The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-04-06
Gfneral Mistellanu.
From Chambers's Journal.
Three Startling Situations.

JuStliltu III CdiilHS CHtCkeIeU. ulU EOt
begin life as the heir to a dukedom, find my
self at twenty-one to have been illegitimate,
and eventually in a position to dictate to
some popular author from the sick ward of
union workEouse the interesting raw materi-
ais for his new novel. The Falling STAR
Neither did begin lie lad i'll knifehouse
and
"Creeping up from high to higher,
Become on fortunes crowning slope,
The center Of a worlds desire,
And fit with aldermen to cope
The PRAYER of my godfather for me was like
Agur's. that should have neither riches nor
poverty-he left me that much abused inher-
itance, which to reasonable man is never
,heless the best in the world since it enables
him to pursue all good objects for their own
, sake-a moderate independence--and have
kept it ever since.
Hence, o reader, it is vain to expect from
this comfortable quill either soaring fights
into the Empyrean with large E) or down
sw oops into the Ab! sms. know no more
Of palaces than l do of prisons, and yet |
, have had my three "startlng si,uaticns,' too.
Most mortals who have grown TO be men or
women. have had some experiences always
afterwards observable TO their minds eye in
The level road of their eXistences,e s,eIen If they
be but the being pitched out of merry go
round at a fair. CT the having proposals of
marriage rendered them by a nesro-and
why not =?
First then. have had the privilege of be-
holdir 6 spiritual manfes:ation--three dis
lnct. or at all events, separate ghosts at the
same time. This happened on my way from
Caar to Paris in tie winter of 1882. The
boat as it always does when am in i,--a
proof OF my hon est assertion that there is
nothing about me unlike what belongs to a
majority of my fellow crea'ures-had made
an exceedingly bad passage, and la, ded
upon the shores of France with vacuum
within me that had Yet no desire to repl.n-
i>h. Had it been otherwise there was very
little to do it. for the diligence unlike myself.
quite full inside was upon the point of start
ing. and climbed up in miserable condi-
ton beside the conductor. How he scream
I'd. ge>tcuated and cracked his prodisious
whip like demon driver i, is not necessary,
and would be painful to NE to describe.
fell asleep as soon as could and forgot him.
ard when woke agar. he WAS asleep too,
and the horses wcle going at their own sweet
viii and pace. which latter was in France a
very moGeratt one felt cold and hungry
enough. but Vet so faint IS not to seem equal
20 the fort OF waking the driver and urging
aim to push on a l,lie faster to the next
roadside inn->o faint. SO drowsy that TO
earthly thing. think, short Of an upset
could nave reused ne up or awakened MY
interest. No earthly thing perhaps-but
what was that running along the hedge-on
the top OF the hedse-upon the left hand
running along by the side Of the diligence
ard at me? That woke me soon enough
and mos, ihoroushiv. What business had
Mary Ross, my little warl-who had latel.
been lett a widow with Two children, and
whom had hidden goodbye to only few
days beiore-what business, say. had sht
to be running atop Of a roadside hedge be
tween Calais and Paris at midnight, alwa!>
keeping her head turned round and her e!t'
fixed upon me- There was not the leas
doubt of it being Mary, although ! had nev
er seen her with that look of pain and en
think that >he never had to ask anything
either FOR herself or others, twice from me-
She never looked before her, but glldet
swiftly on along the hedge, and when Il gay
or gate intelvened, seemed to leap it withou
any spring or unusual exerton. When hel
eyes were not Oh mine, they were fixed OF
one or other of the two fore wheels Of th
diligence, and presently l leaned over to SCI
, what was attracting her on the left hand one
GeorEy was there-Cieorg! Ross, her cldes
son. re,o!,ing with the wheel ard upon it,
rim, disappearing and coming up again a
though he were bound to it, with his white
face upward toward ne and her, but Wit
shut eyes. His brother Charles was on tn
other wheel. knew, although Of course
could not see him-and presently uEon tn
great empty front seat where there " as room
for four beside the driver, there lay stretched
on each side of ME those same two boys. Il
long white dresses, which-slnce they wer
dead, poor things, as it subsequently turned
oui-might have beer shrouds. had OIL
}, time to pu: my hands oat right and left an
through each Of these forms to feel the bar
cushion of the seat. when the driver with
: burst of socyes woke and lashed the horses
n calling them pigs and demons. Then tn
children and their dear mother vanished
y from my sight forever. Being OF a phiegmat
: ic. or as prefer to call it, OF PHILOSOPHERS
disposition, | simply entered in my not
book. writing it there as sat in the clea
|, moonlight. Curious illusion produced d.
!. crmber l4th, 1892, by hunger combined wit
= fatigue
e Nevertheless. as sat at breakfast in Par
e on the morning of the nineteenth, receive
r word by post that Mary Ross and her tw
y children were all dead of typhus fever. "Mt
II ~ the letter said, kept asking for 20,
l. William, as though you could have save
y her little ones. nd even after they were o,
u of the reach of earthly aid. She did not su
It yive them more than a few hours. The
n died on the l4th.'
r My second startling situation was not
e ghostly ore, although the locality was Fl
y better adapted for such phenomenon tha
n the high road to Paris-a fine old mant
p house III Staiiordshire, that had been pre-
l. " stronghold in the time of the civil wars
I rupert had sailed out of it at the head O
- his rakehelIy Babeaters, and Cromwell ha
a s,ormed it with his lronsides, shifting Aga
1t that is to say, its then possessor, Sir ia
n per Seton-hip and thigh. He was cut
+ pieces in the great hail, which is now II
le music room or was in the days knew it, ar
S, the clash OF steel is still to be heard there
Il wild winter mdnishts, although cannot S;
e, that ever detected it mysett for certain
le There were however, the most mysterio,
y nightly sounds in that old house, whose fu
i niture, though good and costly, was throug
ID out, from garret to still room, exceeding