Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1852-12-09
A Queer Bed Fellow
An fncident OF Christmas Eve,

liA0ASJ 4AttiA h"S AAAOu WIN SuPotc.
know no country house in Which
e would sooner have passed that cheer
h lul sea son. Sir George was b hospital
ity himself; and as for Lady Stanley
her frank manners and natural amia
bility Of disposition completely wol
). the hearts of all her visitors; Will,
y their family Of happy children, from
blooming, blushing Fanny Of sEee
] seventeen, and Master Harry whe
was just beginning to think aboui
shaving, down to hlue-eyed Trotty
who was the pet~of every one an(
the privileged romp of the family, al
reflected their parents goodness, and
! made that merry music in house
/ without which Christmas would not
be complete. We we're large party
at the hall, and had tested its ample
accommodations to the uttermost.-
All the dressing rooms were pressed
into use for US bachelors, and even
the sacredness of tie house-keeper' 5
still room was desecrated and con-
yerted intoa species Of barracks for
the ''young gentlemen The ladies
lit was rumored had made compacts of
partnership and thus it was, as we af-
forwards learned, that Fanny Stanley.
shared Helen Warrington bed
The greater part of the guests, Hell
en- and her brother among the rest,
did not arrive until Christmas eve,
so that ourdinner on that night was
our first general meeting, aud passed
off right merrily.
When the Christmas romp with
the children was over, and mistletoe
had been put up, and the girls al
kissed (as Tennyson observes with
such collective unctipn.) and when
the Juveniles had been posted off to
their night-barracks, we all dre W
around the spacious fire place, and,
while the yule log blazed bright and
cheerily, told Christmas stories in
which ghosts we're as plentiful as
blackberries.
In one tale that was then told, the
hero belonged TO. a family in which
insanity was hereditary, and (as is
commonly the case in such circum-
stances) only in alternategeneration
and thus in the family mentioned, the
same son Of a madman invariably be-
came the father Of a madman, ] for .
get now> who related the story Of
which this was the theme, but | re-
member it was some one who had not T
met the Warringtons before, and +
was ignorant of the fact that Helen's
had died in an asylum,
and that she herself had. some years
previously, when at school, been in
low way, sufficient TO cause, at that
time, considerable anxiety to her
mother. This however, was not known
to the narrator Of the story and, in
deed, was not remembered by those
present, until after events recalled it
to their memory: and Helen Warning /
ton, TOO, was at that time a fine, hand
some, merry-hearted girl, and one Of
the acknowledged bellies of the coun- {
try. What effect the tale may have
had upon her, no one could then tell,
rs she sat back, in the shade Of the
room, which was only lighted by the
blazing fire. t.
This was the last tale told, and !
light supper, (for, on the children's S !
account, we had dined rather early /
that was discussed amid lively jokes (
md merriment, soon dissipated all i
the ghost stories of the night had
given rise to; and the waits, and the !
village band soon after coming with (
.heir Christmas carol serenade we sat !
or time longer around the fire, un- !
i'll midnight and the earliest dawn of
he Christmas morning had come, !
aad then wishing each other "a merry :
Christmas we all said good night. Il
/ have said that Fanny Stanley (
md Helen Warrington shared the l
,ane bed, and when an h hour after IA
yard, their maid had left the room, Is
NO of the loyeliest of all the lovely
leads that en that night were assem- l.
lied beneath the roofs OF Washlngley, a
PRESSED the laced pillow of the downy |
,ed. 1t was not till the morrow that l
he maid called to mind the flushed '
heck and wild brilliancy Of Helen S
Yarrington's dark eyes, as she laugh $
ngly babe her take a kiss Of b r S
v.,ck-ne- ,-.5 <-,e3, tnx a y,,orIH +