The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-10-04
From Harper's Monthly for september.I
THE HAUNTED HOUSE AT
WATERFOWL.

TO Waltham, In Massachusetts. In the
front sluster few graceful elms and
naples, and in its rear plowed field
slopes gently up to level ridge from
which one may see, spread out at his
feet, the town of Boston aud the net
work of roads which, branching out
ward from it. like the spokes of wheel,
bind its glittering tire of villages to
the 'Hub of the Universe" t-''
! The place has been IA human habita-
tiOn for twenty years, and yet an air of
desolation and decay hangs over it,
which we'll accords. with the received
notion of house that is haunted. The
grass around is thin aud starved; the
weeds grow thick and rank on the lawn;
the encircling wall is fast r crumbling
away; and the one window which looks
out on the driveway is boarded up, as
| if the mortal tenants of the house would
shut from view the ghostly visitors who
are supposed to alight nightly from a
spectral vehicle at its doorway.
From the high road it seems modest
cottage of very moderate dimensions
but as one comes nearer he sees, strech-
ing back from the main edifice, ramb-
ling row Of low, disjointed buildings,
containing more than dozen rooms,
and giving the whole o spacious look
which well becomes country mansion.
In these secluded rooms, shut out By
dense masses Of shrubbery from the
gaze of passers-by, were, it is said,
enact ed the dark deeds that has given
the Haunted House" its ghostly repu-
tation in the neighborhood.
Its original owner was a cultivated
gentleman, lineally descended from an
early Governor of Massachusetts, and
connected with some of the most distin
guished statesmen of New England.
His college life was wild and dissi-
pated; but after he was graduated he is
said to have reformed, and marrying u
daughter of one OF the Judges of the Su-
prelne Court of the State, he settled
down in the pleasant cottage which had
been bnilt for his occupation. Here
for several years he led an aimless but
otherwise blameless life, following
no regular pursuit, and liv-
ing, as was supposed, Oh the
income of an ample property. His
widowed mother-in-law came to reside
in the neighborhood. and soon two or
three children were born in the family.
This was not far from twenty years
ago, and the few of his neighbors who
are still left in the vicinity speak of the
unity and affection which then seemed
to exist in the little household.
But in an evil hour the domestic har-
mony was broken. A young woman
came to reside in the house as govern
ess to the children. She was an orphan
girl, without friends, and Is said by the
xx-ha hn. ha
family to have been accomplished and
very beautiful. She had a queenly
form, dark, dreamy eyes, and a wealth
of wavy brown hair that was q wonder
| to look at.
At first no change occurred in the re-
lations of the households; but before
many months the servant observed q
growing GOODNESS between the husband
and the wife, and a growing intimacy
between the former and the eyouug wo-
man. This intimacy increased until the
approach of summer, aud then the hus-
band, leaving his desolate wife at home,
began to 90 upon long rides with the
goyerness. They would go almost dai-
", setting out late in the afternoon,
and often not returning until mid
NIGHT. Then, giving the door-bell a
sharp ring, or quickly turning the bolt
with the latch key, the governess would
enter the house, and, with q light step
and furtive look, passlswiftly up the
front stairway to her chamber in re-
mote part of the upper story. On such
occasions she always wore a dress of
black silk, and heavily fringed-black
mantle, and lace bonnet, with a veil
of green barege, thrown back so as to
fully disclose her features.
Mornings and afternoons she would
go with the children into the library,
and there the two would read and talk
together, the young innocents being un
conscious witnesses of their fathers
shame. /
Meanwhile the neglected wife and
mother pined away until she became
little more than a skeleton. With al
patience beyond words she went about
her household duties, and with all of
wOman's winning ways tried to lure
back the love of her erring husband
but at last the daily torture became
uncomfortable, and she left the cottage
going, it is thought, to her mothers
house. About this however, the old
servant is not clear in recollection.
Her absence left no check to the gull
ty intimacy, but the evening rides be-
came less frequent, and soon the morn
| ing interviews in the library ceased al
together. Conscience had begun its
work, or sin had wrought surfeit..
Whichever it was, the man grew
moody and distracted, andthe' woman
pale and emaciated ; and soon, like the
deserted wife, she went about the house
| a living skeleton. At times he would
be away for weeks, and when he came
back would spend whole days in his
| library in state Of almost beastly in
| toxication. Then his financial affairs
became involved, and he grew we'll
nigh desperate from tue want of mon
ey. At this time one Of his children
| heard him say to himself, as he was one
day pacing to and fro in the hemlock
grove near his doorway at seems to
me would murder man for a single
dollar"
But his wife's mother now came to
the rescue. With true womanly gener-
osity she relieved his pressing needs,
and paid of q mortgage that was on
dangering his possession OF the proper
ty. One night soon aftefward the gov:
erneSS suuueuIy anu auyotStlosoty ioAs
the cottage. 1t was supposed that the
husband, Brought to sense of duty by
the generosity of his mother-in-laS,
sent her away that he might again take
his deserted wife into his household.
The name Of the governess was Alice,
and the aged servant states that direct
| ly before her disappearance she was q
sight to melt the coolest heart to pity.
Her flesh was wasted, her once bloom
ing cheeks were white as snow, and her
large dark eyes blazed with hectic fire
that seemed to be burning at her vitais..
By day she would keep her room, weep
ing and lamenting, and often at dead OF
night the old servant would come upon
her walking in the lower hall, wiring
ing her hands and moaning as if her,
heart were breaking. She was never
seen or heard of afterward.
The wife returned to the cottage, but
her presence wrought no immediate
change in the habits of her husband.
Day and night he would be shut up in