
the Mississippi, have found it neces
sary to build ramparts on either side
of the murderous river to protect
them from its fury; but the Chinese
began this work nearly three thous
and years ago. As tho increasing de
posit of silt near its mouth closes
them, the water is forced back into
its bed, and rises higher than the sur
rounding country each year, necessi
tating higher "levees."
Ten times sinco B. C. 1200 tho vast
flood has broken through these bar
riers, and found a new way for itself
to tho sea. In 1852 an outbreak oc
curred, and tho mighty flood went
back to tho cpannol through which it
flowed when our Saviour wns on tho
earth. Each outburst is necessarily
accompanied by enormous loss of lifo
and destruction of property.
On the 20th of last September a cre
vasse broke the dyko, and a body of
water five hundred miles long, seventy
feet deep nnd a mile wide burst upon
tho plain. This plain a territory of
ten thousand squaro miles, occupied
by over three thousand villages was
Biibmerged. Tho destruction of
human lite is estimated at fivo mil
lions. Nono of tho water has yet
reached the sea; it forms a vast luko
of death where last summer was a
fertile, populous plain.
Tho Chinese Government has given
nearly three million dollars, besides
tho annual revenue from a great
province, to rebuild the dykes, and a
population equal to that of our Mid
dle States is swarming now like ants
about tho banks of the huge current,
trying to put a curb upon it, knowing
that it is a curb which, at some future
time, it will surely break ..through
ngain.
Tolstoi.
In the German magazine Nord nnd
Sud thero is an account by the Rus
sian author, Danilelski, of a
visit which ho made recently to the
famous novelist, Count Tolstoi.
Tolstoi's home is at Jassnaia-Poli-ann,
a placo not far from Moscow,
where ho was born in 1828, and to
which he retired somo twenty-five
yenis ago. soon after leaving tho
army. Hero he lives very simply, .oc
cupying himself, when not engaged in
literary labors, in farm-work, as
chopping wood, mowing, and in win-
ter in shoe-making.
Notwithstanding the reports to the
contrary, ho appeared to bo in the
full possession of his faculties, nnd
had not given up writing. His groat
interest at present is still those theo
logical studies which led to his well
known book "My Religion," which,
though circulated in manuscript in
Russia, was translated into French,
English nnd German.
His library tablo was covered with
foreign magazines, while on the sim
ple book-shelves wero tho works of
Spinoza, Voltaire, Goethe, Rousseau,
all tho Russian authors, Shakespeare,
Auerbach, Sismondi, Emerson's Es
says, and Henry George's "Progress
ami Poverty."
In tho course of his conversation
with his visitor he said, "Thirty
years ago, when I began to write, out
of the hundred millions of inhabitants
ot Russia, tho renders and writers
could only bo numbered by the ten
thousands.
"Now schools are multiplied in the
towns nnd villnges. These ten thou
sands have become millions, and these
millions of our countrymen come be
foro us liko hungry birds with wide
open beaks, and crying, 'Messieurs
authors, give us somo food worthy of
you nnd of us, write for us who are
famishing for a living literature,' "
It was this intense' conviction of tho
needs of his uneducated countrymen
that has led Tolstoi to devote so
much of his time to tho preparation
of school-books, even primers, and
the writing simple, popular tales,
which, with his other works, 'make
him more than any other Russian
writer a creator of a national liter
ature. Referring to his habits, he
said:
"Every day, according to the sea
son, I labor bn my farm. I cut down
trees. I chop wood, I mow.
"Ah, nnd I plough! You do not
know what a pleasure that is. You
go along turning up the fresh earth,
tracing thu long furrows, and you do
not notice that one hour, two, three,
pass. The blood courses joyously
through your veins; your head i9
clear, your feet scarcely touch the
ground; and how hungry you get, and
how you sleep afterward!"
It is said that the price of oats has
not been so low n8 at tho present in
one hundred years.
V