Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1857-02-19

THE ApPLE-TREEsa TABLE ;
OR ORIGINAL SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.


When | first saw~the table, dingy and
dusty, in the furthest corner of. the old
hopper-shaped garret, and set out with bro
Ken, be-crusted old purple vials and TASKS.
and a ghostly, dismantled old quarto. it
seemed just such necromantic little old
table rs might have belonged 10 Friar Ba-
con. Two plain features it had, significant
of conjurations and charms-the circle and
rripod; the s!ao being round, supported by a
twisted little pillar, which about, foot
from the bottom, sprawled out into three
crooked legs, terminating in three cloven
feet. A very satanic-looking little old ia
BILE, indeed.
In order to convey better idea of it,
some a. count may as well be given of the
p.ace it came from. A very old garrett of a
very old house In an o!d-fashioned quarter
of one of the oldest towns in America
This garret had been closed for years. 1t
was thought 10 be haunted; a rumor, | con-
fess, which, however absurd (in my opiniou)
did not, at the time of purchasing, very
vehemently contradict; since, not improbs
bly, II tended to place the property the
more conveniently within my means.
1t Was, therefore, from no dread of the
repu.ed goblins aloft, that, for five years
after first taking up my residence in the
house, ! never entered the garret. Tha-e
was no special inducement. The riof was
well slated, and thoroughly tight. The
company that insured the house, waived al
visitation of the garret; Why, then, should
the owner be over-anxious about it!-Part:c.
ulary, as hs had no use tor it, the house
having ample room below. Then the key
OF the stair-dour leading to it was lost. Tie
lock was a huge, old fashioned one. Tt
open it, smith would have to be called; an
unnecessary trouble. | thought. Besides
though had taken some care TO keep my
two daughters in ignorance ct the rumol
aforementioned, still, they had, by some
means, got an inkiing OF it, and were vel
enough pleased to sre the entrance to the
haunted ground closed. II might have re
mais ed so :or a still longer time had it no
been for my accidentally discovering, in /
corner of our glen-like, old, terraced garden
large and curious kew. very old and rusty
WnlCn L, dl once, COHCiuutu bioSt bcioiS u
the garret-door-a suppnsition which, upol
trial, proved correct. Now, the possession
Of key TO anything, 1t once provokes I
desire to unlock and ex, lore; and this, too
from mere instinct of qualification, irres
pective of any particular benefit to accrue.
Behold me, then, tuning the rusty ol
key, and going up, alone, into the haunte
garret.
1t embraced the entire area of the man
sion. Its ceiling was formed by the roo
showing the rafters and boards on whic
the states were laid. The roof shedding tn
water four ways from high point in th
centre, the space beneath was much lik
that of Generals marquee-only midwa
broken by labarinth of timbers, :or braces
from which waved innumerabe cobwebt
that, of a summers noon, shone like Bagda
tissues and gaszes. On every hand, som
strange insect was seen, flying, or running
or creeping, on raiter and floor.
Under the apex o: the roof was rud'
narrow, decrepid step-ladder, something lik
Gothic pulpit-stairway,. .leuding to pulpi
like platform, from which a still narrowt
l,dder-a sort of Jacobs ladder-led som
ways higher 20 the lofty scuttlc. The slit
af this scuttle was about two feet squar