Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-02-21
How John Lacy was saved by Ghost,
BY c. G. DUNN.

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, I
am glad that | do. [ enjoy my belief
with all my heart 1t does me infinite
good, body and soul and If were to
be hanged tomorrow for fostering it,
I'd 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 so many. [ would
not say that ghosts are always visible :;
there are some that We feel and never
see but when l hear man say that
his disbelief is total, | put him down
instanter as one possessed of very little
faith, Did not some Of the sares of
antiquity believe in them Did not
Hamlet, see his fathers ghost and ask,
What may this mean.
ihat thou, dead corse, agaiu in complete steel,
Revisit thus the glimpses of the moon
Making night hdeous. and we fools of nature
SO korrbe, 10 shake our disposition
With thoughts hey ond tina reaches or our sotlis
There are thousands of testimonies
around us which prove, satisfactorily
to my mind, that there are ghosts; and
If you should happen to meet one on
some moonless night, when the winds
voice is sounding 50 mournfully amid
the leafess tfees-I say, if at such q
time you should meet a ghost, don't
run, but stand your ground in spite of
all the trembling and fear which may
then beset you. | never heard of a
ghost harming hair of anybody's
head.
There's my friend, job Lacy, who
would have died an old-a very old,
bachelor, if it had not been for a ghtst.
l'll tell you how it scafne about
job Lacy vas then n his thittieth
year. 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
ah denomination. Poor Job there lie
lived in his own bschtlors's hall. And
such hall Job was 'chief cook and
bottle washer of his own establish
ment. He was tailoress, too, and used
to laugh TO see him undertake to sew
a button on his shirt Of tc mend his
dickey.
| pitied Job, from the bottom Of Inv
heart, pitied him How in the name
of conscience, he was content to live as
he lived, l can't say. He cceupied a
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 indiscrimina civ
around, upon the principle-'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 bis head. Alas, !
that smoke was all 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
I'VE have all thought so, more or less J |
The wind blew through the broken and !
rag-sIufed panes in the window, Whist
ling a queer and dismal tune. The old
tree which stood in front of the door
croaked 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 it
was as calm without as a pleasant eve
in midsummer, while, with hali-open
eyes fixed on the live Goals which glar-
ed in the CRATE, he apparently forgot
that he was Job Lacy or any body else.
just at that moment Job felt hand
upon his shoulder, and looking up,
what should he see but ghost real
ghost. He let fall his nleerschaum in
stantly, and would have sprung from
his chair had not the mysterious visit
or held him fast.
Sit still, Job Lacy, sit s.illr said
the ghost, and raising his hand, in
which was tightly grasped heavy and
knotted bludgeon, he fetched job a
blow upon the head which came near
being the death of him.
Job Lacy said the spectre, in a
tone of voice which sounded rcmarka-
bly, terrible to the ears Of the suffering
victim, thou art a most miserable
xretch--a most reckless sinner, and |
have come to punish thee for thy wick
edness, and thy sins
4 never injured you, responded Job,
and If | ever did any other person an
inslry am sorry for it..
dob Lacy, | must punish thee and
SO saying, he gave him another blow
upon the head with such force that
poor Job heard and felt the crushing
OF his own ill-starreG skull.
1oo Lacy continued the ghost,
,tnou hast been fool all of thy days.
Look at thy social condition The