Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-08-26

II.
now proceed to give an example of the sec.
ond mode of the moribund human influence,
namely: impression by hearing
OF this | know but one single instance.
This, however, was related to me by the very
person to whom the thing happened-a gentle.
man to whom l was introduced by some old
friends OF mine, who corroborated the story
both by their intimate knowledge of the re-
lator's veracity, and by having heard from 9TH
er members of his family-who were equally
ear-witnesses of the tact-precisely the same
account Of it.
The following is the narrative of Mr.. G.:
Mr., G. loquitur:
81 was living, when l was about eighteen,
with my grandfather and my sisters, in a sol.
tary house in Yorkshire | am particular in
describing to you the sort of house and its sit
uation, because that has something TO do with
the story. 1t was kind OF old manor house,
square and solid, that stood on the highest part
OF wide and barren void. There were no
large trees near the house, only a few shrub
berries; and even these were removed away
from the mansion, which was still further iso
lated by wide paving of large hag-stones tina
went entirely round it. Amy one who placed
himself on kind Of gazebo which terminated
the nearly fiat root, could not only see all
around the immediate vicinity of the mansion,
but might detect any moving thing to CON
siderable distance. In short, nothing could be
more bare and bleak than the situation of the
house, and at the same time less calculated for
concealment of any kind.
Gone moonlight night in the late autumn,
when the general baroness of the scene was in
creased by the thinness of the departing TO-
hage, the family were assembled in the large
drawlng-room. Suddenly, about nine o'clock,
a maid servant rushed into the apartment, and
called out, "Oh, sir oh, ma am we've all been
hearing the voice Of the poor little black boy
He is calling out "Massa Georgep
"To make this ineligible, must tell you
that we had little black fellow over from our
property in Jamaica, an orphan. This lad was
especially considered my servant, and had at
tached himself to me in a most remarkable
manner. | had, week or two before my
story commences, been obliged to leave him,
on account of his being laid up with fever, at
Liverpool, whittier l had gone on mercantile
affairs He always had been in the habit OF
calling me 'Massa Georgep and it was this
wellknown appellaton in the well-known voice
of the black that the maid-servants now de-
clared they had heard reiterated outside the
kitchen window.
"'But you may hear it yourself, sir ex-
claimed the maid. Though where the poor
lad is we cannot find out
"Our whole party, upon this, dispersed to
different windows, which having opened, we,
in effect, all heard, in no long time, the voice
of poor little Dick, singing out, 'Massa George!'
AT first, we did not doubt that Dick, having
got better, had left Liverpool, and was really
somewhere near the house. We therefore
searched all about the garden and strawberries,
but no Dick was to be found. Outhouses there
were none to examine for offices and stables
were alike collected under the roof of our man
sion, which was farm and manor-house all in
one. We re-entered the house. We went in.
to al the rooms. We went up to the gazebo
For miles around the country lay quiet in the
moonlight, and so distinct that even doe might
have been seen stirring anywhere about it
But nothing was to be detected. We unchain
ed the house-dog, and let him roam about the
premises. He bayed the moon a little, seem
ed uneasy, listened, howled, and sneaked
back to his kennel. Having thus done all We
could to find the black boy or detect a trick
we felt an uneasy conviction of something go
ing strange stealing upon us. The voice, too
instead of ceasing, foated about the house more
wildly than at first. Never shall forget tina
cry 'Massa George Massa GeorgeP In every
tone of the boys well known voice it came
upon the perfect stiffness of o breathless DC
tober evening, in manner which can hardly
attempt to describe At times it seemed to %
off into the distance, retreating and ret~eatinl
till it was all but inaudible. Then, the fain
smothered tones seemed, by degrees, to gath
er themselves up, and to approach the hous'
again. Sometimes the cry ceased altogether
then suddenly seemed sounding in our verJ
ears. And there was an Impotence, an ag
ony in the sound which was heart-rending
'Mas-sa-G George in a long, wailing manner
was repeated, as if the boy implored me t.
come to him, to pity him, to help him. An'
this not for few minutes, or for half an hour
but for above two hours. AT length the sound
became fainter and fainter, and only sobbed a
intervals upon the air, till everything subside'
into the silence Of the night.
"The next post from Liverpool brought tn
news Of poor little Dicks death. The lette
said, 'Ho suffered much at the last; and Ii
never ceased to cry fMassa GnorpsaP for tw