Oroville daily Butte record., 1857-02-16
Ouuille DaiIp Nutte ReturG.
How John Lacy was saved by Ghost.
BY G. G.. DUNN.

Ghosts 5ona fde ghosts. Some say
there are no ghosts and that belief
in supernatural objects which stalk
about after night>fall, in lonely places,
to scare the timid and startle the brave
is extremely preposterous. At all
events, whether such belief be pre-
posterous or not, | entertain just such
an one. / believe in ghosts. Now
don't start at this announcement, for |
do believe in them, and furthermore, |
am glad that | do. enjoy my belief
with all my heart. 1t does nae infinite
good, body and soul and if were to
he hanged tomorrow for fostering it,
ia lay 'ten to one' that my faith would
be strong enough to break fifty ropes,
if the hangman should see fit to give
me the benefit of 50 many. would
not say that ghosts are always visible
there are some that we feel and never
see but when | hear man say that
his disbelief is total, | put him down
instanter as one possessed of very little
faith, Did not some of the sages OF
antiquity believe in them Did not
Hamlet, see bis fathers ghost and ask,
What may This mean,
That thou, dead cOrsc, agaiu in complete steel,
Revisit thus the glippses of the moon.
Making night hideous, and we fools of nature
So horrible. 10 shake cur disposition
With thoughts beyond TIA reaches of our souls
There are thousands Of testimonies
around us which prove, satisfactorily
to my mind, that there are ghosts; and
&c you should happen to meet one on
some moonless night, when the winds
voice is sounding so mournfuIy amid
the leahess trees-l say, il at such
time you should meet a ghost, don't
run, but stand your ground IN spite OF
all the trembling and fear which may
then besct you. | never heard OF "A
ghost harmlng q hair of anybody's
head.
There's my friend, Job Lacy, who
would lave died an old-a very old,
bachelor, if it had not been for ghost.
I'll tell you how it came about
Job Lacy was then in his thirtieth
wear. A more Indifferent and cold
hearted man at that time did not breath.
He pronounced the women mere hum
bugs, and the institution Of marriage
an abominaton. Poor Job there he
lived in his own bschelors's hail. And
suck a hall job was chief cook and
bottle washer of his own establish
ment- He was talloreSS, too, and | used
to laugh to see him undertake to sew
a button on his shirt or to mend his
dickey.
I piticd Job, from the bottom of my
heart, l pitied him How in the name
of conscience, he was content to live as
he lived, can't say. He occupied
parlor and an adjoining bedroom,
which he tried to keep in order, but
which were always up side down and
topsy-turvy. Boots, hats, hose, hand
kerchiefs, dickeys and all other 'fxins'
were distributed Unfortunately
around upon The princlple-'Have no
place for everything, and everything
out Of place
Job was a great smoker. 1t used
to do me good to see him puff away at
his big Dutch pipe, just as if his life
was as light as the smoke which twist
ed and curled around his head. Alas,
that smoke was all a mokery !
One cold night, in the dead of win
ter, Job sat before the fire in his apart
ment, with his slippered feet support
ed by the fender, smoking briskly and
thinking about--he hardly knew what
1--WE have all thought so, more or less }
The wind blew through the broken and
rags ufed panes in the window, Whist
ling a queer and dismal tune. The old
tree Which stood ia front of the door
crcaked and groaned and rubbed its
limbs agaitst the building, and seemed
TO say something-but there was no
ghost about that. That was fancy
nothing more; and Job continued to
puff the smoke as complacently as if 1t
was as calm without as pleasant eve
in midsummer, while, with hali-open
eyes fixed on the live Goals which glar
Il l., t,on..at