The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1868-07-09
rITF Haunted HOUSE.

Rev. / F. bolton, in the Boston Congregaaonalstl
ON the wide sandy plain which stretches
Ia weary m~onotony betweeM the crowded
manufacturing villages of Chicopee River
and the quiet villages of CRANKY and South
Hadley, stands a lonely house ten rods
from a lonely road. III IS of two stories and
an L, though the single room in this last is
the only room that is 4inhabitible.I The
two story part, now n ruin, has never been
more than q mere shell. A curate of a
century ago, Shubnel Jones, put up, plant
ed a little orchard around II, and brought
to it a black-eyed, high-tempered wife.
But he was at that time an incipient drunk
ard, and soon every appearance of comfort
and domestic happiness fled the place.
aud one. dismal November nightthe wretch
ed wife summoned her neighbors from
their beds 10 where the poor sot lay dead
ut the foot Of the cellar stairs. No inquest
was held, zone doubted that he was killed
by q fall in a drunken fit in attempting
another visit TO the cider barrel
The widow rented the place TO a tenant
who neither kept il well nor paid its rent,
She went with her little boy, who was not
quite an IDIOT, 10 work in the paper mill at
The village then called "Shipmuck. For
long years she changed from factory 10 fac.
tory, as best she could Keep her son EN-
ployed He was always harmless and s'ill.
He was always obedient when under his
mother'R eve, and worked at her side.
They earned more than they spent, but the
prudent people of Ludlow, where last they
had lived, feared u. allow them 10 gain o
settlement and thus render their town
liable for their future support So they oh
tanned the consent Of the agent TINT tho
widow aud her son need not keep strict
time. and offered to furnish q o in her
old deBolate house, three miles from the
factory, VI Bhe would live there The proud
woman understood the motive. and with a
aash Of her dark eyes declined their kind
ness. But she soon bought q little huni-
ture Of a family that was moving away, and
established herself in the gloomy old
wreck. gel. .r
II Was now late in The Tall when the wild
ow Jones .6rst noticed that the grass was
Disappearing nom the roadside by The bars
opposite her door. Ttsoon grew obviously
worse aud, though q bald spot on o mans
head rs 20 great wonder, this bare spot
with no boot marks on u bafilcd al Der in
genuity. The fence, tod, seemed .wotn by
loungers leaning uPainst A. What could II
mean No human gathering could have
been heidi that lonely place since the day
when that moldering frame was raised, cX-
cept on that sud doy when the moldering
frame OF the owner went 10 ia long home.
The explanation OF that mystery involves
us in a deeper ne. One night in Septem.
Der, u man from ludlow was passing the
house Just after the factory ben had an-
nounced tho hourAof nine. As he mared
the house he heard gToan Itwas q sin
Gle groan, then all was still. Bnt II was
such a groan as DO one utters twice, and he
who hears Il never wishes 10 hear II again.
He felt Il his duty to rush into the house,
but dared not After long hesitation, he
went his way, speculate " whether the wild
ow had murdered her idiot son or had been
murdered by him. And when be anthem
both quietly come into the village the next
morning, he doubted, hrst his eyes, and
then his memory.
But the same errund again brought him
past that lonely house, a few nights later.
Again he heard the nine o'clock bell a. be
approached the house, and again, NJ be was
opposite the house, that dreadful groRn.
The next night he walked out with a neigh
Dor, so timing his steps that when neal the
house both heard that mortal sound.
Both we're certain that 1t came from the
house.
Three went out, and Ave, and fifteen, and
thirty All heard tho grosn, and all agreed
that il was exact to its time TO q quarter OF
q minute, Old Captain HardcGstle said
that, il he were shut up in a hole as dark
as midnight, he could tell within ten min.
uteB when the time for his Z" 1even o'clock
came, but he couldn't keep time with 4
ghost One guessed the spirit heard the
bell. The agent stopped the bell n night,
but the erohn was heard as usual And il
was not q similar groan, but the same roan
repeated every night. No ear could tell
any difference, not made by the direction
md force Of the wind Some wondered
whether it had been repeated every night
sincepoor Jones broke his neck." Others
said thAt il they were the widow, mth-
n than live a month in that house, they
would confess the murder, and be hanged.
One night the doctor and the lawyer OF
Ludlow, both young men, went out quite
early. They went into the house aud
wanted 10 wait till the moon rose" The
widow gave them Hcant welcome; she had
not forgotten Ludlow prudence, and she
always conjectured that her present guests
had their share in that affair. Without a
CANDID she sat there stretching her skinny
hands to-the blaze, for the night was chill.
The gawky boy, who would be nearly
seven feet long IL he Strengthened out, and
who seemed 10 have acquired his longitude
at the expense Of his latitude, as II put
through a rolling mill, sat there in kinks
and silence.
| They heard the factory-bell, they heard a
cricket, they heard a lusty rat, but they
heard no groah. AT half-past nine they
went out TO q large, shiyeTing, impatient
crowd that had missed their groan and felt
misused, In an instant more the gToar
yns heard in all its perfection. Our friends
hurried back 10 the house 10 enquire
whether the lawyer had dropped a glove
The widow was making up a tundle-be6
that had bsen lurking unsupported by
them beneath the large one ia the darkest
corner oflthe room, They admired thil
eontriyanee for economizing space Comic
the widow move il easily 2 She ran il il
aud drew ii out again. BY this time tn,
lawyer had found his glove in his pocket
and again they wished the widow goot
night . .... Dbl.
Meanwhile the outsiders had heard tw,
extra groans, the FIRST was somewhat differ
emit from the usual one, but the last wa
exact.
II have found" says the lawyer, ',ths
Ludlow has expended at least 300 mile
travel ON foot, and all in the highland 10
hours Of loahng by these old bars just h
hear that woman draw out her trundle-beI
for that Jacob's-ladder idiot"
"And let me recommend you, addeI
the doctor, when you find anything tina
you cannot explain, not TO jump TO conclu
sions that it is supernatural 1t is NOR
than probable-it is eertain-that you ca,
find a physical for every physics
effect"
And 50 they all vent home and went t
bed. .r.r.
And the next spring the grass grew agai
around the widows bars.
A JAPANESE MILLIONAIRE T A FRENo
ANGEL The Paris correspondent of tn
New York Evening Mail gives publicity I
| Ahn EnlInrrinn.- nhnrn 10 y nrrnnn. nhrnnIr