The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1861-05-25

had the diSlocati0nS Oi the one and the
tatters Of the other repaired. resolved
I" surround this sad little hermit or Ia.
lle, so long banishrd from genial neigh.
borhOOd, with all the kindly influences Of
warm urnS, warm fires, and warm heart,
little dreaming what all this warm
nursing would hatch.
wns pleased by the discovery that the
table was not 0f the ordinary mahogany,
hut Of app'c.tree wool. which age had
dnrk"nrd nearly 10 walnut. II struck me
MS being quite an appropriate piece Of
furniture for our cedar. parlor-so called,
from its being. after the old fashion, vain.
>c0tteh with that wood. The tables
round slab. or O,b. was 50 conilivci a t.
be readily changed from horizontal to a
perpendicular position ~ that, when not
in use, il could hr snugy placed in a cor
mr.. Fur myself, wife mud two daughters,
thought il would make a nice little tea
and breakfast table. II was Just the thing
for whist table, too. And also pleased
myself with the ilra that it w0ull make
famous rcading-tab!e.
In these fancics, my wife. for ono, took
little interest. She di>rc,i>hcd the idea
Of 50 Questionable and inhigrnt.lmking
n stranger n that table intru'lng into the
polished society Of more prosperous fur
niture. But when, after seeking its for.
tune at the cabinct-makcr'S, the table
came home, vanished over, bright as a
guinea, no one exceeded my wife in n
gracious reception Of it. TWAS advanced
to an honorable position in the cedar
pnilOr.
But, as for my daughter Julia. she me-
yer got over her strange cmotinnS upon
first accidentally cncouatcIing the table
Infnrtuiatcly, it was just a> was in the
net oi bringing it down from the garrct.
Holding it iy the Slab. was carrying it
before inc, one cohwrhhcd h0of thrust
uli, which wpiid object, a> a tnrn Of the
stairs, suddenly touched nv girl. a. she
wa> ascending; whereTpon, turning and
seeing nn living crrnturc-for was quite
hi l'lcn behind my shicll-sccing nothin.
indeed. but the apIaritin Of the Eyi
Onrs fU', ns il seemed, she cried out,
aud there is 40 know iug what might have
inllnNc'l / al not imun '!atcly >,.nkcn
From the impression thus produced, my
poor girl, Of very nervous temperament,
was long recovering Sup~r>t,i0uSly
grievr1 at my violating III" forbidden soil
tudc above, She associated in her mind
the clpvrn.fDotc,l table with the rcrut.d
s"bins there. She br>onght me to give
up the liza of dnnt>tirating the table.
N"r did hcI sister f,i, t. add her rl.tr, atir>
Between my giIl> there was cOn>titu.
'i"mal sympathy. But my n1ttrr."i fact
wife had now 'lcclafc,i in the table : favor.
She was not wanting IN tirnnr>S ahd rn.
rrgv. To her. the pr' ju1ic of Julia and
.inna "ric simply iiiicuou~ twas her
mater nal duty. she thought. Ia drive >u,h u
~ akncS. away. BY d, grcrs. the girls,
It hchkC,-t AMI tea, were Induced to sit
!"Hn wltr Us at the table. Continual
.'i"XiIEity was not Nitliput effect. BY
ar"i by, they would sit pretty tiahquilly,
though Julia. n much aS possible, avoid
II g'ancing at the hOoftd feet, aud, when
1t this | smiled, she would look at me
>criuuSiy-aS much as to say, All, papa.
y"n, too. may yet do the same. She
pr"phcci,d that, IN connection with the
table, something strange would yet hap
pen. But | would only smile the more,
while my wife Indignantly chi led.
N nntimc, ! took particular satisfaction
in my tahl', aS night reading table. At
ladies' fair. bought me beautifully
%"l kch reading cushion, and with elbow
leaning thereon, AMI hand shading my
eyes from the light, spent many long
hour nobody by, but the queer old book
! had brought dow n from the garrett
All went well, till the incident now
about to be given-an incident, be it re-
ncmbcre'l, which, like every other in this
narration, happened long before the time
Of the Fox girls
1t WAS late on a Saturday night in De-
rcmbrr. In the old edar.parlOr, before
the little old applc.trec table, was sitting
up, as usual, alone. | had made more
than One effort to get up aud go to bed |;
but ! could not. | was, in fact, under q
>Mt Of fascination. Somehow. too, Ger.
tain reasonable opinions of mine seemed
not ~ reasonable ns before. IGrlt nervous.
The truth was, that though, in my pre-
viOus night.reading, Cotton Mather had
but amused me, upon this particular night
he terrified mc. 4 thousand times had
laughed ut such stories. Old wives fables,
| thought, however entertaining. But
now, how different They began to put
OH the aspect Of reality. Now, f"r the
first time it struck me that this was no
romantic Mrs. Radcliffe, who had written
the Magnolia )" but . practical, hard.
working, earnest, upright man, q learned
doctor, too, as well as . good Christian
and orthodox clergyman. What possible
motive could such man have to deceive !
His style had all the plainncss and unpoetic
boldnrss Of truth. In the most straight.
forward way, he laid before me detailed
accounts OF New England witchcraft, each
important item corro6Orated by respect
able townsGolk, and, Of not few Of the
most surprising, he himself had been eye
witness. Cotton Mather testified whereof
hU had seen. But, is it possiblcG Insked
myself Then | remembered that DIR.
johnson, the mattcr.of.fact compiler Of a
dictionary, had been believer in ghosts,
besides many other sound, worthy men.
Yielding to the fascination, | read deeper
into the night. At last, found myself
starting at the least chance sound, and
yet wishing that 1t were not SO very still.
A tumbler Of warm punch stood 10y my
side, with which beverage, in moderate
way; was accustomed to treat myself
every Saturday night q habit, however,
against which my good wife had long re-
mOnstrated predicting thAt, unless gave
it up, would yet die a miserable sOt. In
deed, | may mere mention that, on the
Sunday morning following my Saturday
nights, ! had to be exceedingly cautious
how gave way 10 the slightest impatienc'
at any accidental annoyance; becaus'
such impalience was sure to be qnOte'
against me as evidence Of the melancholy
IcOnsci iuCnces Of overnight indulgence