American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-11-15
2.
THE RED DWARF.
ny wM. HENRY PECK.

(which we call the Centrai atN VI
YORK. Isolsted and bleak, in those days.
with no attempt at ornament upon It's
rude walls, the old house had oeeh uh-
tcnanted for years, when Hugh Garrbolt
o,w Ct 10 make it his habitatioa. No one
then living could say to whom it belong
ed, or by whom it had been built; though
oray.baired men told that 1t had sprung
as from the earth; unmade by mortal
hands, and fit only for the lurking place
of smugglers, dcspersdoes, or demons
The last, man, within their recoliectlon'
who had lived there before Hugh Carr
bolt made it his home, died there alone
nor was he known to be dead until wan
derinc hunter, demanding shelter at its
iron. bound door and prison like windows,
and receiving no reply, forced an entrance
from the rear; and after striking light
with flint and steel beheld a human skel-
eton, clad in dccaying leathern garments,
seated in an oaken chair in ghostly grim
ness.
Before this hideous figure was spread
upon table gooily store of silver aud
golden coins which their owner perehalce
was counting when the hand OF death
smote him, sudden and sure. The hun
ter was man of nerve, and did not hes
itatc to appropriate the treasure and
though he did not fail to tell of what he
had seen in the chair he said not word
of what he had taken from the table; the
latter truth leaked out when the hunter
became a man of money, married, and
told his wife
The honest burghcrs of New Amster-
dam. as its first white settlers defiantly
persisted in calling New York, smoked
their pipes for three inonths in deep cog
itatiou, and resolved unanimously that the
hunter was tremendous liar, until tall
gaunt and evil eyed man from France set
the town in an uproar by declaring that
he intended to penetrate to the spot, and
make the house his abode. From the
very day that the hunter had told his
,tale the stunned dwelling had been call
ed "The Skeletons House, "and no urch-
in, however daring, had ventured whhl9
a mile of it; and as for sensible knicker-
bockers going there, the very idea was
prcposterous.
But Hugh Garrbolt, with sueer that
had been growing his thin, hard face Tor
sixty years, defcd all known and un-
known demons with scof that made the
good burghcrs' hair bristle over their
heads and went alone To "Thc House OF
the Skeleton"
The burghers waited two days, and
then nodded through the clouds of smoke
that Hugh Garrbolt was a fool. But utwhen
he returned on the third day with bag
OF coin so heavy that he staggered under
it, the burghers opened their eyes and
whistled that Hugh Garrboltwas very
wise parsonage.
II searched about the place" said
.Garrbolt to a score of hatencrs, as his
sncer deepened around his lips, "and
found some musty papers which told me
that an old buccancer had lived there, and
where to dig for this. | dug these 20
900 golden crowns from under the table. "
But" said Hans Van Schleeper, the
innkccpcr, as he slowly filed his pipe,
''the skeleton p
SIS there" sad Garrbolt, "My dear
friends, you are all welcome to that y
The burghers smoked several hundred
pounds of strong jamestown weed dur
ing the following week, and on the eighth
day resolved to clsim the 10000 golden
crowns for the township. But Monsieur
Hugh Garrbolt had disappeared and with
him went the crowns
Twelve months rolled on, and still the
skeleton of the dead buccaneer held grim
and unmole stcd watch over the table,
when young Albert Vandemeer paid it a
visit. Albert Vandemeer was the only
son of most worthy and respectable
widow whose husband had paid the great
and final debt when Abort was but ten
years old.
Ten years more had passed; and though
the sad-hearted widow held her head
droopingly, as she thought of the past,
her soft eyes sparkled with joy as she
.gazed upop her manly son. Kind, gen.
tie, handsome, aad affectionate Albert
with his tall, 1.-THE frame, keen blue eyes
and bounding step never pacen the stree
ungteetcd by gossip, glance or smile from
the rosy damsels that festooned the win
.dows like living garlands of beauty OF
either side.
But the good burghers and their bet
Ter wives shook their heads as be steppe'
D gaily, and said b. was BY far too .dar
hg, as h ID 'heen his father, who lost hi
4 Al l. I'LL Ia