The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-27 00:00:00

I'HE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY. DECEMBER 27, 1870.

GHOSTS AT CHRISTMAS TIME.

CHINA AND JAPAN.

Ghosts are like true charity, pure religion, and perfect
beauty ; things often heard of, but never seen. They are
the most annoying of 'ancy's offspring, because we all
feel that they ought to exist, and yet everyone of us
doubts that they do exist. Seriously, we know no philo-
sophical reason against ghosts ; but, philosophically, we
cannot say that we believe in them. Dr. Johnson
made a shrewd remark—and the doctor believed in
ghosts—that every man knew another man who had seen a
ghost, but no man had ever seen one himself. 01 course
not ! When you go resolutely at it, Mr. Ghost gradually
melts into thin air. It is nothing tangible. You adver-
tise for a really haunted place, and you sleep and enjoy
yourself in it, but the ghost does not come. You go
away, let the house, and your friend's servant is frightened
to death. We ourselves know, at least, a dozen well-
authenticated ghosts, but all at second or third hand.
It is to be observed, both of ghosts and ghost stories, that
they appear, one in the dark, and the other in the dark '
time of the year. Even the ghost of Hamlet's father,
who was quite prepared against the shock of any enemy,
being clothed in " complete steel," was fearful of the
light. When that is seen to break on the
stage, the ghost flies. Also, let us note that
the northern nations are adepts at ghost stories,
and that the dark ages abound with them.
Hoffman, a German writer, is perhaps facile princeps
among his countrymen, for telling a ghost story ; and the
dark German imagination, matured by many a Winter
spent in quaint old towns, and dark forests bordering on
the North Sea, or stretching far inland, seems , to
find delight in gnome stories, legends of the
Hartz Morntains, and histories in' which the
enemy of mankind plays a part. Such stories,
touched by the genius of Goethe in "Faust,",and abounding
in the weird music of " Der Freischutz," have become

The Overland Mail brings news from China to the .15th
of November. The Overland China Mail of that date
says :
" The official account of the Chinese mode
of settling the Tientsin affair has been pnblished ;
it fully confirms previous reports. The three
guilty officials, the Fu and Helen of Tientsin
and General Chen-kwo-jui, are deliberately let
off, Prince Kung alleging that to bring . them to trial
would create " embarassment." Instead of the three
real murderers, twenty men have been bought by the
mandarins at 500 taels a head, and sixteen of them
have been already executed at Tientsin. They would

all have been beheaded but for the inter-
ference of the Russian Consul-General, who protested
against the sacrifice of four of the men specially accused
of the murder of the Russians until their guilt shall be
made clear. A compensation of 250,000 taels, chiefly
out of the Customs' duties on foreign trade, completes the
settlement.

Chung How goes to Paris to explain his own conduct,
and to reveal to the French Government the kind of " em-
barrassment" which the Chinese anticipate from exer-
cising justice on official criminals. Both Mr. Wade and
M. de Rochechouart approve of Chung How's mission,
though the latter declines to express any opinion in re-
spect to the present terms of " settlement." Mr. Wade
the British Mibister, it is said, views the arrangement
favourably.
Several gunboats of variou4 nations will winter in the
Peiho. _ _

Mr. Wade says the only danger to be apprehended is

from the "dangerous classes."
In Japan the railway works are being actively pushed
on. Lieutenant Wedge, of the Ist Battalion 10th Regi-
ment, has accidentally killed himself by a pistol shot. A
shock of an earthquake has been felt. No damage was
clone. The Italian Minister has arrived; he is accredited
to China also, and will ultimately reside at Pekin.

part of the heritage of all nations. Ghosts, not unknown
to the ancients—witness passages in the " Iliad, " the
" .ZEneid," the story of the spectre visiting Caesar visiting
Brutus on the eve of a battle, as, related with

explanatory reasons by Plutarch—seem to have
become 'more powerful and more general since
the Christian era. That event, which should
have laid all the ghosts until the Judgment Day,
seems to have set them free. The doctrine of purgatory,
gradually arising during the Middle Ages, must have
given strength to the belief. When more money was
needed for prayers for the souls in purgatory, there was
not lacking a ghost, as many Irish stories witness, to
come and jog the memory of the stingy son
and heir, or the wife who was fonder of her
husband's money than of the care of his soul ;
yet a true Christian should surely be at rest concerning
such pigments of the brain. Even from Christmas litera-
ture they are banishing themselves. Such dark fancies
and night fears can do no good, and must do the children
who listlen to them an immense deal of harm. Faith
should be full of sweetness and light, casting away fear
and abiding in love ; and this is now the modern way of
looking at Christmas.--Family Herald.

AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 'AT THE
SOUTH POLE.
Away hurried most of the men, Mr. Tarwig and Toby
with a few of the others remaining on board. Mr. Tarwh
at length calling a couple of men to accompany him
went over the vessel's side, telling us to follow as quickly
as we could after we had searched for the flesh. Torn
Martin was one of the other men. Just at that instant
we saw the whole party set off running on the ice
below us, as fast as their legs could carry them, and
directly afterwards a huge bear followed at full speed.
Mr. Tarwig and the men with him had fortunately got a
couple of old spears from the ship, but they had no other
weapons. Tom Martin went unarmed. Scarcely hadthey
got down on to the flat ice than out there sprang close
behind them a huge bear. He seized poor Tom by the
small of the back, and began to make off with him. Tom
shrieked out in an agony, " Oh, save me ; save me l" His
cries brought us to the side of the ship. However, we
could not help him. At the same instant three more
rushed out, and attacked the mate and his remaining
companion. They had now enough to do to defend them-
selves, while the bear made off with poor Tom. We
shouted and shrieked to the men below us, but they did
not hear, and continued their course, the bear followiug.
We instantly began shouting from the vessel, and heaving
bits of timber at the animals. This attracted the atten-
tion of a couple of them. Toby fortunately had his
musket with him, and running for it just as the bears
had got so close up as to be able almost to spring on
board, he shot one of them through the head. A bit of
timber hit the other so severe a rap on the nose that he
turned tail, very nearly running against the mate and
the other man. We were now able to go to their assist.
ance ; and Toby, again loading his musket, fired just as
the bear was about to rush on Mr. Tarwig. The animal
fell, till growling furiously, and attempting to struggle
forward towards the mate. We came up just in time to
knOck the creature ou the head, and save our officer.
In the meantime loud cries from our shipmates below
made us hasten, with arms in our hands, to their
assistance. •It was too late, however, to save the life of
one of the poor fellows, the bear having sprung upon him,
knocked him down, and, seizing him by the back,
carried him off. In vain we pursued, the poor fellow
shouting in his agony, entreating us to fire. Toby, who
was a good shot, at length got near enough to fire with a
chance of killing the bear. He let fly. The monster
dropped the man, and retreated a few paces. Once more
he rushed at him, and to our horror, seized him again
and began tearing him furiously. Another shot from
TOby's musket again wounded the bear, but it only had
the effect of making him bite away at our unfortunate
shipmate with still greater anger. The man did not move
or cry out. We had too great reason to believe that he
was already dead. Still we determined to rescue him, if
possible, from the maws of the bear. It was not until
another shot that the bear fell, or till we had plunged our
pikes into his body that he ceased to growl and move.
The poor man gave a few convulsive struggles and
all was over. Thus in one day we had lost two of our
number. In vain we looked for poor Martin ;he was
nowhere to be seen. We hunted in every direction, and
at length had to give up the search. We therefore buried
the other poor fellow in a solitary grave, in the only
ground we could find near at hand. We then proceeded
to cut up the bears, as in our great need of food it would
not do to risk their loss by leaving them. With our
sleighs thus heavily laden, we returned to the boats with
the sad account of the loss of our shipmates. —At the South
Pole: a Tale of Adienture, by W. H. G. Kingston.

Dr. Lankester held an inquest on Saturday on the
body of a domestic servant, named Jemima Hall, aged 22.
The girl had complained to her mother that her work was
too hard for her, and on Thursday last she left her situa-
tion and went home. She had not been home long before
she suddenly fell to the floor and died. The medical evi-
dence shewed that her chest and lungs were quite deformed
by tight lacing, and that she died from the effects of it.
Thejury returned a verdict in accordance with this
vi dence.

MR. AYRTON AND THE HYDE PARK TREES.—
The magnificent fringe of trees upon the edge of Hyde
Park on the Kensington-road side is going. The myrmi-
dons of the department of Works, thirty or forty in
number, felled and removed one of the trees
on Thursday ; and they were hastily engaged in
doing further mischief, as though afraid of an injunction
in Chancery. This is the way in which the promise to
parliament, that those trees should not be harmed is kept
by a Minister of the Crown, as our readers kno;w this is
not the first nor the second tree thus hurriedly disposed
of.—Kensington News.
ANOTHER PARRICIDE AT HALIFAX. —At a
coroner's inquest held on Friday, the particulars of another
case of parricide near Halifax were detailed. 'William Sut-
cliffe, a labourer living at Queensbury, near Halifax, on re-
turning home on Saturday night, the worse for liquor, quar-
relled with his wife. His eldest son Jonathan, aged 26, who
lives a short distance off, caned at the house whilst the
disturbance was going on. Sutcliffe then took a knife from
the cupboard at hand and threatened to stab his son. After
a few words he threw away the knife, and grasping the
poker from the fireplace, dealt his son a blow on the head.
A scuffle ensued, in which Jonathan threw his father
upon the floor, and kicked him several times with his
clogs, inflicting fearful internal injuries, and rupturing
the spleen. On Thursday Sutcliffe died from the Injuries
inflicted by his son, and at the inques the jury said
that this was one of the worst cases of manslaughter,
and returned a verdict accordingly. The son is in
custody.

A YOUNG SMOKER —A remarkable inatauca o.
early acquaintance with the virtues of tobacco was
brought under the notice of the Pathological Society on
Tuesday evening by Dr. Dickinson, in a boy three'years
of age, an in-patient of the Children's Hospital in
Great Ormond-street. The boy was admitted
with marked symptoms of that forni of paralysis
known as locomotor ataxy, which is extremely rare
an an early age, and the peculiarity of his antecede'.
was that he was an habitual smoker. It appears
that he early evinced a remarkable objection to
female society, and preferred marching about with his
father, who was a gamekeeper, and sharing his comforts,
including a short pipe and strong tobacco. When ad-
mitted into the hospital, an inquiry into the history of
the case elicited the fact of his being a smoker ; and on
testing his predilection in this respect when in the hos-
pital he exhibited a proficiency in the art which could
have only been acquired by some practice, and he pre-
ferred smoking• that particular vegetable product which
is known to the initiated by the name of shag."—ne
Lancet.